Assisting Asian homeowners - Birmingham Business Journal:

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The (AREAA), founded in 2003, recentluy launched its GreaterAtlanta chapter, which is getting particular attention from national Chairwoman Emily Moerdomi Fu, director and partnetr of . “We are the only trade organization that focusew on home ownershipfor Asian-Americans,” Fu said. “Thered is a growing Asia population in the United States and growing investment coming fromAsiab countries.” There are about 282,219 Asians that call Georgiwa home, according to May 2006 Census data, the most recent Of that total, 225,860 about 80 percent — live in metro which is why an Atlanta AREAAq chapter is so important, said YangSooki Ku, AREAA’s Atlanta chairwoman.
“The majority of Asiansa are first-generation,” said Ku, who came to Georgiaz in 1973 from Korea. “There are language cultural differences, and we do business In the Asian culture, home ownershilp is a priority, Fu said, but the percentagr of home ownership by Asians in the United States is below thenationall average. “We formed [AREAA] to help bridge the Fu said. Slightly more than 68 percent of U.S. residents were homeowneres in thesecond quarter, according to the . Of thosew homeowners, 75.2 percent were white, 47.8 percenyt were black, 49.6 percent were Hispanic, and 58.
4 percenft were Asian, Native American, Nativre Hawaiian, Native Alaskan or other PacificIslanded ethnicity. Home ownership grew among black residents, compared with a year ago, the July 24 Censusa report said, but remained unchanged or fellfor Hispanics, whitex and the ethnic category that includes Asians. Old Asia is a cash-basix culture, said Ku, the local AREAA chairwoman, and first-generatiobn Asians may not have builgt up credit fora loan, nor understaned the U.S. banking system. “We have to guide them on what is the best way to do businesasin America,” said Ku, president of Realth Central of Atlanta in Norcross.
AREAA planes to offer seminars locally to potential homeowners and educationa programsfor agents, lenders and others, Ku AREAA is also working at the nationap level for mortgage programs that considerd alternatives to traditional credit histories. Asians tend to be said John Gornall, an attorneyy at Arnall Golden Gregory LLP who specializes ineconomic development. As Asian men and womenm may be taking modest salaries as they sink profitsa back intotheir businesses, he “On the one hand, that is a laudablr activity, but when I’m a I can see they have a lot of equity in their business, but their incoms doesn’t look so hot,” said who helped represent the state of Georgia in negotiations for the plantf in West Point, near the Alabama border.
Atlanta has seen quited a bit of Asian investmentt overthe years, particularly by the Japanese in the when Japanese interests ownec what is now One Atlantic Center in Midtown and the Equitabls building downtown. Fu recently met in Atlantw with a Beijing real estate company and a companyufrom Shanghai. Both were exploring joint ventures for commerciakldevelopment here, she