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| Euro-Mexican traditions, carefully seasoned for four generations, meticulously craft this Franco-Spanish Mexican family |
Al's family at the wedding of sister Tere & Gonzalo Hevia.
From left to right are brothers: Juan Pablo, Raul, Alejandro,
groom: Gonzalo, bride: Tere, father: Alberto Sr., mother: Teresa, brothers: Xavier, and Mauricio.
From left to right are brothers: Juan Pablo, Raul, Alejandro,
groom: Gonzalo, bride: Tere, father: Alberto Sr., mother: Teresa, brothers: Xavier, and Mauricio.
Al has five brothers and one sister. Some time ago,
a physician asked his dad why he didn't allow his sons
to run part of the business conglomerate under his
leadership... . Baillères’ response was “why don’t you
pass on the scalpel to your daughter and invite her to
help you in a surgery?. They will take over, yes, in
due time. This is a career that requires training.”
Following is an excerpt from an interview with Al's
father by journalist Rossana Fuentes-Berain regarding
his 2001 Culver Military Academy Man of the Year
Award . . .
. . . He jokes about the fact that he and his wife,
Teresa, were so worried about the possibility that the
family name would not be passed on – after his
brother Raul's death, he was the only bearer of it –
that while in Rome on their honeymoon, they asked
the Pope to pray for the successful conception and
delivery of a male heir. “We were granted six in a
row! The youngest one is a girl, the best thing that
could have happened to us. She is the "Jewel of the
Crown".
Like father, five sons attended Culver: Alberto ’78,
Alejandro ’79, Xavier ’80, Mauricio W’75, and Juan
Pablo W’76.
Teresa and Alberto have been married for forty-five
years. People who know them say it is seldom that
they are not together. They travel together, sharing
their passion for the outdoors, for music, for
everything. “The most important thing in life is to
find a proper balance. I consider myself a very
happy man. I am healthy. I have a wonderful family.
And I have been able to accomplish a lot of things.
I have not failed my father, nor my teachers at ITAM
or Culver. I feel very honored to have been named
Man of the Year.”
a physician asked his dad why he didn't allow his sons
to run part of the business conglomerate under his
leadership... . Baillères’ response was “why don’t you
pass on the scalpel to your daughter and invite her to
help you in a surgery?. They will take over, yes, in
due time. This is a career that requires training.”
Following is an excerpt from an interview with Al's
father by journalist Rossana Fuentes-Berain regarding
his 2001 Culver Military Academy Man of the Year
Award . . .
. . . He jokes about the fact that he and his wife,
Teresa, were so worried about the possibility that the
family name would not be passed on – after his
brother Raul's death, he was the only bearer of it –
that while in Rome on their honeymoon, they asked
the Pope to pray for the successful conception and
delivery of a male heir. “We were granted six in a
row! The youngest one is a girl, the best thing that
could have happened to us. She is the "Jewel of the
Crown".
Like father, five sons attended Culver: Alberto ’78,
Alejandro ’79, Xavier ’80, Mauricio W’75, and Juan
Pablo W’76.
Teresa and Alberto have been married for forty-five
years. People who know them say it is seldom that
they are not together. They travel together, sharing
their passion for the outdoors, for music, for
everything. “The most important thing in life is to
find a proper balance. I consider myself a very
happy man. I am healthy. I have a wonderful family.
And I have been able to accomplish a lot of things.
I have not failed my father, nor my teachers at ITAM
or Culver. I feel very honored to have been named
Man of the Year.”
With a serene smile on his face he glances at the
small statute of a bullfighter in full dress sitting at the
coffee table.
While I am preparing to leave the Palace, I
remember a couple of verses that Alberto Baillères
quoted from his mother’s favorite poet, Amado Nervo:
"At the end of my tough road I see that I was
the architect of my own destiny . . .
Life you owe me nothing!; Life we are at
peace . . . "
A perfect balance sheet for a romantic businessman.
. . .
Editor’s note: Rossana Fuentes-Berain lives in
Colonia Roma, an old part of Mexico City. She is the
president of the Investigative Reporters and Editors
chapter in Mexico and, along with a group of
colleagues, is trying to push forward reforms on
information in Mexico. She also serves as a professor
at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
(ITAM). Fuentes is a specialist in economic and
foreign policy and has traveled throughout the world.
