Triad's Hispanic population attracting home sellers - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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North Carolina's Hispanic population grew 32 percent between 2000 and 2004 basedr on thelatest U.S. Census figures available. As that populationb increasingly investsin homes, professionalss from Realtors to mortgage brokers are responding to meet their needs. Nationally, Hispanic homeownershipl rates have seen the largest gains of any demographifc group between 1993 and the fourt quarterof 2005. During that time, Hispanic ownership rates rose more than 10percentagr points, according to the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urbanm Development's report on Improving Homeownership Opportunities for Hispanic By comparison, the ownership rates for non-Hispanicse rose nearly 6 percentage points and Africanh American ownership rates rose more than 6 percentage points. Lillian Clayton, a broker with Re/Masx First Choice in says thisyear she's helpes 12 Spanish-speaking families purchase a a dramatic increase from last year'es three. Clayton, who speaks Spanish, says the Hispanic communitt is close-knit and she expects others to join theitr families here inthe Triad.
She marketd Greensboro as a town and says that is one of thereasonsz it's attractive to many Hispanic home Clayton has seen an increasing number of Hispaniv families from northern states like New York and New Jerseyh checking out the Triad, which she thinksw is mostly due to higher taxes and a higher cost of living there. "Here, they can realize thei r dreamof homeownership," Clayton says. Salvadoer Santana, of Coldwell Triad Banker Realtors in High says that inSeptember alone, he sold $1 millioh of housing just to his Spanish-speaking clients, the only demographicd he works with.
In Santana was hired in July as a resul t of the increasein Spanish-speaking "That's the reason why I'm here," says who is originally from the Dominicabn Republic. Santana is the only one of the 50 employees in Coldwellp BankerTriad Realtors' High Point office who is fluent in Last month, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce hosted a seminatr on tapping into the Hispanic attracting representatives from, amongf others, SunTrust Bank and Coldwell Banker Triad.
Speaker Pat Levitin cited a January 2006 UNC ChapelHill Kenan-Flagler Business School study on the economic impac of the Hispanic population of North Carolina, which reportee that the Hispanic population in the statwe contributed more than $9 billionb to the economy in 2004. The Centee for Homeownership in Winston-Salem providea neutral third-party home buyer education credit rebuilding programsand pre-purchase counseling. It is handling more Hispanic clients than saysPhyllis Caldwell, director at the center. In that's why the center hired Sarah Nieto, a bilingualk housing educator, in March.
The center'sx target audience is made up ofmostly low- to moderate-incomew clients who are first-time home buyers. In helping the Hispanic community fulfill the Americanb dreamof homeownership, Nieto has visited housing complexes with a high population of Hispanics, distributing information in Spanish. She has been a guesr on Que Pasaradio (1470 AM in Greensboro and 1380 AM in Winston-Salem) as part of the program "Taljk to the pro," to answedr questions pertaining to homeownership. "It's not new but we're stepping out," Caldwell says. "You've got to go wher they are.
" Even mortgage companiezs are hiring Spanish-speaking employees to serve to the Hispanic Dario Romo, a bilingual loan originator with Granite Mortgagde Inc. in Winston-Salem, says 90 percentr of his clients areSpanishj speaking. Romo, who is originally from Colombia, has noticeds a particular increase during the last year and a half in the amounf of phone calls he receives from Hispanice interestedin loans. It'ds increased especially this summer, he totally about 50 calls a month. But serving the growing Hispaniv community in the housing market is not as easy as simpluy speakingthe language.
Agencies and businessew are having to do outreach work to attract the Hispanic market they seekto "There are some lenders out there that speak and they aren't doinyg very well," Romo says. The key is involvement, he When it comes down to it, handling the influxd in the Hispanic housing market is aboutgood referrals, Romo