Real Estate News for Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Freddie Mac, AREAA Team Up to Help Asian Americans in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles Overcome Homeownership Obstacles. To help remove some of the homeownership challenges faced by the Asian American communities in Chicago, Houston and Southern California, Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) is teaming up with the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), prominent mortgage lenders, mortgage insurers and housing counseling organizations. This initiative is designed to address language and cultural barriers, lack of knowledge about the homebuying process and other challenges identified in recent research. These barriers are keeping many Asian Americans from pursuing their dream of homeownership. To gain a better understanding of how the Asian American community perceives homeownership, and their homebuying behaviors and challenges, Freddie Mac and AREAA have both published separate reports on their websites: http://www.freddiemac.com/corporate/reports/ and http://www.areaa.org. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Asians are the second fastest growing ethnic population in the U.S., and number 13.5 million, or approximately 5 percent of the total U.S. population. The U.S. homeownership rate for Asians is 60 percent, compared to 76 percent for non-minorities. Click here to read more.

Sales of Pleasure Boats Buoyed by Soaring Home Values. Buyers flock to the L.A. Boat Show. California purchases rose about 8% last year to $540 million. In California, retail sales of recreational boats — from runabouts to $4-million luxury yachts — rose about 8% last year to a record $540 million, continuing a growth trend over the last five years, according to the Southern California Marine Assn. A similar increase is expected in 2006. Though some economists worry that too many people are overextending themselves, the boating industry considers itself lucky that business is humming despite high gasoline prices. Aside from the real estate market, the $33-billion-a-year U.S. boating industry also has been helped by improved technology that makes it easier to dock boats, more-reliable engines and favorable demographics. Many baby boomers, for example, are buying big boats as second homes. Click here to read more.

~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
1655 E. Sixth St.
Beaumont, CA 92223
Work: 951-845-5520 Ext. 105
Fax: 951-845-4916
Cell: 909-446-2666
Toll-Free: 1-877-TINAJAN
tina.jan@coldwellbanker.com
www.tinajan.com