ATLANTA — Two months ago, all Alina Arguello had to do to find Latino home buyers was put up a sign and answer her phone.
But ever since Georgia passed one of the most stringent and far-reaching immigration laws in the nation, the number of Latino buyers who call the Re/Max agent's home office in suburban Atlanta has dwindled from about 10 to two a day.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday June 29, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 80 words Type of Material: Correction
Latino home buyers: A June 19 Section A article about Georgia's Latino housing market said real estate agent Diego Castaneda had two clients who were illegal immigrants and had pulled out of housing contracts after the state's adoption of an immigration law. Castaneda said he did not know -- and was not required to know -- the immigration status of his clients. One buyer pulled out because his check-cashing business was financially dependent on immigrants; the other cited family reasons.
"We're seeing a drastic drop," she said. "There's just a tremendous amount of people who want homes, but are not calling." Many real estate agents and mortgage providers who cater to Spanish-speaking immigrants across Georgia say that the flourishing Latino home buying market has faltered since April, when Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.
Almost immediately, Latino home buyers pulled out of contracts. Some who had already bought, put their homes on the market. And many prospective buyers stopped searching for homes.
Although Georgia's new legislation does not prohibit illegal immigrants from owning property, many wonder whether they will want to live in Georgia when it begins to come into effect in July 2007.
The law will require companies with state contracts to verify employees' immigration status, penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, curtail many government benefits to illegal immigrants and require that jailers check the immigration status of anyone who is charged with a felony or driving under the influence.
"For Latinos, buying a home is the American dream, but, you know, at this time they are hesitant to accomplish that dream," said Eliezer Velez, who provides housing advice for immigrants through Atlanta's Latin American Assn.
The recent caution among Latino home buyers has caught many real estate professionals off guard.
In recent years, the Latino housing market has become one of the most dynamic and robust sectors of the ailing industry. A growing number of lenders now fund home loans with Individual Tax Identification Numbers, introduced by the U.S. Treasury a decade ago to collect taxes from illegal workers. The down payment required for these loans has dropped from about 10% to 3% in the last few years.
In Georgia -- home to the second-fastest growing Latino population in the nation -- 37% of Latinos are homeowners, according to the 2000 census. The number of homes purchased by Latinos in metro Atlanta jumped from about 3,500 in 1999 to 8,500 in 2004, according to data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
