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Joe Han, managing broker for Keller Williams Realty in Cupertino listens to a question before directing it to his company's panel of Asian REALTORS® (left to right) Harvey Young, Mimi Wang, Niru Pujare and Grace Pak.
According to 2010 U.S. Census 2010 data, Asian Americans were the fastest growing ethnic or racial group in California, rising 31.5 percent since 2000. In fact, Cupertino’s proportions of Indian and Chinese Americans are the highest in Santa Clara County. This is why Joe Han, managing broker with Keller Williams Realty in Cupertino, decided to introduce SILVAR members to a panel of Asian American REALTORS® from his office. At a Cupertino/Sunnyvale District tour meeting this month, the panel with Harvey Young, who is Chinese American; Mimi Wang, Vietnamese American; Niru Pujare, Indian; and Grace Pak, Korean American, shared their respective backgrounds, the role their culture plays in business, and practical tips to use when dealing with Asian American clients.
Han explained the Asian culture is probably the most difficult culture to understand because it has many subgroups. While the subgroups share some general traits, they also have their own distinct values and beliefs.
Traits shared by Asians are their sense of courtesy and hospitality. They value social relationships and form them before business relationships. Young said it’s a way of developing trust between business partners. In the Asian culture, trust means everything in business. With Indians trust goes so far that most Indian clients will only work with people they know, so referral is always best, Pujare noted.
Asians are very family-oriented; extended family is considered just as important. When a couple brings many family members to see a house, it is just as important to pay attention to them, especially the elders. It is also common for parents to financially contribute toward the purchase of a home for their children, said Wang. In some instances, the parents will have the final say.
Greeting clients can differ across the Asian subgroups. Pay attention to receiving and presenting business cards. Hand your business card and receive their business card with both hands while facing them. Never write on the business card or place the card in your back pocket.
Chinese Americans shake hands, but Vietnamese and Koreans bow to the elderly and make no eye contact. Pujare said Indian clients from the city may shake a woman’s hand, but if they come from a small town, they are more conservative and will not shake hands with a woman.
Young said when it comes to negotiation and decision making, among Chinese Americans the person making the most money usually makes the decisions. Wang said among the Vietnamese the husband makes the decisions, but the wife and parents have a big impact. Pujare said in the Indian culture the wife chooses the home, but the husband makes final decisions regarding money.
Asians have a strong sense of faith, but are also superstitious and pay attention to numbers, colors, and the principles of Feng Shui. When presenting a gift, a practice in many Asian cultures, do not give knives, a clock or scissors because these items signify death, cautioned Wang. Pak said Koreans will say no when initially presented with a gift, but continue to offer until the client takes it. Also, when dining with clients, Koreans take the lead from the eldest in the group.
Colors do not have the same meaning to all Asians. To the Chinese, the color red means good luck; to Koreans, it means mourning or death. White for most Asians signifies death and is worn at funerals, while black can be worn to weddings. The color purple is not worn to happy events because it is a sign that happiness “won’t last.”
The numbers 3 and 7 are lucky for Koreans and 9 means long life, so pricing an item $99.99 is good, said Pak. Young said the Chinese believe 8 is a lucky number and 4 is an unlucky number because the pronunciations of these numbers sound like words that mean wealth and death, respectively. He said many Chinese avoid the digit 4 in their phone number and home address, so don’t be surprised if they ask you to change a house number or a document that has this page number.
Pujare said Asian Indians don’t attach meaning to colors and numbers, but they are particular about direction. Don’t bother showing Indian clients a house that faces south; if it faces east then that’s all right, she said. Pak said Koreans are amenable to having a living area in the south, but they will not like a home if the stairway is by the bathroom, or if the stove is across from the sink because “fire and water don’t mix.”
See more tips in Han’s presentation “Better Understanding of Asian American Cultures.”
Late last month, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, joined by Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, announced a series of new homeowner regulations aimed at enhancing the standards and training for estimating the replacement value on homeowners insurance in the event of a disaster. These new regulations also represent a concerted effort to significantly curb the common problem of underinsurance that many homeowners face.
The new regulations include provisions for laying out requirements applicable to replacement value and replacement cost estimates to create a more consistent, comprehensive and accurate replacement cost calculation; setting forth training standards for agents and brokers who sell homeowners insurance; creating standards for real estate appraisers who estimate replacement cost for insurance purposes; requiring the application of certain standards when estimating replacement and construction costs; and establishing record keeping requirements.