As a financial and diplomatic correspondent, she has
covered issues that have an impact on Mexico’s
current or future outlook. Fuentes was granted an
exclusive interview by President Bill Clinton in
December of 1994, and she's the only one among her
peers to have been privileged with a discussion in
person about North America's most pressing issues,
with President Clinton and Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chretien. Fuentes is a mass communications
graduate of Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
with a master’s degree in journalism from USC.
small statute of a bullfighter in full dress sitting at the
coffee table.
While I am preparing to leave the Palace, I
remember a couple of verses that Alberto Baillères
quoted from his mother’s favorite poet, Amado Nervo:
"At the end of my tough road I see that I was
the architect of my own destiny . . .
Life you owe me nothing!; Life we are at
peace . . . "
A perfect balance sheet for a romantic businessman.
. . .
Editor’s note: Rossana Fuentes-Berain lives in
Colonia Roma, an old part of Mexico City. She is the
president of the Investigative Reporters and Editors
chapter in Mexico and, along with a group of
colleagues, is trying to push forward reforms on
information in Mexico. She also serves as a professor
at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
(ITAM). Fuentes is a specialist in economic and
foreign policy and has traveled throughout the world.
As a financial and diplomatic correspondent, she has
covered issues that have an impact on Mexico’s
current or future outlook. Fuentes was granted an
exclusive interview by President Bill Clinton in
December of 1994, and she's the only one among her
peers to have been privileged with a discussion in
person about North America's most pressing issues,
with President Clinton and Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chretien. Fuentes is a mass communications
graduate of Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
with a master’s degree in journalism from USC.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Hispanic-owned businesses see role models emerge in Bonita
Thursday, March 7, 2002
By PAUL HERRERA, phherrera@naplesnews.com
Old 41 Road has the local area's heaviest concentration of Hispanic-owned businesses. Through mom-and-pop
businesses, the nearby community finds some of the products of Latin America — and role models.
The business owners have become part of an emerging class of potential leaders from within the large, local community
of Hispanics.
The group includes owners of restaurants, small markets, bakeries and jewelry stores along Old 41. Off the thoroughfare
are landscaping companies in which immigrants who learned the job from the ground level are building their own
companies and employing others.
Some Spanish media have started locally with Jose Herrera's Gente Bonita (which recently became El Sol de la Florida
as it added news content from a Mexican wire service) and Nuevos Ecos, run out of North Naples. There's now a
mortgage company, Pinnacle Home Loans, run by Mexican immigrant Alberto Baillères, that caters to the immigrant
market.
Baillères, who has been active in various local community groups, said as more Hispanics join the ranks of professionals
and successful business people, they're starting to knock on the doors of organizations that they hadn't previously had the
opportunity to join.
"Up until recently, people from the Hispanic community weren't being approached," Baillères said. "We're typically
immigrants from other countries or other areas while a lot of these groups are made up of people who grew up in this
area and they will typically ask their friends and close relations to participate. Those are the typical dynamics in any
community. In this particular area of Southwest Florida, the Hispanic population is relatively new — particularly of
successful business people. Therefore, these business people are foreign to these cozy networks."
The growing list of successful people has added to the pool of potential leadership. Leonardo Garcia, executive director
of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Florida, said Hispanic youths may also benefit from having local
role models.
Those role models include business owners such as Jose Antonio Romero, owner of Maria's Restaurant with his wife,
Maria. The couple will celebrate their 10th year in business by opening their fourth restaurant and first venture into Fort
Myers.
Last year, the company, which started with $200 worth of rice, beans and meat on Bonita Beach Road in 1992, bought
for a little less than $1 million the building that formerly held Corky's restaurant on Bonita Beach Road. Romero said he
hoped his business could be an example of something positive coming out of the Hispanic community — an image to
refute the more common headlines of crime in the nearby neighborhoods of Rosemary Park and east Bonita Springs.
Puerto Rico-born Vivian Gazarek, a corporate financial manager with WCI Communities, said the presence of Hispanics
in the professions can give local kids more options for their future.
"In the last five years, as there have been more professional jobs available, the number of Hispanics has been building,"
Gazarek said. "It has improved tremendously. My first supervisor at WCI was Cuban-American."
