Registration now open for AREAA/NAHREP Real Estate and Marketing Conference
Info and registration available on www.areaa.org/convention
The Asian Real Estate Association of America, together with the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, will convene at the Palazzo Resort in Las Vegas for their 2009 Real Estate and Marketing Conference. The event takes place from October 25-27th and marks AREAA's fourth annual national convention and gala. A website dedicated to the event is available at areaa.org/convention. The site offers conference registration and a link to hotel accommodations, including a limited number of discounted rooms for conference attendees.
Early registration discounts are available through August 15th.
In addition to foreclosure prevention and opportunities in REO properties, sessions will cover the impact of new legislation on multicultural housing markets and how to grow your real estate business.
AREAA and NAHREP are non-profit professional trade associations dedicated to increasing sustainable homeownership opportunities in underserved communities. The associations represent collective membership of nearly 30,000 professionals engaged in all aspects of the housing industry.
John Yen Wong named new AREAA CEO
John Yen Wong, Founding Chairman of AREAA, has been named the association’s Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2009. Wong assumes the role of CEO, while Jim Park, AREAA’s President and CEO since 2005, will continue to volunteer his time with the association and serve as its President. In AREAA’s new organizational structure, Wong will manage the association’s day-to-day operations, and will share with Park the role of representing AREAA in homeownership and policy initiatives that impact the Asian American communities.
In making the announcement, AREAA Chairman Allen Chiang said, “John Wong is recognized throughout our industry for his tireless efforts on behalf of Asian American homeowners and his commitment to diversity. We are delighted that he has agreed to assume this new role in managing the strategic direction for AREAA.”
Study shows Asians 1.3 times more likely to face foreclosure
A recent analysis of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)-regulated lending has revealed that Asians in California are 1.3 times more likely to be in foreclosure than non-Hispanic whites. California is home to one third of the nation’s Asian population.
These findings emphasize the need to address foreclosure specifically in the Asian market. As practitioners who serve the Asian community, AREAA members can make a difference by learning more about the options available to homeowners. To find out more about what you can do to help, e-mail us at contact@areaa.org, subject line “Foreclosure Prevention.”
The study goes on to examine differences in performance between loans regulated by CRA and those originated by independent mortgage lending companies, which are not covered by CRA.
The analysis was conducted by Elizabeth Laderman and Carolina Reid of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
AREAA supports removal of discriminatory real estate covenants
The title records of older housing stock in California sometimes contain offensive restrictive covenants that attempt to impose a "whites only" ownership limitation, or other unconstitutional limitations, on ownership or occupancy. While these covenants have been illegal for decades and unenforceable since the 1950s, they none the less give offense to owners or prospective owners that discover them in the course of researching title.
AREAA joins CAREPA, CREAA, NAHREP, NAREB and SAREAA in requesting the removal of such covenants from all property records in a cost-effective manner. The proposed process would use technology currently being used to scrub Social Security numbers from real estate documents prior to making them publicly accessible.
HOPE Awards honor KCCD for work in minority homeownership
Among this year’s HOPE Award recipients was Hyepin Im, President and CEO of Korean Churches for Community Development. KCCD was recognized as the winner of the Education category for their work in homebuyer education and foreclosure prevention counseling.
KCCD provides education services that help Asian Americans overcome linguistic, economic and cultural barriers that many in this community face prior to and following the homebuying process.
Emily Fu featured in webcast aimed at assisting small businesses
2008 AREAA Chair Emily Moerdomo Fu is a featured panelist on “Cost Saving Real Estate Strategies for Your Business,” a webcast presented by Wells Fargo. The program discusses how real estate can be a tool for reducing expenses and generating revenue. It also sheds light on the new rules of the road, given the changing residential and commercial property markets.
Joining Fu are panelists Brad Blackwell and Jagdeep Dayal of Wells Fargo, Nina Kaufman of Ask the Business Lawyer, and moderator Rich Sloan, Founder and CEO of StartupNation.
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Speaker Presentations from AREAA/NAHREP Real Estate and Policy Conference
Photos from AREAA/NAHREP Real Estate and Policy Conference
Stewart Title, AREAA Join Forces to Provide Important Real Estate Documents in Asian Languages
LOS ANGELES (Oct 9, 2008) – Stewart Title Guaranty Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corp. (NYSE-STC), and the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) today announced a 12-month partnership to translate common real estate documents into Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Stewart Title is making the translated documents available to AREAA members in good standing.
“As one of our longest and most ardent supporters, Stewart Title is keenly aware of the growth potential for homeownership in the Asian American market,” said Allen Chiang, incoming chair of AREAA. “With the most commonly-used documents translated into three Asian languages, our members can serve their clients more effectively and bring them closer to the American dream of homeownership.”
The translated documents that will be available are:
• Affidavit of debts and liens
• Bill of sale
• FIRPTA affidavit
• Quit claim deed
• Compliance agreement – refinance transaction
• Compliance agreement – sale transaction
• HUD1
Chiang anticipates the translated documents will be available to AREAA members in good standing via a password-protected website accessed through http://www.areaa.org beginning in November 2008.
“We are pleased to partner with AREAA to provide these translated documents in a collaborative effort to help homebuyers from the Asian-American, Pacific-Islander communities,” said Malcolm Morris, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stewart Title Guaranty Company. “In keeping with our commitment to multicultural markets, we know that providing documents to customers in the language they are most comfortable speaking and reading is an important part of creating a successful home buying transaction.”
According to AREAA, on average, Asian American homebuyers have the greatest median household income, median down payment, home purchase price, educational attainment (which predicts future income potential) and some of the lowest delinquency and foreclosure rates compared to other demographic groups.
“Additionally, the Asian American population is growing at a rapid rate, and with average home purchase prices and loan sizes greater than any other population, Asian American consumers represent the most profitable segment of the housing market on a per transaction basis. However, language barriers are commonly cited by experts as one reason Asians trail other ethnic groups in homebuying – creating a homeownership gap,” Chiang continues.
“By partnering with Stewart Title to provide these documents, we hope we are making great strides toward closing that gap” he added.