The regulation addresses how insurance companies communicate with their customers when they are making a sale, ensuring they give them complete and accurate information and not mislead them. According to Commissioner Jones and complaints filed with the Department, when policies are sold to customers there has been confusion about what a “replacement cost” estimate actually covers. This regulation clears up that confusion. Insurance companies are not required to provide an estimate, but if they do, it must be complete and include certain components.
SILVAR is happy to announce great news and another free benefit for members. Instanet has officially released tablet support. PRDS subscribers are now able to log in to create transactions, forms and edit forms just like you currently do using your desktop or laptop. You can access PRDS Forms on Instanet on popular Apple, Windows and Android-based tablet devices such as the iPad/iPad2, Xoom, Galaxy, Playbook and others at no additional charge.
Instanet’s approach has been to make its site “tablet friendly,” rather than require users to learn an entirely new interface and download an app for a certain device. The goal is to provide as many features as possible on as many devices as possible.
As a current PRDS/Instanet user, all you need to do is log into your existing Instanet account through your tablet browser and you will automatically be accessing the new version. There is no new software to install or apps to download.
Most system functions will already work on the tablet. As Instanet makes more features “tablet ready,” it will give SILVAR updates for users. Instanet will also post a system message for users logging in on tablets, so they are aware of the updates.
PRDS and Instanet Solutions are pleased to bring this mobile technology to SILVAR members.
The Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation presented a $1,500 grant to Project Read – Menlo Park Literacy Partners at Tuesday’s Menlo Park/Atherton District meeting.
Project Read-Menlo Park Literacy Partners is a free adult literacy program that offers one-on-one literacy instruction for adults with the help of volunteer tutors, to help improve reading, writing, and pronunciation skills in English. Programs include one-on-one tutoring, adult basic education, English as a Second Language (ESL), families for literacy and computer literacy lab. The program is supported in part by the City of Menlo Park. This year, Literacy Partners, a new nonprofit group, formed to support adult literacy in Menlo Park and now focuses on fundraising for the program.
Charitable Foundation Trustee John Tripp is pictured here with Roberta Roth of Project Read-Menlo Park with the big check.
Charitable Foundation Trustee John Tripp presented the check to Roberta Roth, literacy outreach specialist and board member of Literacy Partners. Roth thanked SILVAR members for their constant support during the past four years. She said need has grown and invited members to volunteer as tutors. Roth said Project Read also accepts donations of computers to help support its computer literacy workshops. Anyone interested in donating a computer may contact the Menlo Park Library at (650)330-2500.
Helpful, cheerful, professional, efficient, friendly, courteous, respectful – these are just some of the many words senior homeowners used to describe this year’s RSVP (REALTOR® Service Volunteer Program) volunteers. They were also called “angels” and “little elves” by some of the scores of seniors who sent in their feedback and wrote lengthy comments expressing their deep appreciation for the helping hands they received during RSVP Week in May.
“I’m 85 with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) breathing problems, so I can do less at this time. It is so nice to have four happy people come and do chores that are hard for you. Thank you,” wrote a Mountain View senior homeowner.
One Saratoga senior wrote, “I am delighted! It was lots of fun to be visited by such an outstanding and friendly team and to have such expert help with chores that I have been unable to do. Many thanks! This is a wonderful gift for you to give. I appreciate you!”
Another senior wrote, “Your volunteers were truly dedicated to helping people. In my case, two cataract operations left me without glasses and I really needed their kind help. Thank you so much.”
“We were very pleased with the work. The woman and man who came were very nice and professional. Thank you all so much. We really appreciate your help!” wrote a Los Gatos couple.
A Palo Alto senior wrote, “It’s such a treat to have met these lovely people and to bask in the luxury of the great things they did for me. I am so impressed and pleased.”
Another Palo Alto resident wrote, “Year after year they have helped a ‘loner.’” “I have nothing but high praises for the three young people that filled our request to the fullest,” wrote a senior from Sunnyvale.
Still another homeowner wrote, “I like this program and talking with young people. It gives me the feeling of being cared for and about.”
“It’s wonderful to know that there are caring people out there. Thanks so much for your kindness,” a Los Altos senior conveyed his thanks.
A Menlo Park senior citzen’s thank you card read, “The yard looks so much better – hope my daughter will now be able to keep it under control. Many thanks!”