Gazarek, who came to Southwest Florida with a bachelor's degree in finance from Puerto Rico and later earned her
master's in finance from Florida Gulf Coast University, is part of a growing number of Hispanics coming to the area
already established in their careers. In many cases, it has been this imported talent that has moved to take the reins of
the existing Hispanic community.
Garcia and Baillères built their careers elsewhere before coming to the area. Carlos Cabrera, managing director of the
Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, worked his way through the ranks with the hotel company before taking the head job with
the company's Estero hotel.
"The arrival of successful Hispanics has happened in the last decade or so," Herrera said. "Since the 1990s, we have
seen that evolution happen. Before that it was mostly agricultural. If someone needed to find the Hispanic population,
you would find them in the migrant camps, either in Bonita or surrounding Immokalee."
Baillères said this change is slowly winding through all parts of the area as people start to see the evolution of the local
Hispanic community.
"It's because of the fact of the growth of the Hispanic population has become an important statistic that strategists have
begun to make an effort to go out and seek influential members of the Hispanic community to join in," Baillères said.
"They're, of course, concerned about having that part of the community properly represented ... Therefore, I feel very
encouraged because they have people like myself trying to research who else out there in the business community is
receptive to joining forces with us."
Thursday, March 7, 2002
By PAUL HERRERA, phherrera@naplesnews.com
Old 41 Road has the local area's heaviest concentration of Hispanic-owned businesses. Through mom-and-pop
businesses, the nearby community finds some of the products of Latin America — and role models.
The business owners have become part of an emerging class of potential leaders from within the large, local community
of Hispanics.
The group includes owners of restaurants, small markets, bakeries and jewelry stores along Old 41. Off the thoroughfare
are landscaping companies in which immigrants who learned the job from the ground level are building their own
companies and employing others.
Some Spanish media have started locally with Jose Herrera's Gente Bonita (which recently became El Sol de la Florida
as it added news content from a Mexican wire service) and Nuevos Ecos, run out of North Naples. There's now a
mortgage company, Pinnacle Home Loans, run by Mexican immigrant Alberto Baillères, that caters to the immigrant
market.
Baillères, who has been active in various local community groups, said as more Hispanics join the ranks of professionals
and successful business people, they're starting to knock on the doors of organizations that they hadn't previously had the
opportunity to join.
"Up until recently, people from the Hispanic community weren't being approached," Baillères said. "We're typically
immigrants from other countries or other areas while a lot of these groups are made up of people who grew up in this
area and they will typically ask their friends and close relations to participate. Those are the typical dynamics in any
community. In this particular area of Southwest Florida, the Hispanic population is relatively new — particularly of
successful business people. Therefore, these business people are foreign to these cozy networks."
The growing list of successful people has added to the pool of potential leadership. Leonardo Garcia, executive director
of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Florida, said Hispanic youths may also benefit from having local
role models.
Those role models include business owners such as Jose Antonio Romero, owner of Maria's Restaurant with his wife,
Maria. The couple will celebrate their 10th year in business by opening their fourth restaurant and first venture into Fort
Myers.
Last year, the company, which started with $200 worth of rice, beans and meat on Bonita Beach Road in 1992, bought
for a little less than $1 million the building that formerly held Corky's restaurant on Bonita Beach Road. Romero said he
hoped his business could be an example of something positive coming out of the Hispanic community — an image to
refute the more common headlines of crime in the nearby neighborhoods of Rosemary Park and east Bonita Springs.
Puerto Rico-born Vivian Gazarek, a corporate financial manager with WCI Communities, said the presence of Hispanics
in the professions can give local kids more options for their future.
"In the last five years, as there have been more professional jobs available, the number of Hispanics has been building,"
Gazarek said. "It has improved tremendously. My first supervisor at WCI was Cuban-American."
Gazarek, who came to Southwest Florida with a bachelor's degree in finance from Puerto Rico and later earned her
master's in finance from Florida Gulf Coast University, is part of a growing number of Hispanics coming to the area
already established in their careers. In many cases, it has been this imported talent that has moved to take the reins of
the existing Hispanic community.
Garcia and Baillères built their careers elsewhere before coming to the area. Carlos Cabrera, managing director of the
Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, worked his way through the ranks with the hotel company before taking the head job with
the company's Estero hotel.
