RISMEDIA, Oct. 4, 2007-Doreen Woo Ho, president of Wells Fargo Consumer Credit Group, will be honored as 2007 Person of the Year at the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) Annual Gala and Convention to be held Nov. 11-13 at the Bellagio, in Las Vegas, NV.
“AREAA is honored to present our 2007 Person of the Year award to Ms. Doreen Woo Ho. As one of the highest ranking Asian Americans in the financial services industry, Doreen has been a role model and a true leader in the real estate community,” said Jim Park, AREAA CEO. “The combination of her lifelong commitment to improving the well-being of the Asian American community and her visible role within one of the largest and most well-respected financial services companies made this year’s decision for our award an easy choice.”
With recent statistics showing Asian/Pacific Americans are the nation’s second fastest-growing minority population, Wells Fargo joins industry leaders in urging real estate professionals not to ignore this important emerging market.
“I am humbled and privileged to receive AREAA’s Person of the Year Award and offer my sincere thanks to AREAA for creating a forum where we can celebrate the contribution all Asian Americans make to the real estate industry,” said Woo Ho.
Convention activities will include presentations on demographics and economic forecasts, as well as sessions on commercial investment strategies, REO properties, mortgage options and marketing to the Asian American buyer.
“This event is a one-of-a-kind forum that brings together high-profile leaders from the residential real estate, home mortgage and banking industries in the United States and Asia,” said Allen M. Okamoto, chairman of AREAA.
For the Asian/Pacific American population, which is heavily concentrated in California, New York, Texas and Hawaii, common barriers to home ownership include language, lack of knowledge of home buying process, unverifiable income, lack of credit or hesitancy to use common credit-building methods, distrust of real estate professionals and housing affordability in urban areas. These impediments have resulted in a 60% homeownership rate among Asians nationally, trailing White Americans by approximately 15%.
Established in 2003, the Asian Real Estate Association of America’s membership represents a broad array of real estate, mortgage and housing-related professionals that serve the diverse Asian/Pacific-American market. AREAA is the only national trade association dedicated to representing the interest of the Asian real estate market throughout the country. It pursues initiatives that expand home ownership opportunities for more Asian/Pacific-American families, that increase business opportunities for its members, and that deliver tangible results for its national partners.
Wells Fargo’s Consumer Credit Group, a leading provider of home equity, personal credit and education finance, is a business division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is a part of Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company with $540 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance through almost 6,000 stores and the Internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the only bank in the
U.S., and one of only two banks worldwide, to have the highest credit rating from both Moody’s Investors Service, “Aaa,” and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, “AAA.”
For more information, visit http://www.areaa.org.
