Daily Real Estate News  |  January 19, 2006  |   Real Estate Pros Take Spanish Class to Build Clientele At College of The Albemarle in Elizabeth City, N.C., real estate practitioner Julieta Smith is teaching a course called "Conversational Spanish for Real Estate Agents." Five local practitioners have signed up for the class, which aims to improve communications between them and their Hispanic clients. One of the students, David Cross of David Cross Real Estate, says he often is forced to communicate through the bilingual children of his clients. The U.S. Census Bureau reports a 394 percent jump in the state's Hispanic population between 1990 and 2000. The Associated General Contractors of America adds that the state's Hispanic residents experienced a 255 percent jump in buying power to $2.96 billion in 2001 from $834 million in 1990. A native of Bogotá, Columbia, Smith also leads seminars that inform Hispanics of their ability to achieve homeownership, even if they are not legal immigrants.

Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC) (01/18/06); Whipple, Chris