"The arrival of successful Hispanics has happened in the last decade or so," Herrera said. "Since the 1990s, we have
seen that evolution happen. Before that it was mostly agricultural. If someone needed to find the Hispanic population,
you would find them in the migrant camps, either in Bonita or surrounding Immokalee."
Baillères said this change is slowly winding through all parts of the area as people start to see the evolution of the local
Hispanic community.
"It's because of the fact of the growth of the Hispanic population has become an important statistic that strategists have
begun to make an effort to go out and seek influential members of the Hispanic community to join in," Baillères said.
"They're, of course, concerned about having that part of the community properly represented ... Therefore, I feel very
encouraged because they have people like myself trying to research who else out there in the business community is
receptive to joining forces with us."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Today: South Lee undergoing growth spurt
Monday December 31, 2001
By PAUL HERRERA, phherrera@naplesnews.com
Anyone who has been in south Lee County for as little as a year can already spot the changes.
Numerous developments have moved into the area over a brief period. Several retail centers, such as Bay Crossings in
Bonita Springs, opened for business. More than a dozen restaurants entered the market. Bulldozers were busy along
Corkscrew Road and elsewhere in Estero, moving trees and earth to clear the way for hotels, restaurants, shopping
centers and a new thoroughfare in the Three Oaks Parkway extension.
That's a small slice of one year of development.
During the 1990s, Lee County's population grew 31.6 percent, the second-highest rate of growth in Florida. Orange
County, home to Orlando, led the way. The county added more than 100,000 people between 1990 and 2000,
according to census figures released last year.
Becky Andrews, a commercial Realtor with Grubb & Ellis, said the residential boom hastened a rush of commercial
activity in the late 1990s in Bonita Springs that has spread north to Estero.
"Six years ago you could buy land on (U.S.) 41 for $5 per square foot," Andrews said. "The last deal I did was $18 a
square foot.
South Lee, long considered the slim part of the hourglass between Fort Myers and Naples, swelled. The Bonita Springs
area grew 141 percent to 32,797 people. In 2001, the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research
estimated that Bonita Springs had gone through another growth spurt. Its estimate, which is based on 2000 census
figures and adds factors such as building permits, said the city had added another 5,206 full-time residents.
The city still has plenty of room to grow with new communities opening in The Brooks, a 2,500-acre residential
development by The Bonita Bay Group, and several more following. Residential development is happening even faster
in Estero, which has taken the lead from Bonita Springs as the fastest-growing community in Southwest Florida.
"People discovered that we have some of the most pristine sugar sand beaches in the world," Bonita Springs Mayor Paul
Pass said. "They discovered what people who had been here a long time knew — that this is paradise."
The growth has brought challenges. Below-normal rainfall helped propel Southwest Florida into water restrictions.
However, regardless of how much Mother Nature provides in the future, Southwest Florida water management officials
say the region will need to find new water sources to keep thirsty people and lawns from tapping out current reserves.
The region has also struggled to keep traffic moving on the slowly evolving infrastructure. Traffic through south Lee
County has suffered the most as low-wage workers in Collier County have fled north and away from inflated real estate
prices and chosen to commute instead. Only two roads, Interstate 75 and U.S. 41, flow through south Lee County.
"Keeping up with the infrastructure without taxing everyone to death has been the real challenge," Pass said.
Ethnically, south Lee has grown into a more diverse city in the decade between census tallies. While the county's
overall population rate grew at slightly above 30 percent, the number of Hispanics nearly tripled from 15,094 to 42,042.
Groups such as the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce were fortified by the census data, using it to fuel
a push to translate the growth into political and economic power.
Leonardo Garcia, executive director of the Hispanic chamber, said the census convinced the organization that it had to
double its efforts to help Hispanic businesses gain a foothold. Leaders have emerged from the Hispanic business
community and met one another through such organizations, said Alberto Baillères, owner of Pinnacle Home Loans. As
an established group of better educated and economically improved Hispanics have entered the community, they are
slowly weaving themselves into the leadership of the community in general, Baillères said.
Monday December 31, 2001
By PAUL HERRERA, phherrera@naplesnews.com
Anyone who has been in south Lee County for as little as a year can already spot the changes.
