Pigtown Main Street’s Lunch and Learn events in the fall of 2023 were a remarkable success. Both events allowed Pigtown MS to engage with over 150 real estate agents, with 90 attending in person and 65 who engaged virtually and received copies of the presentations and information given at the events.
Swill by Blacksmiths was selected as the events’ location. HNI, Southwest Partnership, University of Maryland’s Live Where You Work program and Baltimore City HCD were asked to present loan and incentive information for home buyers. As an interactive activity, Pigtown MS created a trivia game to give attendees a sense of how close Pigtown is to amenities such as the Inner Harbor, Camden Yards, M&T Bank Stadium, and more. The winners of the trivia game received gift certificates to local businesses, which helped agents familiarize themselves with the retail sector of Pigtown. In addition, the staff designed a publication that depicted Pigtown’s buyers’ demographics to give agents more robust information on their future potential clients.
The events were successful in their goal. Agents who were not aware of many buying incentives, primarily HNI, or were not familiar with Pigtown’s community were glad to be better equipped with information. Pigtown MS plans to conduct these types of events again in the future, hopefully including lenders, potential buyers, and more.
The Lunch and Learn events were conducted to inform real estate agents who had previously sold houses in the neighborhood but were not aware of all the area’s advantages. Two of Pigtown MS Board of Director’s members and other volunteers who serve as housing advisors contributed to the creation of the event’s agenda, resulting in a collective effort of the organization’s staff.
