Island Hispanics Living American Dream

More are buying homes and building equity instead of renting
Sunday, December 31, 2006
By KAREN O’SHEA
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

Fernando and Maria Moreno are not surprised to learn that they are part of the fastest-growing segment of the home buying population on Staten Island.

Census data show the number of Hispanic homeowners in the borough jumped 57.3 percent from 2000 to 2005, from 6,045 to 9,509 homeowners — at a faster rate than all other minority groups and white buyers.

Mexican immigrant Fernando Moreno, a construction worker, and his wife Maria rented for 15 years before purchasing their first home in Port Richmond last year with the help of Neighborhood Housing Services of Staten Island.

Moreno and other Latino home buyers believe rising rents along with the ubiquitous American desire to own a home are the catalysts prompting more Hispanics to buy. The number of Hispanic renters in the borough grew at a slower pace than home buyers, with a 38 percent increase in renters here from 2000 to 2005.

“I know a lot of Mexican people buying houses,” said Moreno, who said he’s paying more than when he was renting but he also has more security and is building equity with his new home, which cost $365,000.

Bernardo Perez, a Brooklyn resident who will close on his first home next month in Dongan Hills, agreed.

“You pay $1,500 just for the rent and whatever you are paying is going into a hole. Even if you pay a $3,000 mortgage, in five or four years, you have something of your own,” said Perez, a grocery store manager who found his home through Century 21 Safari Realty in West Brighton.

GROWING POWER

Safari Realty owner Fran Reali has recognized the growing buying power of Hispanics for several years, and in 2001, she reached out to Banco Popular to host a home buyer workshop for first-time Hispanic buyers. At the time, Mrs. Reali said the Latino home buying population here seemed “unnoticed or unserviced.”

Today, she said, that has changed, with more agencies hiring brokers who can speak Spanish. While her office does not track the ethnicity of its clients, she said it’s natural for Hispanic home buyers to increase as the Latino population here continues to jump.

The Hispanic population on Staten Island skyrocketed by 77 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to the Census Bureau. Hispanics represent the largest minority group on Staten Island today, with Latinos making up at least 13.7 percent of the borough’s population in 2002.

Forty-four percent of all Hispanic households in the borough are owned.

“We are the largest growing group on Staten Island and we come prepared,” said Carmen Gravagna, vice president of the Latino Civic Association on Staten Island.

She attributes much of the jump in homeownership to Hispanics tapping into educational opportunities and moving up the financial ladder, as other immigrant groups have done.

“You save, you work, you buy — everybody wants the American dream,” she said.

FOLLOWING THE DREAM

Mexican immigrants Fernando and Maria Moreno, both 39, followed that path.

They moved to the United States 15 years ago, saved for years and attended home buying classes at NHS of Staten Island before buying their first home last year.

Through the West Brighton-based nonprofit, they received an $18,400 federal home grant and an additional $21,540 in state funding to buy a home. They put the money toward a downpayment and closing costs for their two-family home.

While they are not U.S. citizens, the Morenos were able to purchase a home because they are legal immigrants with sufficient income and green cards, said Maria Garcia, a home ownership counselor with NHS who helped the Morenos obtain their loan.

Ms. Garcia said others are not so lucky. She said in some immigrant families one relative may have a green card but not the income, while the person making enough money to buy a house does not hold a green card.

Salvatore Prividera Jr., a spokesman for the New York State Association of Realtors, said fair housing laws prevent Realtors from tracking home buyers based on race, but he said the industry is seeing a variety of trends in the home-buying population today.

Prividera said a surging baby boom generation is also looking for new and different housing opportunities today.

“Certainly there are many niche markets beyond just those driven by culture,” he said.

Karen O’Shea covers real estate news for the Advance. She may be reached at oshea@siadvance.com.