HispanicTrending

April 1, 2007
By Lew Sichelman

Five years ago, the Latino home-buying market was largely invisible. Now, it is not just a so-called emerging segment of the housing market, but a market unto itself. But it’s one that still needs to be reckoned with.

Back then, many Latinos had the capacity to become owners, but the mortgage business didn’t see them. Some didn’t speak English and had little understanding of the home-buying process. Others didn’t use banks, so they had not established the all-important credit histories that lenders require to determine whether people are creditworthy.

Nowadays, a fair number of lenders are reaching out to Latinos, as well they should. But this group still faces barriers to ownership. Latinos continue to be penalized for dealing in cash rather than checks and credit cards.

So what’s the problem? At about 43 million, or roughly 14% of America’s population, Latinos constitute the country’s largest and fastest-growing minority group. And they’re not just recent immigrants, or illegal immigrants, either. In fact, the majority of the country’s Latinos are native-born U.S. citizens. Almost half are younger than 25, which is said to be the beginning of the prime home-buying years.

Nevertheless, their ownership rate is roughly 50%. That’s just a shade higher than the rate for blacks, but it is still far behind that of whites. And the reason, according to several speakers at the recent National Assn. of Hispanic Real Estate Professional’s annual legislative conference here, rests with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises created by Congress to grease the home-buying wheels.

Fannie and Freddie are responsible for keeping local lenders flush with cash so they can continue to make mortgages. The two congressionally chartered corporations do that by buying loans from primary lenders and packaging them into securities for sale to investors worldwide on the "secondary" mortgage market.

But the GSEs have yet to incorporate into their automated underwriting systems such alternative credit data as rent and utility payments, cellphone payments and money sent back on a regular basis to a would-be borrower’s native land.

These underwriting systems are key to the approval process for most mortgages. So until they include alternative credit information, the speakers told the conference, most Latinos will continue to be relegated to what constitutes the back of the mortgage bus, where loan applications are often pushed into the sub-prime basket. Those loans are more expensive and have harsher terms.

"Fannie and Freddie are just not there yet," said Michael Nathans, founder and chairman of Payment Reporting Builds Credit (PRBC), a different kind of credit bureau that collects the type of bill-paying data that is absent from conventional credit reports.

One company that isn’t waiting for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac is the Hispanic National Mortgage Assn., a minority version of the two secondary-market facilitators that launched in October.

It uses a Latino-centric electronic system to underwrite the loans it purchases from lenders.

"With our system, [lenders] originate the loans, and we do all the rest," said Ron Jauregui, senior vice president of community alliances at the San Diego-based company. "This isn’t about lowering credit standards, it’s about expanding the window."

PRBC is a federally regulated credit bureau that enables consumers to build a credit file and score, based on their history of making rent and other recurring bill payments, which can be delivered electronically to the leading automated underwriting systems.

Even the Fair Isaac Corp., the company that created the all-important, industry-standard FICO scoring algorithms, has developed a new score card using alternative data. And tests show that its Expansion Score is able to obtain a score up to 90% of the time for consumers who had little or no credit data on record.

That’s good news for the 50 million Americans who are now being lumped into the high-risk category, if they can get credit at all.

Source: Los Angeles Times

March 30, 2007   
Via PRLEAP.COM

Casa Latino, America’s only national Latino Real Estate brand, will hold its first “Discovery Day” in California on Saturday March 31st.

The company will host its first California “Discovery Day” at the Courtyard by Marriott in Sherman, Oaks Saturday March 31st at 11am. Real estate sales agents, brokers and entrepreneurs interested in Casa Latino Real Estate franchise opportunities are welcome to attend the presentation. Walk ins are welcome.

New England based Casa Latino Franchise Corporation has achieved unrivaled franchise success in it first four months of franchise sales efforts. The company boasts franchise sales and pending sales in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Tucson, Las Vegas, St. George Utah, Connecticut, Charlotte NC, Raleigh NC, Austin TX, San Antonio TX, Twin Falls Idaho, Chicago, as well as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

Company Founder Robb Heering, a Connecticut based real estate broker, mortgage professional, and real estate attorney stated that “California is an extremely important state for Casa Latino. We anticipate awarding our first franchises in California within the next 30 days with continued penetration throughout the year”.

Heering further stated that “real estate professionals nationwide have recognized Casa Latino Real Estate as a premier cutting edge firm with an unrivaled ability to penetrate and adequately service the emerging Latino market. Our franchise model offers a perfect blend of market savvy, cultural expertise, and much needed tools and techniques to ensure that our franchise owners and sales agents achieve unparalleled success while providing our target market with the real estate services they need and deserve”.

When asked to comment on industry experts predictions that Casa Latino Real Estate will soon emerge as the brand of choice among America’s Latinos, Heering responded
“we’re already there, but Casa Latino doesn’t discriminate. We serve everyone and we treat everyone equally. It’s not our name that drives clients to us, it’s what’s we do for clients. We help enable the American Dream; and the fact that we have what it takes to do that better than any of our competitors is why we’ll continue to succeed in the space we’ve chosen”.

Casa Latino’s mission statement involves educating Latino’s and others about home ownership, mortgage financing, and all that goes along with owning a home in America.

Casa Latino staffers have been recently quoted as saying that America’s emerging Latino homebuyers will help to offset the decline in the housing market felt nationwide. Without Latino’s, they say, the market bubble would have exploded long ago. Casa Latino fully expects to help create a large Latino middle class by educating Latino’s about home ownership and providing the services to reduce the barriers to entry into the market for many deserving first time home buyers.

Heering further commented “I have a few general points to make regarding the Latino market in America. Please listen carefully. Let me start by reminding you that a strong middle class is required in a democracy. Economists have clearly stated that America’s middle class been eroding. Historically, the largest portion of the population falls within the middle class. Latino’s will soon represent the largest demographic in America. Without Latino’s, America fails. It’s that simple”.

Casa Latino offers franchisees unprecedented culturally specific and significant back office support, training, marketing tools, advertising, coaching, and much more to ensure their success. The franchise royalty model encourages a variety of agent compensation programs which dramatically enhances a broker’s ability to recruit agents. The low franchise fee and an exceptionally low transaction based royalty structure make Casa Latino an extremely attractive opportunity.

Casa Latino Franchise Corporation can be located on the web at www.CasaLatino.com or by calling toll free nationwide at (866) 611-2272.