Thread: Home ownership new 'rite of passage' for Valley immigrants

Home ownership new 'rite of passage' for Valley immigrants

By Kurtis Alexander - The Fresno Bee
Sunday, Apr. 22, 2012 | 01:21 AM

Many immigrant groups in the Valley are realizing their dreams of homeownership despite the economic and housing turmoil of the past decade.

Between 2000 and 2010, increasing numbers of Hmong, Indians, Salvadorans and other ethnic minorities bought homes in the region, continuing a longtime tradition of diversity in the central San Joaquin Valley, according to U.S. Census data released last week.

Asians, taken as a broad group, saw the biggest climb in homeownership. In Fresno County, for example, 54.6% of Asian households owned their home in 2010, up 7.5 percentage points over 2000. In Tulare County, Asian homeownership jumped 6 points to 64.4% last decade.

"We've always wanted to live the American Dream, and owning a piece of property was part of that," said Matthew Vu, 32, who is Hmong and among the growing number of Asians recently buying a home.

Vu, a supervisor at a manufacturing plant, saved for five years before he could afford his southeast Fresno house, close to where several family members live.

The increase in homebuying in many ethnic communities comes despite an overall decline in homeownership both in the Valley and across California. The housing crash and economic recession of the past decade have made owning a home more difficult for most.

Demographers credit the success of certain ethnic groups to their rapid assimilation into American culture.

"Immigrants are 10 years more settled than they were," said Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California. "The upward mobility of immigration is so strong that it can overcome the downturn of the rest of the economy."

Myers said that cultural mores, such as giving financial support to friends and family and taking pride in owning property, also drove home purchases.

Many, Myers added, bought homes in the latter part of the decade when the real estate market crash opened the door for the less affluent to get into the market.

Thien Huynh, 29, who is Vietnamese, said lower housing prices made it possible for him to buy. Huynh is a teacher at Fresno City College. He, his girlfriend and their 7-month-old daughter expect to close this month on the purchase of a house in northwest Fresno.

"After crunching the numbers, I realized it was more economically efficient to buy," said Huynh, who has been renting in the Sunnyside area.

Huynh's parents emigrated from Laos after the Vietnam War under the threat of Communism. Huynh said it was his parents' vision to see their children succeed in America.

"Because it was such an ordeal for them to get over here and raise us in a foreign place, it was a really good feeling to buy" a home, Huynh said. "It's kind of like a rite of passage for me."

The Vietnamese community in Fresno County saw among the greatest increases in homeownership over the past decade, up 16.5 percentage points to 59.2% of households, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Fresno County's Hmong community, the most populous Asian group in the county, saw homeownership jump 18 percentage points to 34.5%, the census shows. Indians, Filipinos, Laotians, Japanese and Chinese -- the county's largest Asian groups after Hmong, in order -- also logged more home purchases last decade.

Despite gains for many minority groups, whites continued to have the Valley's highest rates of homeownership among the broad racial categories defined by the census. In Fresno County, for example, 67.6% of white households owned their home in 2010.

White homeownership rates, however, were down slightly from 2000. This was the case in Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Madera counties, as well as most parts of California.

HOME OWNERSHIP - Business - fresnobee.com

I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with the Grants that are being paid by Hud through the neighborhood stabilization project "Grantees" that include the old ACORN and LaRaza? Hud has stopped listing the grantees on their website.

It would be an interesting way to redistribute homes.....


Fannie Mae Hones "First Look" Program for REO Property Sales

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/fannie-mae-hones-first-look-program-for-reo-property-sales-2010-05-03

HUD National First Look Program

http://www.stabilizationtrust.com/partnerships/hud/

HUD Launches ‘First Look’ Program for Foreclosed Homes

By Donna Kimura
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has unveiled a “first look” or right-of-first-refusal program for select state and local governments and nonprofit organizations to purchase foreclosed homes.
The National First Look Program is the first public-private partnership agreement between HUD and the National Community Stabilization Trust.
The program aims to give communities participating in HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) a brief exclusive opportunity to buy bank-owned properties in certain neighborhoods so the homes can be rehabilitated, rented, resold, or demolished.
“This groundbreaking agreement will help rebuild neighborhoods that have been struggling with blight and declining home values due to foreclosures,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in a statement. “Local communities will now get an exclusive option to buy foreclosed properties in targeted neighborhoods so they can turn the homes into affordable housing or, in some cases, tear them down. This agreement helps us level the playing field to give communities a better chance to stabilize these neighborhoods.”
HUD and the Stabilization Trust, working with different financial servicers, will standardize the acquisition process for NSP grantees, giving them an exclusive option to purchase homes in targeted neighborhoods.
This will help NSP grantees, which include state and local governments and nonprofits, to compete with private investors for properties.
Financial institutions participating in the First Look program include Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Deutsche Bank, GMAC, Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial Corp., Saxon Mortgage Services. U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration.
Under the program, NSP grantees will be notified when a property becomes available and will have 24 to 48 hours to express interest in purchasing the property. NSP purchasers will also have the opportunity to buy real estate-owned properties at a discount and with the assistance of NSP funds.
After expressing interest in a property, the first-look period will last about five to 12 business days during which the NSP grantee will conduct inspections and establish costs to repair the property in anticipation of the financial institution’s offer.
Affordable Housing Finance - News


Neighborhood Stabilization Program Grants

Introduction

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) was established for the purpose of stabilizing communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment. Through the purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed and abandoned homes and residential properties, the goal of the program is being realized. NSP1, a term that references the NSP funds authorized under Division B, Title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008, provides grants to all states and selected local governments on a formula basis.
NSP2, a term that references the NSP funds authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Recovery Act) of 2009, provides grants to states, local governments, nonprofits and a consortium of nonprofit entities on a competitive basis. The Recovery Act also authorized HUD to establish NSP-TA, a $50 million allocation made available to national and local technical assistance providers to support NSP grantees.
NSP3, a term that references the NSP funds authorized under the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) of 2010, provides a third round of neighborhood stabilization grants to all states and select governments on a formula basis.

NSP Resource Exchange

NSP Resource Exchange is a one-stop shop for the information and resources needed by NSP grantees, subrecipients and developers to purchase, rehabilitate, and resell foreclosed properties. There are three primary components to the Resource Exchange site including:

• Find a Resource - a database of policy guidance, practitioner support tools and training materials developed by HUD and technical assistance providers who specialize in NSP-related activities. It can be browsed by topic, audience, or type of information.
• Ask a Question a feature that can be used to direct users to previously asked questions based on the user's questions. It also provides users with a question form that can be submitted electronically for those questions and answers that are not listed on the website.
• Request TA a mechanism by which users can communicate with technical assistance providers and request support in implementing NSP activities

The NSP Resource Exchange can also be used to learn about upcoming events related to NSP and coming soon the site will feature tool kits for designing programs and implementing activities.
Neighborhood Stabilization Program Grants/U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)


https://hudnsphelp.info/index.cfm