Stewart Title Guaranty and the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) began a 12-month partnership to translate common real estate documents into Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Stewart Title is making the translated documents available to AREAA members in good standing.

“As one of our longest and most ardent supporters, Stewart Title is keenly aware of the growth potential for homeownership in the Asian American market,” said Allen Chiang, the incoming chair of AREAA. “With the most commonly-used documents translated into three Asian languages, our members can serve their clients more effectively and bring them closer to the American dream of homeownership.”

The translated documents that will be available are affidavit of debts and liens; bill of sale; FIRPTA affidavit; quit claim deed; compliance agreement – refinance transaction;  compliance agreement – sale transaction and HUD-1. Chiang anticipated the translated documents will be available to AREAA members in good standing via a password-protected Website accessed through www.areaa.org beginning in November 2008.

“We are pleased to partner with AREAA to provide these translated documents in a collaborative effort to help homebuyers from the Asian-American, Pacific-Islander communities,” said Malcolm Morris, the chairman and chief-executive-officer of Stewart Title Guaranty. “In keeping with our commitment to multicultural markets, we know that providing documents to customers in the language they are most comfortable speaking and reading is an important part of creating a successful home buying transaction.”

According to AREAA, on average, Asian American homebuyers have the greatest median household income, median down payment, home purchase price, educational attainment, which predicts future income potential, and some of the lowest delinquency and foreclosure rates compared to other demographic groups.

“Additionally, the Asian American population is growing at a rapid rate, and with average home purchase prices and loan sizes greater than any other population, Asian American consumers represent the most profitable segment of the housing market on a per transaction basis. However, language barriers are commonly cited by experts as one reason Asians trail other ethnic groups in homebuying – creating a homeownership gap,” Chiang added. “By partnering with Stewart Title to provide these documents, we hope we are making great strides toward closing that gap.”