Rebekka Ramirez is a first time homebuyer in Whittier. She has good fortune conspiring for her on multiple fronts. The first was that her parents moved in with her father’s parents and offered to sell her the home where she was raised. The second was her husband partnered with her financially to facilitate the purchase of the home. The third, she said, was her faith. Adding them all up, she has been able to continue a tradition of homeownership that began with her Mexican grandmother from Nuevo León and continued with her father. She is also one of those rare examples in the Latina/o community that is benefitting from and continuing her family’s generational wealth via real estate. She is a third generation home owner.
Tag: wealth
Posted inOpinion
COMMENTARY: On Prosperity, featuring Kristy Ortiz
Ortiz was born and raised in Texas, east of Dallas and south of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations in a town called Scurry. Her family on her father’s side were Mexican and on her mother’s side, they were white and Indigenous. After her parents divorced, Kristy’s mother moved to California and this gave her a chance to escape from her small town to spread her wings and fly. Her ancestral family was in Los Angeles, so close they are buried 10 miles from where Kristy lives now. She came to California in her senior year of high school in her cowboy boots fresh off the farm and soon after graduation began working in the mortgage industry. She was a homeowner for many years but received a buyout from her spouse and now she currently rents a single family residence in Garden Grove.
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: On Prosperity: Featuring Lyanne Alfaro
Lyanne Alfaro founded her own company, Moneda Moves, to share stories about money and culture to empower people to create generational wealth. She’s also a Developer Relations Program Manager at Google, overseeing content strategy for developer stories across social platforms. She is an educated Latina, employed at a Fortune 100, fully engaged in “solopreneurship.” She seeks to bring her career closer to home to focus not just on professional growth but on personal growth as she works with her parents on their joint financial future.
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: On Prosperity,Featuring Ariela Nerubay
I always knew that part of my American dream included home ownership as being the daughter of an architect, I grew up going to his “obras” and seeing the foundation with rubble grow and convert into magnificent structures. My dad always said one must invest in “Books and Bricks,”meaning, focus on education and invest in homeownership to succeed. He was right. Once in America, I worked hard being an immigrant who did not know anyone and did not speak English well. I went to school, completed two postgraduate degrees and eventually my MBA. I purchased my first condo at age 30 with the guidance of my Latina friends and a wonderful realtor who taught me what I know now. That was my first step of many that followed to get me where I am today.
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: On Prosperity featuring Lauren Fernandez
I have deeply always had a need for a place. I think that ties back directly to being a Cuban American and not being able to visit Cuba. I have the understanding that my father and his family were displaced and we moved around a lot for his career, so it took 18 tries before we found home. For me, that was not just a connection to home ownership and prosperity but really a need to have a place and to set down roots. We needed to have roots over having prosperity. Ultimately, when we did put down roots and my father had arrived at a successful career and it reflected our values and our aesthetic, it did become a sign of prosperity.
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: On Prosperity: Featuring Jazmin Garcia
Jazmin Garcia identifies as a Mexican American saleswoman selling technology for nonprofits to grow their objectives. She was born and raised on the border between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California. She currently lives in Chicago. Sergio C. Muñoz interviewed Garcia for his series on Latino wealth and prosperity.
Posted inOpinion
On Prosperity: A new CALÓ NEWS column series on Latinos and personal wealth
In 2022, only 8% of homebuyers in the U.S. were Latino barely up from 6% in 2003, according to the National Association of Realtors. That means in 20 years there has been little progress.
In 2019, in California the Latino homeownership rate was 44.1%, still 19.2 points below that of white households, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Latinos certainly have buying power. We are 19% of the population and have more than $2 trillion in buying power, according to Claritas.
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: On Prosperity: Featuring Analia Mendez
Analia Mendez, a Mexican American executive, speaks about the idea of home in this video series called “On Prossperity.” Her Mexican parents worked on farmland in her childhood in Modesto and today she lives on farmland in her present home in San Diego.
Posted inEconomy
CALÓ EDITORIAL: Latinos face financial hardship, federal stimulus payments offer temporary solution
Many families, especially Latino families, are struggling. We need solutions whether they are short-term checks or universal basic income.
Posted inJustice
EDITORIAL: Latinos face financial hardship, federal stimulus help
Many families, especially Latino families, are struggling. We need solutions whether they are short-term checks or universal basic income.