In an effort to meet the needs of Spanish-speaking home buyers in California, the California Association of REALTORS® has launched Sucasa.net (http://www.sucasa.net), a brand new Spanish-language property search website.
Sucasa.net shares the same multiple listing service data as its sister website, California Living Network®, powered by the National Association of Realtors' realtor.com (http://ca.realtor.com). However, Sucasa.net offers Spanish-speaking home buyers an opportunity to search for homes using common sorting characteristics such as city, price range, and number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Results appear in a list or on a map, with driving directions available in Spanish. Additionally, REALTORS® can forward property links to their clients in Spanish. The Sucasa.net property search is available for the entire state of California.
"C.A.R. is pleased to introduce one of the most robust Spanish language property search websites for Spanish-speaking home buyers in California," said LeFrancis Arnold, the state Realtor group president. "With Spanish ranking as the second most widely spoken language in the U.S. and Spanish speakers making up nearly 35 percent of California's population, we recognize the market potential for this home buyer population."
Other Sucasa.net features include predictive text which appears in the "city" field when three characters are entered; property search results that show how many listings are available for each bedroom (available listings are shown in parenthesis after the number of bedrooms); and a brief property description (in Spanish) can be seen if searching for properties on the map view.
Studies show by 2040, Latinos will make up the largest population group in the Silicon Valley region (San Mateo and Santa Clara counties). Former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales shared this and other important information about the Latino population at a meeting of the National Hispanic Organization of Real Estate Associates (NHORA) in San Jose last summer. Gonzales said Latinos have been hit hard by the economic meltdown and many have lost their jobs and homes. He addressed the lagging home ownership rate among the Latino population and shared findings that show housing affordability is beyond the reach of 61 percent of Latinos and that Latinos spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent or mortgage payments. According to the Census Bureau, statewide, the home ownership rate is 58 percent, compared to 48 percent among Hispanics.
At the meeting Gene Lentz, 2011 president of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®, pledged support for expanding home ownership to include all races. "We're all components of different communities that make up the Bay Area community," said Lentz. "The goal of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® is to promote home ownership for everyone. It's a challenging market and easy for consumers to be taken advantage of in this market, so it's important for us as professionals to take a lead."
The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.
The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.
For further information, please email or call the SILVAR office at (408) 200-0100.