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Tuesday, July 4, 2000

Closing a real estate deal: Not all Greek anymore
Local Realtors learn variety of languages to put clients at ease

If you and your real estate agent have trouble communicating, chances are you can find one who speaks your language, even if it's Arabic, Italian, Polish or Ilocano.
   The Corpus Christi Association of Realtors' Web site, www.ccbor.org, lists members who speak a variety of languages, including Ilocano, a Filipino dialect.
   They say that the languages help not so much in translating the fine points of the sale, but in putting the client at ease.
   "When people come up to you and want to buy a house, they feel comfortable when you have someone who can speak the language," said George Paraskevas, a Realtor who speaks Greek and Spanish and also knows sign language.
   He and others say language establishes a unique rapport with the client.
   Eulie Ray of ERA Paradise Realty, who speaks Pilipino, said she has met other Filipinosbecause of the language she speaks. The first house she sold was to a speaker of Pilipino and she estimates that about 3 percent of her clientele are Filipino.
   She said language brings up an etiquette question when showing a house.
   If a person speaks in a foreign language in a room with English speakers, Ray said, she is most likely to respond in English. Sometimes the foreign-language speaker might want an answer in a certain language because that was how it was asked.
   Ray said she will use the language that everyone in the room can understand.
   "If we are alone by ourselves, I speak in Pilipino," she said.
   Other languages, such as the Hungarian and German spoken by Ilona Hatridge of Richard Whitt Realtor, are not used too much in South Texas. Budapest-born Hatridge said she knows of one other native Hungarian in Corpus Christi.
   Drue Combs at Ken Combs Realty, who speaks some Japanese, said she hasn't had many people who speak Japanese wanting to close on a house, but she was on the Association of Realtors committee to identify Realtors on the Web site by the language they speak.
   "We knew we were in a global marketplace," she said.
   Those who speak several languages say the language that is most requested, of course, is Spanish.
   Margarit Haggard, a native of Spain, said that as much as 70 percent of the clientele she encounters at Alfred Edge Realtors prefer Spanish. She almost never uses the French, Italian and Portuguese that she also knows.
   Some people just feel more comfortable talking in the language they grew up speaking.
   "It does help for some of the people who are intimidated; they feel more relaxed," she said. "If you can explain in another language, it makes it easier on them."
   Tim Voorkamp at Real Estate 2000, who is fluent in Dutch, also has found his Spanish fluency to be an asset. The language is used more to chat and put everyone at ease than to conduct transactions.
   "People respect the fact that you went out of your way to speak their language," he said.
   Realtors are finding more ways to serve their Spanish-speaking clients. The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University began publishing an English-Spanish Real Estate glossary a few years ago. Now it is one of the center's most requested publications.
   Other Realtors such as Karen Wallace, who is a sign language translator at ERA Windward, are enrolling in Spanish classes to keep up with the requests for Spanish speakers. She said 25 percent of the people at ERA Windward speak Spanish.
   "It's just apparent that people need to learn it," Wallace said.
   Office firm relocates
   Valley Office Systems has relocated to 5541 Bear Lane, Suite 118. The relocation was handled by Lynann Pinkham, broker with NAI Cravey Real Estate Services Inc. VOS Texas sells digital imaging systems, copiers and facsimile machines as an authorized dealer for Sharm and Mita.
   The business was formerly located at 600 Leopard St.



Business reporter Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by email at jaresa@caller.com. On Real Estate is published every other Tuesday in the business section.

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