A big thank you to the 247 volunteers from SILVAR who helped 146 senior households this year, RSVP Chair David Barca, SILVAR RSVP Chair Eileen Giorgi, and RSVP District Chairs Chris Isaacson (Menlo Park/Atherton District), Jeff Beltramo (Palo Alto District), David Kim and Suzanne O’Brien (Los Altos/Mountain View District), Sue Bose (Cupertino/Sunnyvale District) and Rick White (Los Gatos/Saratoga District).
“It takes so little to make our seniors happy. They are so appreciative and grateful to our volunteers,” said Giorgi. “I want to personally thank all the volunteers who took the time to help them this year. Thanks, too, to our RSVP district chairs who worked long hours to make sure the program ran smoothly in their district.”
On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to continue to opt-in to Proposition 90. Thank you to all SILVAR members who answered SILVAR’s Call to Action and to the many SILVAR members who attended the lengthy board meeting on Tuesday afternoon and voiced their concerns directly to our supervisors.
Under Proposition 60 and 110, if a seller or spouse is over age 55 or if a seller of any age is disabled when their original residence is sold, the seller may transfer the base year value of their home to a replacement primary residence of equal or lesser value within the same county, provided certain conditions are fulfilled. Proposition 90 extended this benefit to seniors and the disabled who move to counties that adopted Proposition 90 rules.
County Assessor Larry Stone wanted the supervisors to eliminate Proposition 90 as a way to increase revenue, but SILVAR REALTORS® and members of the Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS® persuaded the county supervisors to oppose this proposal. On Tuesday, SILVAR members reminded the supervisors of the benefits of Proposition 90; many recounted personal experiences with seniors and disabled clients who benefited from the measure, and who otherwise would not have been able to move to the county had the proposition not been in place. Our members told the supervisors their clients were able to move closer to family, medical services and jobs. Otherwise, they would have been locked-in to their previous residences due to the significant property tax increase incurred in moving.
REALTORS® noted Proposition 90 is a “two-way street” because it creates opportunities for the original properties to be reassessed at a higher rate, while providing a significant benefit in improving the quality of life for homeowners. They also said seniors and the disabled from other counties “have diversified our county and enriched our quality of life.”
Stone questioned the supervisors’ hesitance in what he saw as “an obvious source of revenue” for the county, but our REALTORS® indicated the increase his office projects would be an estimated $150,000 at best, which would not be realized until 2013. They said the slight increase could not justify the intangible benefits the proposition gives seniors and persons with disabilities who wish to move to the county.
Supervisor Liz Kniss said the county made the decision to opt in Proposition 90 20 years ago and it should stay as an opted-in county.
Supervisor Ken Yeager said after listening to the real life examples presented by the REALTORS®, he felt “there is value to it (Proposition 90) at the personal level. We supported it then, we should support it now.”
While noting the assessor made a credible argument that increasing revenue was important for the county, upon hearing the many stories of people who have benefited from the proposition, Supervisor Mike Wasserman said, “It doesn’t feel right to take this away from the people who could use it. In the big picture, it just doesn’t feel right.”
Supervisor Dave Cortese indicated Proposition 90 creates a flexibility for seniors and persons with disabilities. “We should leave the flexibility for folks for now,” said Cortese.
The supervisors voted 5-0 to keep Proposition 90 in Santa Clara County.
The Call to Action was a team effort by SILVAR members and a victory for seniors and persons with disabilities who have moved to or plan to move to Santa Clara County. SILVAR thanks everyone who took part in this effort and the board of supervisors, who took into consideration the impact rescinding Proposition 90 would have on a group of people who have very little clout in the political arena.
SILVAR’s Los Gatos/Saratoga District will have a Charity Golf Tournament on Monday, July 11 at the Cinnabar Hills Golf Club, 23600 McKean Road in San Jose. Registration is at 10:30 a.m., with a Shotgun Start scheduled for 12 p.m. (Scramble Format) and awards ceremony with appetizers and no host cocktails slated for 5 p.m.
