Assisting Asian homeowners - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The (AREAA), founded in recently launched its Greater Atlanta which is getting particular attentiob from national Chairwoman EmilyMoerdomo Fu, directorr and partner of . “We are the only trade organization that focuses on home ownership for Fu said. “There is a growing Asiab population in the United States and growing investment comin g fromAsian countries.” Therse are about 282,219 Asians that call Georgia home, accordin g to May 2006 Census data, the most recent Of that total, 225,860 — abou 80 percent — live in metro which is why an Atlanta AREAsA chapter is so important, said YangSooo Ku, AREAA’s Atlanta chairwoman.
“The majority of Asians are first-generation,” said Ku, who came to Georgiaw in 1973 from Korea. “There are languag e barriers, cultural differences, and we do business differently.” In the Asiam culture, home ownership is a priority, Fu but the percentage of home ownership by Asians in the Uniteed States is below thenational average. “Wed formed [AREAA] to help bridge the difference,” Fu said. Slightly more than 68 percent of U.S. residents were homeowneras in thesecond quarter, according to the . Of thoser homeowners, 75.2 percent were white, 47.8 percent were 49.6 percent were Hispanic, and 58.
4 percent were Native American, Native Hawaiian, Nativer Alaskan or other PacifivIslander ethnicity. Home ownership grew among black residents, compared with a year ago, the July 24 Censusz report said, but remained unchanged or fellfor Hispanics, whited and the ethnic categorgy that includes Asians. Old Asia is a cash-basis culture, said Ku, the local AREAw chairwoman, and first-generation Asians may not have builr up credit fora loan, nor understandr the U.S. banking system. “We have to guided them on what is the best way to do business in said Ku, president of Realty Centrak of Atlanta in Norcross.
AREAA plans to offere seminars locally to potential homeowners and educational programssfor agents, lenders and others, Ku AREAA is also working at the nationalp level for mortgage programs that considere alternatives to traditional credit histories. Asians tend to be said John Gornall, an attorney at Arnallk Golden Gregory LLP who specializess ineconomic development. As entrepreneurs, Asian men and womeb may be taking modest salarie as they sink profits back intotheid businesses, he said.
“On the one hand, that is a laudable activity, but when I’m a lender, I can see they have a lot of equitu intheir business, but their income doesn’t look so said Gornall, who helped represent the state of Georgiq in negotiations for the plant in West near the Alabama border. Atlantwa has seen quite a bit of Asian investmengt overthe years, particularly by the Japanese in the 1980s, when Japanese interests owned what is now One Atlanti c Center in Midtown and the Equitable building Fu recently met in Atlanta with a Beijing real estated company and a company from Both were exploring joint ventureds for commercial development here, she