{"id":132121,"date":"2025-09-04T11:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/132121\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T11:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:43:08","slug":"artificial-intelligence-helps-break-barriers-for-hispanic-homeownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/132121\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence helps break barriers for Hispanic homeownership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">For many Hispanics the road to homeownership is filled with obstacles, including loan officers who don\u2019t speak Spanish or aren&#8217;t familiar with buyers who may not fit the boxes of a traditional mortgage applicant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Some mortgage experts are turning to artificial intelligence to bridge the gap. They want AI to help loan officers find the best lender for a potential homeowner&#8217;s specific situation, while explaining the process clearly and navigating residency, visa or income requirements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">This new use of a bilingual AI has the potential to better serve homebuyers in Hispanic and other underrepresented communities. And it&#8217;s launching as federal housing agencies have begun to switch to English-only services, part of President Donald Trump&#8217;s push to make it the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-english-national-language-d4b000e593ae7db2ac8264a6dbc5078f\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">official language<\/a> of the United States. His executive order in August called the change a way to \u201creinforce shared national values, and create a more cohesive and efficient society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The number of limited-English households tripled over the past four decades, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. The institute says these households struggle to navigate the mortgage process, making it difficult for them to own a home, which is a key factor in building generational wealth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The nonprofit Hispanic Organization of Mortgage Experts launched an AI platform built on ChatGPT last week, which lets loan officers and mortgage professionals quickly search the requirements of more than 150 lenders, instead of having to contact them individually.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The system, called Wholesale Search, uses an internal database that gives customized options for each buyer. HOME also offers a training program for loan officers called Home Certified with self-paced classes on topics like income and credit analysis, compliance rules and intercultural communication.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Cubie Hernandez, the organization&#8217;s chief technology and learning officer, said the goal is to help families have confidence during the mortgage process while pushing the industry to modernize. \u201cEducation is the gateway to opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">HOME founder Rogelio Goertzen said the platform is designed to handle complicated cases like borrowers without a Social Security number, having little to no credit history, or being in the U.S. on a visa. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Loan officer Danny Velazquez of GFL Capital said the platform has changed his work. Before, he had to contact 70 lenders one by one, wait for answers and sometimes learn later that they wouldn&#8217;t accept the buyer&#8217;s situation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The AI tool lets him see requirements in one place, narrow the list and streamline the application. \u201cI am just able to make the process faster and get them the house,\u201d Velazquez said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">One of Velazquez&#8217;s recent clients was Heriberto Blanco-Joya, 38, who bought his first home this year in Las Vegas. Spanish is Blanco-Joya&#8217;s first language, so he and his wife expected the process to be confusing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Velazquez told him exactly what paperwork he needed, explained whether his credit score was enough to buy a home, and answered questions quickly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cHe provided me all the information I needed to buy,\u201d Blanco-Joya said. \u201cThe process was pleasant and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">From their first meeting to closing day took about six weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Mortgage experts and the platform&#8217;s creators acknowledge that artificial intelligence creates new risks. Families rely on accurate answers about loans, immigration status and credit requirements. If AI gives wrong information, the consequences could be serious.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Goertzen, the CEO of HOME, said his organization works to reduce errors by having the AI pull information directly from lenders and loan officers. The platform&#8217;s database is updated whenever new loan products appear, and users can flag any problems to the developers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cWhen there are things that are incorrect, we are constantly correcting it,\u201d Goertzen said. \u201cAI is a great tool, but it doesn\u2019t replace that human element of professionalism, and that is why we are constantly tweaking and making sure it is correct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Jay Rodriguez, a mortgage broker at Arbor Financial Group, said figuring out the nuances of different investors\u2019 requirements can mean the difference between turning a family away and getting them approved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Rodriguez said HOME\u2019s AI platform is especially helpful for training new loan officers and for coaching teams on how to better serve their communities. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Better Home &amp; Finance Holding Company, an AI-powered mortgage lender, has created an AI platform called Tinman. It helps loan officers find lenders for borrowers who have non-traditional income or documents, which is common among small business owners. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">They also built a voice-based assistant called Betsy that manages more than 127,000 borrower interactions each month. A Spanish-language version is in development. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">\u201cFinancial literacy can be challenging for Hispanic borrowers or borrowers in other underserved populations,\u201d Pierce said. \u201cTools like Betsy can interact and engage with customers in a way that feels supportive and not judgmental.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many Hispanics the road to homeownership is filled with obstacles, including loan officers who don\u2019t speak Spanish&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[83457,182,966,181,507,28,793,67642,11382,9399,3766,74,795],"class_list":["post-132121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-83457","tag-ai","tag-article","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-business","tag-general-news","tag-hispanics","tag-information-technology","tag-mortgages","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-technology","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}