When the doors opened at Jim Dickson Realtors in 1952, most of the people who lived in the San Gabriel Valley area were whites riding the post World War II economic boom.
Nearly 50 years later, things have changed. More than one-third of the people living in the area are Latinos with money in their pockets and a dream of buying their first home. But try wading through the complicated financial waters needed to get a mortgage when English is not your native language.
That’s why Jim Dickson Realtors decided it needed to change directions to remain competitive. More than a month ago, it launched something called Servicios Hispanos, or Hispanic Services, a complete Spanish-language home-buying service that explains everything from escrow to points in easy-to-understand, Spanish-language brochures and printouts.
In addition, the real estate company, with 78 licensed agents in three offices in the San Gabriel Valley, has six Spanish-speaking agents who conduct home-buying seminars in the area. Jim Dickson Escrow and the family’s Premier Funding, a mortgage entity, also have a number of bilingual employees.
“What brought me to this is that we are one of the few local independent real estate firms left in this area,” said Chris Dickson, 35, who took over the real estate company two years ago after his father, the founder, died. “We wanted to focus on the specific needs of our community and be a reflection of our community.”
Dickson has offices in Altadena, La Canada Flintridge and Pasadena to serve the San Gabriel Valley, where nearly half the population is Latino and Spanish is the primary language spoken in more than 40 percent of the households.
Dickson Realty is working with Pasadena Neighborhood Housing Services, a nonprofit that administers a federal housing rehabilitation loan program, to conduct Spanish-language seminars for moderate and low-income individuals who are buying their first homes.
“The need is enormous,” said Saundra Knox, executive director of Pasadena Neighborhood Housing Services. “It is really good for them to be able to ask questions and get information in their own language so when they go out and sign papers, they don’t just say ‘OK’ and not know what they are doing.”
No deals have yet closed involving people using the Hispanic Services program, Dickson said. But he is hoping there will be a few soon.
Belgum is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Business Journal.