Numerous developments have moved into the area over a brief period. Several retail centers, such as Bay Crossings in
Bonita Springs, opened for business. More than a dozen restaurants entered the market. Bulldozers were busy along
Corkscrew Road and elsewhere in Estero, moving trees and earth to clear the way for hotels, restaurants, shopping
centers and a new thoroughfare in the Three Oaks Parkway extension.
That's a small slice of one year of development.
During the 1990s, Lee County's population grew 31.6 percent, the second-highest rate of growth in Florida. Orange
County, home to Orlando, led the way. The county added more than 100,000 people between 1990 and 2000,
according to census figures released last year.
Becky Andrews, a commercial Realtor with Grubb & Ellis, said the residential boom hastened a rush of commercial
activity in the late 1990s in Bonita Springs that has spread north to Estero.
"Six years ago you could buy land on (U.S.) 41 for $5 per square foot," Andrews said. "The last deal I did was $18 a
square foot.
South Lee, long considered the slim part of the hourglass between Fort Myers and Naples, swelled. The Bonita Springs
area grew 141 percent to 32,797 people. In 2001, the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research
estimated that Bonita Springs had gone through another growth spurt. Its estimate, which is based on 2000 census
figures and adds factors such as building permits, said the city had added another 5,206 full-time residents.
The city still has plenty of room to grow with new communities opening in The Brooks, a 2,500-acre residential
development by The Bonita Bay Group, and several more following. Residential development is happening even faster
in Estero, which has taken the lead from Bonita Springs as the fastest-growing community in Southwest Florida.
"People discovered that we have some of the most pristine sugar sand beaches in the world," Bonita Springs Mayor Paul
Pass said. "They discovered what people who had been here a long time knew — that this is paradise."
The growth has brought challenges. Below-normal rainfall helped propel Southwest Florida into water restrictions.
However, regardless of how much Mother Nature provides in the future, Southwest Florida water management officials
say the region will need to find new water sources to keep thirsty people and lawns from tapping out current reserves.
The region has also struggled to keep traffic moving on the slowly evolving infrastructure. Traffic through south Lee
County has suffered the most as low-wage workers in Collier County have fled north and away from inflated real estate
prices and chosen to commute instead. Only two roads, Interstate 75 and U.S. 41, flow through south Lee County.
"Keeping up with the infrastructure without taxing everyone to death has been the real challenge," Pass said.
Ethnically, south Lee has grown into a more diverse city in the decade between census tallies. While the county's
overall population rate grew at slightly above 30 percent, the number of Hispanics nearly tripled from 15,094 to 42,042.
Groups such as the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce were fortified by the census data, using it to fuel
a push to translate the growth into political and economic power.
Leonardo Garcia, executive director of the Hispanic chamber, said the census convinced the organization that it had to
double its efforts to help Hispanic businesses gain a foothold. Leaders have emerged from the Hispanic business
community and met one another through such organizations, said Alberto Baillères, owner of Pinnacle Home Loans. As
an established group of better educated and economically improved Hispanics have entered the community, they are
slowly weaving themselves into the leadership of the community in general, Baillères said.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Real Estate: Mortgage rate hikes slow refinancing in the region
Saturday, December 15, 2001
By PAUL HERRERA, phherrera@naplesnews.com
The irresistible attraction of homeowners to refinancing has slackened slightly over the past few weeks as interest rates
spiked up to above 7 percent.
Left to right, loan processor Carolyn Catarra, mortgage loan officer Martin Millender, and assistant vice president Rose
Hartley of Colonial Bank in Bonita are using the annual holiday lull to help catch up on loan paperwork already being
processed. According to Colonial Bank president Harlan Parrish, the mortgage industry will not see a slowdown for
months due to the recent increase in mortgage rates. Photo by Michel Fortier
Five weeks ago, customers were swamping local banks and mortgage companies with applications, seeking to take
advantage of rates that had dipped to as low as 6 percent for 30-year fixed mortgages in some cases.
"I think overall it's still worth it and certainly our activity and our pipeline is still strong," said Harlan Parrish, president of
Colonial Bank in Southwest Florida. "Given rates at their historic levels, where they're at right now, they're still pretty
good. It's still a pretty good time to refinance. Some people were a little late to the dance. Some people are still on the
sidelines hoping (rates) will tick down a little."
