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You are invited to join SAREAA, a site that helps first time South Asian Homebuyers realize their American Dream of Home Ownership.


CCIM-News

Cultural Diversity Education Program Overview

The CCIM Institute has created a "Cultural Diversity Education Program (CDEP).” The purpose of the CDEP is to develop a critical mass of minority CCIM designees who can positively impact their respective communities and the commercial real estate industry in general. At present, African-Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian-Americans are underrepresented in both the commercial real estate industry and within CCIM Institute.

Through the program, qualified minority real estate professionals are introduced to CCIM Institute Education. More than 500 minority students, including Yogendra Singh, President, South Asian Real Estate Association of America, have completed the two-day CI Introduction to Commercial Investment Real Estate course since the program began. Others have gone on to earn the CCIM Designation. In 2007, CCIM Institute will host courses in select markets. CCIM Institute also offers those who have completed the CI Intro course, discounts on tuition for the challenging five-day Core Courses, which are required to earn the CCIM Designation.

Criteria

Selecting candidates can be a challenging process. All applicants must meet the following criteria:

•	Minority applicant
•	Permanent resident and/or U.S. citizen
•	Individual is not currently nor has never been a member of the Institute
•	Active in the real estate profession and/ or related profession

To get more information visit www.ccim.com

A Heavenly Home

By Pamela Dittmer McKuen
Chicago Tribune, August 26, 2007

Ramesh Krishnan and his son Chandrashekar, with real estate agent T.R. Viswanathan, at the Krishnan house in Aurora. In keeping with Krishnan's beliefs, the house is situated far from neighboring homes so as not to obstruct the energy flow.

For more people, buying a home is becoming an act of faith.

Not because of the turmoil in the mortgage market. But rather the increasing diversity of the population and the effort to meet their spiritual needs.

"On the North Shore, a sizable portion of our population is Asian," said Haley Hwang of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Glenview and a corporate diversity trainer. "Many of the Asians are Indians, and Indians can be Hindu or Muslim. And there is a huge Jewish population."

"These [different religious] practices create a different kind of buying evaluation," added Jackie Williams, who owns Sterling Realtors in Middletown, Conn.

Some buyers will pay more for a front door that faces a certain direction to bring good fortune or for a second kitchen for kosher food preparation, she said.

"Religious consumers will spend more than non-religious consumers to make sure they have what they need," Williams said. "Or they won't buy the house."

Rabbi Yosef Carmel, who heads Jerusalem's Eretz Hemdah Institute, a rabbinical seminary, outlines features that make a home Orthodox: a large kitchen with two sinks and dual appliances for the separate preparation of meat and dairy; dining room for serving extended family and guests, perhaps with a sink for ritual hand-washing before eating bread; and timers for lights, appliances and air conditioning. Read more...


Forthcoming International Event

AIREEC, Asian International Real Estate Expo & Conference, Manila
www.AIREEC.com

December 6 - 10, 2007 AIREEC, Manila, Philippines International Convention Center. The 1st Asian International Real Estate Expo & Conference (AIREEC) 2007 is a groundbreaking event that will bring to Asia all real estate developers, practitioners, trade organizations, speakers, investors, professionals, government sectors and end-users, gathering nearly 10,000 participants and 400 corporations from 54 different countries.

AIREEC 2007 will be the ultimate venue for exploring, networking, promoting and growing your business not just in Asia but also in the global arena. It will provide an exclusive platform for around 1,000 of the world's top industry players for exploring new business opportunities and forging new partnerships in Asia, covering 50 sectors of activities and bringing together millions of dollars in business transactions.

Road to Cultural Harmony

The “Road to Cultural Harmony” an evening of entertainment was held on November 18 at Chandni Restaurant, Newark to celebrate the success of the first BAMCRES, Bay Area Multi-Cultural Real Estate Summit held at Elks Lodge, San Mateo on October 25th. The success of the BAMCRES has encouraged the Bay Area real estate associations to go forward and organize such multicultural events in future too.



The Road Cultural Harmony event attracted leaders from diverse ethnic community associations and prompted them to form an Alliance, Multi-Cultural Real Estate Alliance to conduct BAMCRES in 2008 and future years. SAREAA has taken an initiative in bringing together the diverse ethnic real estate associations and the event on November 18 was the precursor for the formation of Multi-Cultural Real Estate Alliance in Bay Area. Wai-Yew Lam, President, AREA-EB, Asian Real Estate Association of East Bay, Jakaria Stewart, President, AAEDARA, African American Economic Development Association of America, Dexter Lat, President, Filipino American Real Estate Professionals Association attended the event and welcomed the coming together of the diverse communities on one platform to create cultural harmony.





SAREAA President briefed the audience on the AREAA Convention held in Las Vegas November 11-13 and showed plaque presented to SAREAA at the event. He also mentioned that SAREAA has been invited to participate in AIREEC, Asian International Real Estate Expo and Conference in Manila, Philippines, December 6 – 10 and he will be representing SAREAA at this event as a Speaker. He informed that NAR has helped formation of NARI, National Association of REALTORS of India in India recently. He also informed that SAREAA membership has passed 350 and advancing fast to 500 members by the beginning of 2008.


About SAREAA

SAREAA has a mission to promote the general success of South Asian American real estate professionals by providing the opportunities to network with fellow real estate professionals serving South Asian American housing market, through a nationwide network.

SAREAA membership is presently FREE to all Real Estate practitioners who abide by the NAR code of ethics and are serving the South Asian American communities helping them realize their American Dream of Homeownership. To join SAREAA, visit www.SAREAA.com.

SAREAA, the South Asian Real Estate Association of America has been incorporated in the State of California as a Non Profit Mutual Benefit Corporation and is dedicated to the mission of providing the Consumers resources that will help them realize their American Dream of homeownership.

SAREAA will provide the consumers a web based countrywide database of real estate professionals who speak South Asian languages and or understand the real estate needs of the South Asian communities. The users will be able to search the database of real estate practitioners easily by visiting the web site www.SAREAA.com and clicking on the "Find a Member" link.

SAREAA is also developing SAHARAA, a multilingual resource center that will help both the consumers and real estate practitioners & affiliated businesses understand the real estate and mortgage processes in their language of choice. The consumers can visit the web site www.SAHARAA.org and learn about the home buying, selling, mortgage loan and other financial assistance programs by choosing the language of their choice, that is, English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu or Bengali.

"SAREAA will be an important resource in our community" said Colleen Badagliacco, President, California Association of REALTORS® while commending the efforts made by SAREAA in developing a multilingual resource center.

Allen M Okamoto, Chairman, Asian Real Estate Association of America has rightly said that, "It is groups such as SAREAA that will help close the homeownership gap experienced by Asians" and "will create a level playing field so that all Asians will have the equal opportunity to compete for the American Dream of Homeownership".

"Building the Community with Bricks and Trust" is the slogan for SAREAA.

SAREAA membership is free to real estate practitioners and affiliates who believe in helping the communities realize their American Dream of homeownership.

To join SAREAA visit www.SAREAA.com or write to SAREAA, P O Box 18243, San Jose, CA 95158.

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