Realtors speaking customers' language
Communication barriers fall in diversifying market
BY VANESSA GREGORY
e-mail: vgregory@bakersfield.com | Saturday, Oct 20 2007 2:40 PM

Last Updated: Saturday, Oct 20 2007 6:14 PM

Californian staff writer


Jesse Atondo explains to Maribel Miranda the options her family has in buying a home. Many of Atondo’s clients are Spanish speakers. He is a leading real estate agent in sales with Watson Realty.

With four Spanish-speaking assistants and a marketing strategy focused on the largely Hispanic farm towns of Arvin and Lamont, Jesse Atondo is one of a growing number of real estate professionals capitalizing on immigrant roots and multiple language fluency.

Last year, he says, he closed more than 60 homes. At least 50 sold to buyers in the Latino community. Many of them only spoke Spanish.

"You know, 95 percent of my business comes from the Latino community here in Kern County," Atondo said. "No doubt it's an edge. I have an advantage over people that just speak one language."

Realtors under 40, like the 27-year-old Atondo, are more likely to be fluent in a language other than English, according to the National Association of Realtors. Only 12 percent of real estate agents over 60 speak a second language, compared with 21 percent of younger real estate professionals, the association reports. About half of all agents who are fluent in a second language speak Spanish.

The son of farmworkers, Atondo got his real estate license after graduating from Cal State Bakersfield and noticing nearly all the real estate advertisements in the Arvin and Lamont community newspapers were printed in English. He still advertises in those papers, but today his business thrives on word-of-mouth referrals, Atondo said.

At Watson-Touchstone Real Estate, where Atondo works, sales manager J.R. Lewis says he does not go out of his way to hire bilingual agents, but recognizes fluency in a foreign language as a powerful tool to bring in more business.

"This is California in 2007," Lewis said. "Spanish is part of our business language."

And, increasingly, other languages matter, too, he said.

"We have a thriving Filipino community in Kern County," Lewis said. "The fact that we have agents that speak Tagalog is really important."

Lou Galsim, an agent fluent in Tagalog and several Filipino dialects, said being bilingual helps her succeed, even though the majority of her customers speak English.

"In a sense, there's more security for them," Galsim said. "In the sense that we speak the same language, there is a comfort, an assurance."

Deepinder Singh, a commercial real estate agent who speaks Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, said his experience with customers has been similar.

"When I'm talking to a Punjabi," Singh said, "it's in Punjabi."

He deals mainly in agricultural land, gas stations, convenience stores and other commercial properties from Bakersfield to Visalia. Singh, who started selling real estate in January, said being multilingual has sparked his new career.

"Bakersfield has a big community that's Punjabi," Singh said.

And while many of the immigrants he works with already run successful businesses and speak English, they may be less knowledgeable about real estate transactions, he said.

The Bakersfield Association of Realtors is surveying members to find out how many are bilingual, but results are not yet available, said spokeswoman Corrine Coats.

Local veterans suggest the percentage may be high. Terri Garcia, a Delano native who has been catering to Hispanic buyers and sellers for 18 years, said few bilingual agents worked in the real estate industry when she started her career.

"No, there were not very many at all," Garcia said. "There were just a few of us. Now it's very competitive."

New breed of agents

Young real estate professionals are more likely to be bilingual.

• 15 percent of Realtors are fluent in a language other than English.

• 21 percent of real estate professionals under 40 are fluent in a language other than English.

• 12 percent of Realtors age 60 and over speak a second language.

• 13 percent of Realtors under age 40 were born outside the United States.

• 7 percent of real estate professionals over 60 were born outside the United States.

Source: National Association of Realtors Member Profile

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