DES MOINES, Iowa - Jan. 27, 2010 - Given the challenges many professionals in the real estate industry currently face, it has become somewhat difficult for trade associations to find the resources necessary to continue to grow local chapters and support members and their clients.

With these challenges in mind, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is proud to announce the inception of the Wells Fargo Inspire. Educate. Enable. award for local chapters of the three major minority real estate trade groups.

The award is designed to recognize and reward those AREAA, NAREB and NAHREP chapters who represent what the nation's largest mortgage originator considers the greatest ways to serve their members and surrounding communities. With the backdrop of the historically significant Multicultural Real Estate and Policy Conference, March 3 to 6, Wells Fargo will award two chapters from each of the three sponsoring associations with a check for $2,500, giving these six local chapters the resources to continue to provide the superior programs that advance the knowledge of REALTORS, maintain and increase chapter membership, and work to create sustainable homeownership for all Americans.

Award application process:
To apply for the award, local AREAA chapters should electronically submit a one-page Word document that details how well their chapters do the following:

* Inspire - What does the chapter do for community outreach - how do they connect with and support the communities they serve?
* Educate - What does the chapter do to educate its members and the communities they serve on relevant topics?
* Enable - Does the chapter provide the tools necessary for members' professional development: to gain knowledge, improve skills and make connections? Are these same tools provided to the clients they serve in an effort to provide sustainable homeownership?

All applications must be sent to Kim Truehart at ktruehart@areaa.org.

The winning chapters will be notified in advance of the conference, and invited to attend an award dinner in Washington, D.C.

About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is the nation's leading mortgage lender and services one of every six mortgage loans in the nation. A division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., it has a national presence in mortgage stores and banking stores, and also serves the home financing needs of customers nationwide through its call centers, Internet presence and third-party production channels.

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $1.2 trillion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance through more than 10,000 stores and 12,000 ATMs and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally.

The Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) strongly endorses the nomination of Ted Tozer as the next President of the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae). Mr. Tozer is well qualified to lead Ginnie Mae in this turbulent time and help restore liquidity in the marketplace. With over 20 years of experience in capital markets, Mr. Tozer will contribute the direct knowledge necessary to effectively grow Ginnie Mae as it takes on a larger role in the housing and secondary markets.

On behalf of AREAA, Chairman John Fukuda stated the following.

"Ginnie Mae plays a vital role in the health of America's real estate market and the overall economy. AREAA looks forward to working with Mr. Tozer to expand opportunities for more Asian American homebuyers and other underserved communities.

"With FHA's expanded market share, it is imperative that Ginnie Mae is guided by a leader that can adapt to the difficult environment and help create the needed stability in the real estate market. Mr. Tozer is a proven leader that is right for the job and AREAA fully recommends the expeditious approval of his nomination."

Chapter President Andrew K. Lee and the founding Board of Directors are set to host AREAA Greater Sacramento's kickoff event on Thursday, October 1st. The reception will feature Sacramento's top REO and Short Sale Agents, networking, membership information, live music, hors d'oeuvres and a raffle.

AREAA Greater Sacramento Networking Reception
Thursday, October 1, 2009
5:30pm to 7:30pm
Sacramento Association of REALTORS
2003 Howe Avenue, Sacramento

This event marks the launch of AREAA's 10th local chapter, with more in development. To find out how you can get more involved with your local chapter, or to inquire about establishing one in your market, contact Praveen Sharma at psharma@areaa.org.

President Obama signed an executive order Wednesday, October 14th establishing the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as well as a White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The commission and initiative will work to improve the quality of life of AAPIs through increased participation in Federal programs in which AAPIs may be underserved. AREAA leadership will work with the commission to address the cultural and linguistic barriers that prevent many AAPIs from effectively communicating with their servicers in foreclosure prevention efforts.

SAN DIEGO (September 25, 2009) - The Asian homeownership rate suffered the steepest decline among minority groups in 2008, according to the recently released American Community Survey.

The survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, reveals that Asians have been disproportionately impacted by the current housing crisis, with homeownership rates dropping 1.24 percent to 59.4 percent. By comparison, African Americans faced a 0.88 percent decline to 45.6 percent, Hispanics fell 0.80 percent to 49.1 percent and the homeownership rate for Whites decreased 0.40 percent to 73.4 percent overall.

While some of the decline in Asian homeownership can be attributed to the regional impact of foreclosures--one third of Asian Americans live in the high foreclosure state of California--two lesser known factors are driving this issue.

"Asians made significant advancements in homeownership in the early part of the decade; however, much of this equity has been eliminated with the recent decline in home prices" states Jim Park, President of the Asian Real Estate Association of America. "This loss of equity creates an unstable homeownership environment in today's housing market, particularly for those homebuyers who recently became homeowners in the early to mid part of the decade."

To further exaggerate the problem, the industry has not fully overcome the language and cultural obstacles facing many Asian Americans, two-thirds of which are foreign born.

"Outreach efforts for loan modification and refinance assistance are not widely understood in the Asian American community," Allen Chiang, Chairman of AREAA added. "The industry must recognize and address the cultural and linguistic barriers that exist today, that create an enormous hurdle for these distressed homeowners. To prevent future foreclosures, they need to proactively reach out to Asian homeowners to educate them on their options in times of financial distress."

Without increased focus and attention to this issue, the API homeownership rate could continue to deteriorate at a significant pace. AREAA has recently partnered with Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo and Freddie Mac to pursue various foreclosure prevention efforts in the Asian community.

SAN DIEGO (JULY 27, 2009) - The Asian Real Estate Association of America is in favor of the Home Buyer Tax Credit Act of 2009 (S.1230), as introduced by Senator John Isakson (R-Ga.), increasing the homebuyer tax credit from $8,000 to $15,000 and expanding the tax credit to include all purchasers of primary residences, rather than first time homebuyers exclusively.

"As Census data shows, Asian American homeownership has been in decline since 2006, after a decade of steady increases," states Allen Chiang, AREAA Chair. "Legislation aimed at increasing accessibility to homeownership will help to reverse this trend and benefit the Asian community.

"It should also be noted that homeowners with the capacity and desire to move up in a favorable market represent great potential, given an incentive to purchase. Allowing all homeowners access to the tax credit will encourage more sales and, ultimately, boost the economy."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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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President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 into law earlier this morning, marking a historic effort to restore safety and soundness to the American housing market. The legislation is aimed at helping distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure and stabilizing government sponsored housing enterprises.

In addition to its longtime support of many of the measures, AREAA was successful in putting into law an important provision that will help more Asian American and immigrant consumers obtain low cost financing. Working with a coalition of multi-cultural groups, AREAA successfully included a provision requiring HUD to carry out a pilot program to establish an automated solution for borrowers who have limited traditional credit histories for determining their creditworthiness.

The use of alternative credit ratings such as rent, utilities and insurance payments will assist many Asian Americans and immigrants as well as first time homebuyers in qualifying for FHA insured mortgages. Often times these borrowers must look to less affordable unconventional mortgage programs, regardless of their income or assets, due to a lack of traditional credit history. AREAA believes that this provision will help more of our members and support our mission of expanding housing opportunities.

The disproportionate economic losses impacting minorities in the housing downturn, has led the combined 70,500 members and affiliates of the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) to recommend a five-point plan that protects homeownership for people of color during the NAHREP Legislative Conference in Washington DC.