According to Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, Hispanics should account for as much as 40 percent of all new homeowners over the next 20 years, which suggests that the predominantly Anglo Realtor community could have a lot to learn about this growing demographic.

Texas A & M's Real Estate Center found that there are many homebuying behaviors and attitudes that are commonplace among Hispanics who responded to the Center's studies. Knowing these behaviors and attitudes can be helpful to Realtors who wish to serve the Hispanic market.

Among the Center's findings:

• Unlike the other groups surveyed who turn to an agent or broker first for real estate advice, Hispanics are more likely to first consult a parent, which means that real estate agents should think in terms of family, friends and relationships when working with Hispanics.

• More than half of the Hispanics surveyed believe it is difficult to qualify for a mortgage, a notion supported by a Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies finding which says that only 49.9 percent of Hispanics have access to prime loans, while 74 percent of whites do.

• Hispanics are less likely than other groups to consider the homebuying process easy because of such factors as language barriers, attitudes toward debt and the complex nature of U.S. real estate transactions.

• Most Hispanics surveyed say they are comfortable buying a home with a small down payment. However, fewer Hispanics say they are willing to extend themselves financially by making larger monthly payments than they currently are making as renters to be able to own a home.

• Hispanics have the lowest expectations of what they will pay for a home. They are the most financially conservative group of the four ethnic groups surveyed by the Center.

• Many Hispanics of all income ranges prefer an agent who can relate to them, meaning the agent speaks Spanish, has the same ethnic background, is young and has a neat workspace, said respondents.

• All survey respondents want the agent to manage the closing process in its entirety. They consider it important for the agent to explain the process, explain contracts, set the right asking price and negotiate on their behalf.

Explains Gary Acosta, cofounder of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, "About 80 percent of Hispanics are first-time homebuyers. There is significant cultural aversion to debt, so 25 percent of Latinos have no credit score. That creates challenges for automated underwriting programs."

In Latin America, suggests Acosta, mortgage lending is "rare and you have high inflation so getting a long-term mortgage is hard, but you have consumers who are family-oriented, so they are good credit risks." On the upside, "they are loyal, so in terms of referrals, they are good," he says.

Acosta points out that Hispanic homebuyers prefer to communicate in Spanish if it is their first language. "Bilingual marketing support and the understanding of the drivers behind cultural characteristics" will go a long way with Hispanic homebuyers. "Realtors must become fluent in the products and services that the Hispanic market needs."

Published: September 14, 2004

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