The jump in rates began in mid-November with a steep rise that lasted two weeks. After a leveling-off, rates have begun
to creep upward once again. Analysts said the sharp rise, which lifted rates out of historic lows, came as a result of good
news on the war front and more positives from the economy.
"The retail sales report came out about three weeks ago and they were up higher than expected and I think the markets
overreacted, saying that maybe we're seeing the end of the downturn," Parrish said. "But if you look behind the market, it
had a boost from lot of people who bought cars. People were taking advantage of the zero percent financing and
probably made purchases now that they would have made a year from now."
The rush on refinancing in the early fall swamped local banks and other service companies involved in the process.
Appraisal companies were working long hours to keep up with requests. It took longer than usual to move from
application to closing. As a result, some people who applied while rates were in the 6-percent range couldn't get
through the process before rates spiked.
"Sometimes by the time you're done processing the loan request it's too late to lock them in," said Alberto Baillères,
president of Pinnacle Home Loans. "A lot of people were very disillusioned because they couldn't get their loans done
in time. The appraisers were swamped. Everybody was waiting in line and trying to expedite their own situation."
When rates hovered at their lowest points in the early fall, Baillères said, the lower cost allowed some of his customers to
qualify for home loans they might have not managed before. Pinnacle Home Loans specializes in the low-end market,
working with primarily immigrants who would like to buy their own homes.
"We're back to the rates that we were at before the terrorism triggered the fall in rates," Baillères said. "So now we're
back to where we were before. It hasn't really affected us negatively, but during that window it allowed some people to
qualify."
Despite the rise over the past month, rates are still relatively low.
"I'm encouraging all my customers to get applications in," said Mary Nocero of Southern Community Bank. "The bond
market always likes bad news and we're still seeing enough bad news to keep the market strong ... I've been doing
residential lending for 15 years and I have never seen it this low consistently for this long.
"I encourage people to get into somebody's pipeline so that when rates reach the level they want, they can lock it in
right away. I ask my customers to give me a target number. When the rate reaches this number, whether it's six or
whatever, I can call them."
Saturday, December 15, 2001
By PAUL HERRERA, phherrera@naplesnews.com
The irresistible attraction of homeowners to refinancing has slackened slightly over the past few weeks as interest rates
spiked up to above 7 percent.
Left to right, loan processor Carolyn Catarra, mortgage loan officer Martin Millender, and assistant vice president Rose
Hartley of Colonial Bank in Bonita are using the annual holiday lull to help catch up on loan paperwork already being
processed. According to Colonial Bank president Harlan Parrish, the mortgage industry will not see a slowdown for
months due to the recent increase in mortgage rates. Photo by Michel Fortier
Five weeks ago, customers were swamping local banks and mortgage companies with applications, seeking to take
advantage of rates that had dipped to as low as 6 percent for 30-year fixed mortgages in some cases.
"I think overall it's still worth it and certainly our activity and our pipeline is still strong," said Harlan Parrish, president of
Colonial Bank in Southwest Florida. "Given rates at their historic levels, where they're at right now, they're still pretty
good. It's still a pretty good time to refinance. Some people were a little late to the dance. Some people are still on the
sidelines hoping (rates) will tick down a little."
The jump in rates began in mid-November with a steep rise that lasted two weeks. After a leveling-off, rates have begun
to creep upward once again. Analysts said the sharp rise, which lifted rates out of historic lows, came as a result of good
news on the war front and more positives from the economy.
"The retail sales report came out about three weeks ago and they were up higher than expected and I think the markets
overreacted, saying that maybe we're seeing the end of the downturn," Parrish said. "But if you look behind the market, it
had a boost from lot of people who bought cars. People were taking advantage of the zero percent financing and
probably made purchases now that they would have made a year from now."
The rush on refinancing in the early fall swamped local banks and other service companies involved in the process.
Appraisal companies were working long hours to keep up with requests. It took longer than usual to move from
application to closing. As a result, some people who applied while rates were in the 6-percent range couldn't get
through the process before rates spiked.
"Sometimes by the time you're done processing the loan request it's too late to lock them in," said Alberto Baillères,
president of Pinnacle Home Loans. "A lot of people were very disillusioned because they couldn't get their loans done
in time. The appraisers were swamped. Everybody was waiting in line and trying to expedite their own situation."
