Among the top 10 most common surnames for home buyers in California last year, eight of them were considered either Hispanic or Asian.

In Florida, the third most common surname was a Hispanic name, Rodriguez, but those buyers spent more, a median $85,000, than the two most common surnames, Smith and Johnson, who spent only $84,000.

Not only do Hispanic and Asian surnames appear frequently at the top of home buyer surname lists, immigrants, as a group, are more likely than the general population to make home ownership a top priority -- 61 percent to 51 percent -- Fannie Mae reported years ago when its national housing survey focused on immigrants.

"People who are inclined to immigrate are people who are predisposed to want to better themselves. They are more likely to become better educated, to have a strong work ethic, and they are probably more predisposed than their native-born peers to deal with the hassle of owning homes,'' said Bruce Hahn, president of the American Homeowners Association in Arlington, Va.

It's really nothing new that immigrants and those with traditionally non-white surnames are a growing home buying force to be reckoned with. What's new is a call for real estate professionals to get more in tune with their needs, according to "Selling Across Cultures," a report from the College Station, TX-based Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

The report's author, and an assistant editor at the center, Jenifer Hofmann recalled how a Houston real estate broker-owner lost a $700,000 sale because her Asian clients noticed a carpet seam. The seam ran throughout the location where the would-be buyers planned to place their bed. To them, the seam represented a potential division in their marriage or their lives and they ended up forfeiting $20,000 in earnest money to void the transaction.

"Situations like this are increasingly common as immigrants, most of whom are Asian or Hispanic, arrive in the United States at a rate of approximately one million households per year," said Hofmann.

"Aged 25-44, they represent 50 percent of the prime home-buying market," she added in the preview to "Selling Across Cultures."

She says real estate professionals must realize that each client brings culturally influenced goals and objections to the relationship.

Mexican culture, for instance, includes childhood discussions of home ownership as a source of pride, self-worth and responsibility, said Robert Aldana, a real estate agent and host of "Let's Talk Real Estate," a community cable program in Silicon Valley, CA.

"It went along with hard work. You really haven't done much until you own your own home. I remember growing up in L.A. My dad promised us we are going to buy a house and we said, "We don't want you to buy a thing for Christmas.' We wanted a home so bad," Aldana said.

"If we wanted to marry a girl, we would go to the father and show him that we own a home, and then we are in. They love you to death. It shows responsibility. In our culture, you haven't done anything until you own a home," Aldana said.

For Asians, home ownership is often so important the individual temporarily sacrifices goals in order to pool resources for the family unit.

"The Vietnamese and other Asian cultures foster generations living together. When they come here, they put things like privacy on the back burner. There is no vacation for years. Five or six kids may live in one bedroom for several years," said Milpitas, CA attorney and real estate broker Tan N. Duong.

"When it's time (for one family member to buy a home), younger ones will give help in the form of a down payment. When the kids go to college they still have odd jobs, and they all give their money to the parents to make payments for the bills," said Duong, a Vietnamese-American broker who recently served as the first non-white president of the San Jose Real Estate Board (serving Silicon Valley-Santa Clara County, CA).

"Selling Across Cultures" offers the following advice to real estate agents selling to various ethnic groups and their home buying clients.

Published: April 23, 1999

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