Cost is $175 per person, which includes green fees, range balls, golf cart, lunch and prizes. The grand prize is a certificate for a foursome of golf with carts at Half Moon Bay Golf Links http://www.hmbgolflinks.com/
Thank you in advance to the following generous sponsors for their support:
Lunch Sponsor:
Thrasher Termite & Pest Control – Janet Thrasher
Appetizer Sponsor:
First American Home Buyers Protection Corporation
Beverage Cart Sponsors:
State Farm Insurance Agents Yvonne Kendall & Laura Peterson
Tour Factory – Darrell Monda
Hole Sponsors:
Alain Pinel Realtors- Los Gatos
Cort Furniture Rental
JCP-LGS Disclosures
Princeton Capital
Von Kaenel Real Estate
Tee Bag Sponsor:
Harrell Remodeling, Inc.
To register online for this special event, go to ims.silvar.org, or complete the form below and fax to (408) 200-0101. Mail your check to SILVAR at 19400 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA 95014. For questions or for sponsorship details, please contact Kelly Dadsetan at (408) 200-0100 or email kdadsetan@silvar.org.
The Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®, is presenting scholarship awards to 18 graduating seniors from public high schools in Silicon Valley at the end of the 2010-2011 school year. Each student will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
Now in its 12th year, the REALTOR® scholarship program recognizes students who have exemplified outstanding achievements in academics, extracurricular/employment activities and community involvement. The selection committee included representatives from the local business community, area high schools, area colleges and the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®.
Students who received scholarships from the Foundation, the schools from which they graduated, and the colleges and universities they will be attending are:
Jaime Garvey, Cupertino High School (University of San Francisco); Angel Luis Roa, Fremont High School (University of Southern California); Madelaine Bustos, Gunn High School (Boston University); Evelyn May Siu, Homestead High School (Princeton University); Christopher Hyde, Leigh High School (UC San Diego); Ian Gregory Glasner, Los Altos High School (Carnegie Mellon University); Se Eun Park, Los Gatos High School (Duke University); Alex Zhu, Lynbrook High School (Boston University); Emily Johnson, Menlo-Atherton High School (Occidental College); Stella Ziegler, Monta Vista High School (Reed College); Gillie Agmon, Mountain View High School (UC San Diego); Julia Howard, Palo Alto High School (University of Puget Sound); Nicholas Cotter, Prospect High School (UC Berkeley); Cyrus Shannon Sinai, Santa Clara High School (UCLA); Shannon Galvin, Saratoga High School (Georgetown University); Karli Willenborg, Westmont High School (UC Santa Cruz); Sidney Nguyen, Wilcox High School (UC San Diego); and Keneisha Perry, Woodside High School (CSU Chico).
“As we mark the 12th year of the Silicon Valley REALTORS® Scholarship Program, we are very happy we are able to continue assisting the deserving winners as they embark on their college careers,” said SILVAR Scholarship Chair Nina Yamaguchi. “The seniors selected for the SILVAR Scholarship Program are among the cream of the crop. We believe through our scholarship program we can help our local youth achieve their dreams.”
“We feel fortunate to be able to give back to the community and to our youth through our scholarship program,” said Eileen Giorgi, president of the Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation. “We also thank the teachers and staff in each high school for their help and participation in making this program the success that it is.”
SILVAR members attending the senior awards ceremonies at the selected high schools and presenting the scholarships to the recipients include Carole Feldstein (Coldwell Banker), Maryann Simas (Coldwell Banker), Robert Reid (Keller Williams Realty), Carolyn Miller (Re/Max Real Estate Services), Vivian Wang (Coldwell Banker), Dale Anne Collings (Coldwell Banker), Joanne Fraser (Coldwell Banker), Mark Burns (Coldwell Banker), Mary Tan (Coldwell Banker), Jimmy Kang (Bank of America), Shawn Carroll (Coldwell Banker), Sue Bose (Referral Realty), Bill Gorman (Coldwell Banker), Lydia Kou (Alain Pinel Realtors), Russell Morris (Coldwell Banker) and Theresa Loya (Coldwell Banker).
The scholarship program is a partnership effort between the Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation and educators in SILVAR’s service areas. Scholarship recipients are selected from the high schools in the communities served by the over 4,000 members of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®.
A proposal before federal regulators to require a minimum of 20 percent down payment on all residential transactions has prompted action among REALTORS® on a national scale. REALTORS® say if allowed to take effect, the new requirement would be detrimental to the ongoing housing and lending crisis in America and it would put home ownership out of reach for middle-income Americans.
