The Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) installed its Board of
The Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) installed its Board of Directors on Nov. 29.
Founded in 2003, AREAA is a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable homeownership opportunities in Asian American communities by creating a powerful national voice for the housing and real estate professionals that serve this dynamic market. It is the only trade association dedicated to representing the interests of the Asian real estate market nationwide. Currently, the association serves 12,000 members in 38 states with 19 affiliate chapters.
Meiling Kravarik, owner of Nextage M3 Realty, was installed as chapter president. Timothy Kwok, broker/owner of ReMax Champion, was installed as vice president. Rajat Gupta was installed as Parliamentarian of the board.
Gary Large, president of the New Jersey Association of Realtors, installed the members of the board during a ceremony at Pierre’s in South Brunswick.
The event included guests from sponsors such as Ray Catena, the New Jersey Association of Realtors, RomAsia Bank, Cardinal Financial Bank, ReMax Champion and AREAA Metro New York. Ten percent of the sponsorship money went to the New Jersey Sandy Relief Fund, as founded by Gov. Chris Christie.
“The city administration is committed to removing hurdles in opening new businesses and the expanding the existing ones. Forty percent of Edison Township is Asian and they contribute greatly towards improving the city into a thriving business center,” Edison Mayor Antonia Ricigliano said during the event.
Kathy Tsao, the 2012 national chairwoman of AREAA, said “Our Asian American community suffered great losses in homeownership rates, home equity and credit access than the overall population during the economic downturn. We need to find ways to better serve our population and advocate housing policy.”
Over the next two decades, Asian Americans will be one of the fastest-growing populations in the country, according to AREAA. Because most Asian Americans are first-generation Americans, they face significant language, cultural and knowledge barriers that have kept the homeownership rate relatively unchanged over the past two decades. AREAA will initiate national and regional efforts to address these challenges.
“AREAA strived to become a powerful national voice for the housing and real estate professionals who served a very dynamic market in USA. There is a lack of category_idance to help them fulfill the requirements to become a homeowner. We want to fill those gaps. We want our members to help our communities take opportunities of home ownership,” Kravarik said.
http://eb.gmnews.com/news/2012-12-18/Front_Page/Organization_helps_Asian_Americans_in_the_AREAA.html