When rates hovered at their lowest points in the early fall, Baillères said, the lower cost allowed some of his customers to
qualify for home loans they might have not managed before. Pinnacle Home Loans specializes in the low-end market,
working with primarily immigrants who would like to buy their own homes.
"We're back to the rates that we were at before the terrorism triggered the fall in rates," Baillères said. "So now we're
back to where we were before. It hasn't really affected us negatively, but during that window it allowed some people to
qualify."
Despite the rise over the past month, rates are still relatively low.
"I'm encouraging all my customers to get applications in," said Mary Nocero of Southern Community Bank. "The bond
market always likes bad news and we're still seeing enough bad news to keep the market strong ... I've been doing
residential lending for 15 years and I have never seen it this low consistently for this long.
"I encourage people to get into somebody's pipeline so that when rates reach the level they want, they can lock it in
right away. I ask my customers to give me a target number. When the rate reaches this number, whether it's six or
whatever, I can call them."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Dreams come true: A family's life is in the restaurant business
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
By PAUL HERRERA, phherrera@naplesnews.com
Jose Antonio Romero vividly remembers walking into a bank in 1991 with a friend to ask for a business loan to open a
Mexican food restaurant.
Jose Romero came from Mexico with his wife in 1990. After opening restaurants in Bonita Springs and Naples, Romero
opened his third restaurant, Maria's Restaurant, on Old 41 in Bonita Springs this September. Photo by Romain Blanquart
He had been in the United States less than two years and spoke little English. Then a resident of Manna Christian,
Romero needed about $15,000 to get his restaurant started. He would be the third generation in his family to own a
restaurant. The other two were back in Mexico.
The loan manager asked Romero for his business plan.
"I didn't have one," Romero said. "We told him, 'We just know how to cook.' He really didn't care for that. My friend said,
'Antonio, let's go. We don't have any business to do here.' He said, 'You're going to open this restaurant. We'll get you the
money and I know you will pay it back.'"
Friends and family scraped together their savings and loaned it to the 26-year-old heir to cooking talent.
On May 10, 1992, a date Romero and his wife, Maria, remember well because in different years it was the same day
they moved to Bonita Springs and their first child was born, the restaurant opened in a little plaza on Bonita Beach
Road.
"The night before we opened, we didn't have a cash register," Romero said. "We had no rice, no beans, no meat. Some
friends got together and put some money together. It was about $200, I think. We went out and bought a cash register
and something to cook."
There wasn't enough left over to break a $20 bill.
"Our first customer was one of our friends and he asked us for six or seven orders to go of steak," he said. "My wife and I
were crying because it was our first order, and it was a dream come true."
The restaurant had no chairs. It was only takeout. For those waiting for their meals to be prepared, there was nowhere to
sit. A customer asked Romero if he wouldn't mind a donated bench to give people a place to wait off their feet. Donated
patio furniture followed.
In 1992, Maria's Restaurant had few sales. Romero said a good day would generate $100.
Business grew slowly. To generate extra income, Maria worked at the Publix deli, where she said she would make a
couple extra sandwiches to bring home for she and Antonio to eat. The restaurant receipts and paychecks went primarily
to pay debts, the rent and various bills to keep the business going. Some weeks, Antonio said, the last of the money went
for gas so they could get to and from work each day.
In 1995 the restaurant grew into the adjacent suite and finally had a dine-in section. The debts were paid off, as Romero
had promised. The couple, now with a 2-year old son, Jose Antonio, remained at Manna Christian, where their low rent
allowed them to expand the business.
They moved to the Cedar Creek community of Bonita Springs in 1998 and bought their own home — three bedrooms, a
couple of baths, a two-car garage and a big yard.
The same year, Maria's Restaurant moved into a second location in East Naples. The family had also added on, with a
second son, Allan. This year, Maria's expanded to a third location and its second in Bonita Springs. The restaurant
occupies the space that formerly held Corky's restaurant on Old 41 Road. The family added a fifth member. A few
months before the restaurant opened in September, Fabian joined the family.
Also, for the first time, the Romeros bought the land and restaurant they occupy. They're now the proud owners of the
38,000 square-foot building near the intersection of Old 41 and Terry Street. The immigrant family that spent years
learning English at the Bonita Springs Literacy Council and lived in the Manna Christian migrant camp a few years ago
paid a little less than $1 million for their newest location.