According to NAR Research, 60 percent of recent home buyers made less than a 20 percent down payment, and it would take 14 years for a typical person to save a 20 percent down payment to buy a median-priced home. NAR is deeply concerned over banking regulators’ proposed rule for “safe,” securitized mortgage loans, called Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) loans. The proposed rule would require loans to have at least 20 percent down for lenders to be exempted from a 5-percent risk-retention requirement. NAR and others say congressional intent was to define safe loans as those that are soundly underwritten and therefore discourage excessive risk taking and create strong incentives for responsible lending and borrowing. The concern is that a high down payment would make home ownership unaffordable to a large percentage of buyers. The alternative to the QRM are loans for which lenders retain the required 5-percent holdback, which analysts say could cost up to 300 basis points more than QRM loans.
Proposals that require high down payments will drive more borrowers to FHA, increase costs for borrowers by raising interest rates and fees, and effectively price many eligible borrowers out of the housing market. NAR feels this will not only affect buyers, but it would also affect the ability of homeowners to sell their homes, since there would be fewer buyers who could qualify for home ownership.
NAR wants federal regulators to honor congressional intent by crafting a QRM exemption that includes a wide variety of traditionally safe, well underwritten products, such as 30-, 15-, and 10-year fixed-rate loans; 7-1 and 5-1 ARMs; and loans with down payments in the 5 to 20 percent range with PMI, where required, and with other features found in low-risk loans, such as no prepayment penalties or balloon payments.
Ask your representatives in Congress to make it clear to the regulators that this proposed regulation was not their legislative intent, and to instead implement a more reasonable Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) that will keep creditworthy buyers in the market and able to acquire a loan.
Every year in May, as part of the REALTOR® Service Volunteer Program (RSVP), SILVAR REALTORS® and affiliates assist seniors and the homebound with household tasks they can no longer perform on their own. The program, which was started by members in 2001 and launched by SILVAR as an official community outreach project in 2002, has expanded to include volunteers from the San Mateo County Association of REALTORS®, the Fresno Association of REALTORS®, and Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS® and Santa Cruz County Association of REALTORS®.
RSVP is now on its 10th year, and this week – May 16-20, volunteers helped seniors in SILVAR’s five districts with simple chores like washing windows, installing smoke detector batteries, flipping mattresses, light vacuuming, dusting, replacing light bulbs, changing furnace filters and trimming bushes. Many seniors expressed their gratitude for the work done by the RSVP volunteers.
Gloria from Los Altos, who is 81 years old and lives alone, was especially thrilled. It was the first time she availed of the free service and she was nearly in tears as a couple of RSVP volunteers proceeded to dust her furniture and vacuum and sweep her floors, while the other volunteers washed her windows and trimmed the bushes outside her home.
“Thank you, thank you,” a 91-year-old Sunnyvale senior resident repeatedly told the RSVP volunteers after they had flipped her mattress and washed her windows.
Peggy, 63, is a Mountain View resident who is homebound and confined to wheelchair. She has poliomyelitis (post polio syndrome) and other complications. After surgery, she learned new living skills at Valley Medical Center and was eager to manage on her own. Her closest relative is a sister who lives out of state. The REALTORS® moved furniture and boxes away from all passageways so she could maneuver her wheelchair around her home and function independently.
“I can’t thank them enough for doing this. This has been my family’s home since 1959. I live alone, but I can’t think of any other place where I would rather live. This is my home,” Peggy exclaimed.
In Los Gatos, 73-year-old Barbara, who is bedridden, was grateful that volunteers cleaned her refrigerator and stove, dusted and vacuumed her floors. “I think it’s wonderful that there are people like you that can help people like us who cannot move around anymore,” she exclaimed.
Palo Alto resident Chris, who is 80, just had hip surgery. So she welcomed the help from the REALTORS® who washed windows, fixed a door knob, picked up the clutter and moved items she didn’t need to her garage. Dave, another Palo Alto resident in his 80s, still talks about how much he appreciated the REALTORS® who went out of their way to install a hand rail in his shower stall a couple of years ago. “I am so grateful to them. I used to do a lot of things, but it’s all too much for me now,” he remarked.
An elderly Saratoga couple in their late 80s lamented that all their kids lived out of state. They manage, but welcomed help washing their windows and flipping their mattress. “It’s a wonderful thing that you do for the community. It’s very necessary for us,” they said.
At the end of the week, SILVAR members felt it was all worthwhile. For many volunteers it’s an eye-opening experience and “humbling.” They’re glad they can help out and make a difference in the lives of the seniors and the homebound in their community.
Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® says ... 