Expo Empowers Latinos to Advance Their Dream of Buying a First Home
Los Angeles, CA –April 3, 2007— Hundreds of Latino first-time home buyers and their families convened at the Industry Hills Expo Center on Sunday, March 18th to learn valuable tips and practical approaches in buying a home. In a casual family setting, prospective home buyers immediately felt at ease and actively interacted in Spanish with scores of lenders, realtors, and relevant government agencies. On a typical house-hunting day for prospective home buyers, El Clasificado’s first-time home buyer expo grew into a very prominent Open House (and free) event that day, as prospects steadily poured in throughout the afternoon and up until closing.
Local realtors and lenders learned about buyer assistance programs offered by California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) and L.A. County Community Development Commission (L.A. County CDC), which offer training to lenders and opportunities to be on the “approved lender list” by some of these agencies. There were also informative presentations from representatives of HUD, the L.A. City Housing Department and the L.A. County Department of Public Works.
Local trends in the real estate market will create opportunities for those Latinos who have been waiting for real estate prices to come down before making their first transition from renting to owning. “Anyone familiar with the Hispanic market knows that Latinos generally save their accumulated wealth in unconventional ways because they simply don’t trust traditional financial institutions,” declared Martha de la Torre, Publisher and CEO of El Clasificado. “Events like Hogar, Mi Dulce Hogar serve to inform Hispanics about financial institutions and real estate service providers, and to educate our readers to take advantage of programs like the ones presented today.”
“With the information I obtained, I will avoid high mortgage payments on a home I plan to purchase,” exclaimed Juan Chavarría, a prospective first-time home buyer from Maywood, California. “I believe that El Clasificado should continue organizing more events so people can see the facts and [avoid predatory practices].”
“Hogar, Mi Dulce Hogar is an outstanding event that was very well organized,” exclaimed Silvia Delgadillo, Home Ownership Program Supervisor for the Los Angeles County CDC. “Since the event, our agency has received numerous individuals requesting additional information regarding our first time homebuyer programs. We are happy to have been a part of this event and to be able to help all the persons who attended.”
The expo also consisted of booths with helpful Real Estate professionals and financial institutions such as Countrywide, Wells Fargo, and Washington Mutual among others. Guests were entertained with various raffles throughout the afternoon.
“Hogar, Mi Dulce Hogar” is a free grassroots community expo whose aim is to guide Hispanics as they prepare to purchase their first home by offering a wide range of information for free and in Spanish. The second annual first time home buyer expo will be presented by El Clasificado in 2008.
El Clasificado (www.elclasificado.com) is the largest free Spanish-language classified weekly in the United States. More than 1 million readers utilize El Clasificado every week as a source of information on everything from health and education to consumer alerts and real estate. El Clasificado has a verified weekly circulation of 250,000 and is distributed in over 140 cities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. The company also offers Hispanic media solutions including websites, events, and mobile services.
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