More Hispanics say: Why pay rent?
EAST BOSTON - When Iris Perez was summoned to Boston Housing Court last April, she had a strangely familiar feeling. She had been to the court several years ago to defend herself in a dispute with her landlord. Now, she was the landlord.
Perez and her husband, Civiliano Alvir, had purchased their first home recently and were trading accusations with tenants of the East Boston triple-decker.
The lawyer who had represented her in the earlier case was now sitting across the aisle, defending her tenants. It was a disconcerting reversal, she said. But, it also highlighted Perez's rise in fortune since she emigrated from El Salvador in 1988 at age 20. Buying their first home marked a new chapter for Perez and her husband, a Guatemalan immigrant, whom she met and married in Boston.
``My life has changed,'' she said. ``I feel more secure and comfortable here.''
Perez, Alvir, and their three children, who reached an agreement with the tenants and moved into their new home last summer, are among thousands of area Hispanic families making the transition from renters to homeowners in the last few years, as more members of the state's largest minority group improve their economic status and begin putting down roots.
``The Hispanic community was always thinking about returning to their home countries one day,'' said Madelline Vega, director of Home Owner Services at Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation in Roxbury. ``Now, they are more aware that they are going to be here 10 years or 15 years or maybe forever. If they can purchase a home, they know it is an investment not only for their futures but for the community. They don't want to keep on running from neighborhood to neighborhood.''
Vega's group and others in the Boston area have been instrumental in sparking the current interest in home buying among Hispanics. The groups offer literature, first-time buyer courses, and personal counseling in Spanish, eliminating the language barrier that had been a major obstacle for many.
These new homebuyers tend to be younger, earn less money, and have fewer assets than most white and black buyers, according to a study by the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Yet, Hispanics here are qualifying for mortgage loans in greater numbers than Hispanics in other parts of the country, said Richard Walker, assistant vice president and community affairs officer at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston.
``National statistics show mortgage lending to Hispanics is down,'' said Walker. ``But in Massachusetts, we've begun to see a higher level of lending.''
Jose and Janet Chavez first thought about buying a home shortly after Janet left the Dominican Republic to join her husband in Boston in 1989. They spent three years saving for the down payment on the Hyde Park home they and their two children moved into last year.
``It's a little bit of a struggle, because we are paying a little more than when we were renting,'' said Jose. ``But, it's lovely. It's ours, like putting money in the bank. If we decide to leave for our country one day, we will leave the house for our children.''
Anthony Giacalone, of Tony's Realty in East Boston, said he now sells first homes to many of the same customers who rented apartments through his agency when Hispanics first started moving into the neighborhood in the early 1990s.
``People didn't know they could do it,'' said Giacalone. ``Now, it seems like the buyers are self-motivated. They don't need to be told, they realize they are eligible for mortgage loans.''
Real estate agents and program administrators said another indication of the growing sophistication is an ability to navigate the real estate market and the frequently changing labyrinth of assistance programs.
``They are realizing that rents are so high that it makes sense to buy,'' said Betsaida Gutierrez, coordinator of the Latino homebuying program at City Life/Vita Urbana.
Kimairys Colon, 36 and a mother of three, said her government-assisted monthly mortgage payments are lower than the rent on her old Roxbury apartment. The single-family house in Roslindale is also roomier and has a garden.
Beyond the monthly savings and added space, Colon said, home ownership inspires her to set a good example for her three children: ``When you buy a home, you have a greater incentive to work, be responsible and get ahead.''
City Life/Vita Urbana in Jamaica Plain and Nuestra Comunidad in Roxbury began offering classes exclusively in Spanish two years ago. Neighborhood of Affordable Housing in East Boston runs half its classes in Spanish, while Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, and the Allston/Brighton Community Development Corporation offer some classes and counseling in Spanish. Boston and Cambridge city governments also offer Spanish services. Response has been so strong, many of those running the programs said they have had to turn people away or put them on waiting lists. Even in Somerville, where city services are only in English, Latino immigrants are tapping the programs.
``We have a high percentage of Haitian, Portuguese, and Spanish-speaking people who go through our programs,'' said Paula Steward, Somerville housing director. ``What they do is bring a family member or friend to help them through the process.''
Nevertheless, lending institutions including Fannie Mae, commercial banks, and mortgage companies have beefed up services in Spanish.
We are seeing a big interest in our first-time home buying classes,'' said Carol Paige-Rodrigue, senior program manager at Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, one of a handful of neighborhood development organizations that launched classes exclusively in Spanish a few years ago.
Armando Tautiva, a bilingual loan officer with Citizens Bank, who came to the country from Colombia as a boy, is among a growing number of bankers, real estate agents, lawyers, and other Hispanic professionals who speak to potential buyers in their own language.
``They feel owning a home is the first step toward becoming truly American,'' he said.
One reason for enhanced banker interest is the Community Reinvestment Act, a 1970s law requiring banks to prove they serve lower-income members of the communities where they operate. Bankers and mortgage company executives have also discovered new business opportunities in traditionally underserved minority communities, and have responded aggressively.
Peter Campen, an associate professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, has studied government-assisted first-time home buyer programs offering down payment and other assistance to low- and medium-income people between 1990 and 1996. Hispanic buyers made up nearly 20 percent of participants, equal to more than three times their presence in the state population in 1996. According to the 1996 data, mortgage lending in Boston rose by 29 percent for Hispanics, compared with an overall growth rate of 22 percent.
``They represent the big untapped markets,'' Campen said. ``We are seeing the beginning of an important movement.''
Still, he cautioned against too much optimism. While the number of home loans more than tripled statewide during the period, as a group, Hispanics only captured 3.1 percent of loans in 1996. Home ownership among blacks and Hispanics continues to lag far behind white home ownership nationwide, he said.
The wealth of Spanish-language information has permitted Hispanics to take advantage of mortgage programs that target minorities and lower income-families. Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville city governments offer first-time buyer programs and closing cost and down payment assistance to low- and moderate-income residents using local and US Department of Housing and Urban Development funds.
Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America and Acorn offer additional lending assistance. The Washington-based Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp. also channels funds and counseling services to Boston home buyers through Nuestra Comunidad and East Boston's Neighborhood of Affordable Housing.
``We have definitely seen an increase in Hispanic buyers,'' said Charles Grigsby, director of the Boston Department of Neighborhood Development.
The city of Boston offered down payment and other assistance to 153 Hispanic first-time home buyers during fiscal year '98 that ended June 30. That was double the number of Hispanics who used the program two years earlier, according to others in Grigsby's office.
Somerville officials said they don't keep records by race. In Cambridge, city and nonprofit groups recently provided 58 new units to low-income residents, including eight Hispanics, according to Cambridge Housing Director Roger Herzog.
Also on the rise are the numbers of Hispanic families who are buying homes with little or no financial assistance. Walker, at the Federal Reserve, said most loans made to Hispanic home buyers are ``conventional loans with no government financing.''
This story ran on page 01 of the Boston Globe's City Weekly
on 10/18/98.
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