"The first night we saw this place we started dreaming," Romero said. "This is a big, beautiful building. I didn't believe it
when the bank said 'Yes, we can loan you the money.' I was jumping up and down when I went home and told my wife
we had it ... I'm still dreaming. I keep dreaming and I don't want to stop. I don't want somebody to wake me up."
Romero said his goals have also changed slightly. Now he says he also feels responsible for helping to improve the
image of Hispanics in Bonita Springs.
"I want to prove to the people around here that Hispanics are good people," he said. "I feel embarrassed when I see
something bad in the paper with Hispanic names. I don't want people to think that everything with Hispanic names is
associated with drugs or shooting or crimes. We came from a country that gave us an education. We were taught to work
hard to make things work. Our family has been here for 10 years and every time we've been in the paper it's been
because of something good for the community. We want our sons to be the same."
The work of the Romero family has been raised as an example by others in the Hispanic community of Bonita Springs.
Alberto Baillères, a Mexican immigrant who now owns a mortgage company, said Maria's Restaurant is one of the
successes of the immigrant community that has been overlooked.
"You look at what he has accomplished and it's just amazing," Baillères said. "That family is an example to everyone.
Look at that beautiful new restaurant. And I'm proud to say it's one of our own."
The company is set to grow again. Maria's Restaurant will open its fourth location within the next few months, this time
expanding to Fort Myers.
"When we started we bought one piece of meat at a time," Romero said. "Now we buy 15 or 16 cases of beef (60 to 70
pounds per case). We buy 800 pounds of chicken every week. It's a big change, but it reflects how hard we have worked
and still work.
"All the Hispanic people are around (the Old 41 location). They can walk here. Our Bonita workforce lives here. But the
upscale is also nearby. I want to show them that the Hispanic people work hard and try to make their American dreams
come true. These dreams can come true. This is the only country where it really can."
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
By PAUL HERRERA, phherrera@naplesnews.com
Jose Antonio Romero vividly remembers walking into a bank in 1991 with a friend to ask for a business loan to open a
Mexican food restaurant.
Jose Romero came from Mexico with his wife in 1990. After opening restaurants in Bonita Springs and Naples, Romero
opened his third restaurant, Maria's Restaurant, on Old 41 in Bonita Springs this September. Photo by Romain Blanquart
He had been in the United States less than two years and spoke little English. Then a resident of Manna Christian,
Romero needed about $15,000 to get his restaurant started. He would be the third generation in his family to own a
restaurant. The other two were back in Mexico.
The loan manager asked Romero for his business plan.
"I didn't have one," Romero said. "We told him, 'We just know how to cook.' He really didn't care for that. My friend said,
'Antonio, let's go. We don't have any business to do here.' He said, 'You're going to open this restaurant. We'll get you the
money and I know you will pay it back.'"
Friends and family scraped together their savings and loaned it to the 26-year-old heir to cooking talent.
On May 10, 1992, a date Romero and his wife, Maria, remember well because in different years it was the same day
they moved to Bonita Springs and their first child was born, the restaurant opened in a little plaza on Bonita Beach
Road.
"The night before we opened, we didn't have a cash register," Romero said. "We had no rice, no beans, no meat. Some
friends got together and put some money together. It was about $200, I think. We went out and bought a cash register
and something to cook."
There wasn't enough left over to break a $20 bill.
"Our first customer was one of our friends and he asked us for six or seven orders to go of steak," he said. "My wife and I
were crying because it was our first order, and it was a dream come true."
The restaurant had no chairs. It was only takeout. For those waiting for their meals to be prepared, there was nowhere to
sit. A customer asked Romero if he wouldn't mind a donated bench to give people a place to wait off their feet. Donated
patio furniture followed.
In 1992, Maria's Restaurant had few sales. Romero said a good day would generate $100.
Business grew slowly. To generate extra income, Maria worked at the Publix deli, where she said she would make a
couple extra sandwiches to bring home for she and Antonio to eat. The restaurant receipts and paychecks went primarily
to pay debts, the rent and various bills to keep the business going. Some weeks, Antonio said, the last of the money went
for gas so they could get to and from work each day.
In 1995 the restaurant grew into the adjacent suite and finally had a dine-in section. The debts were paid off, as Romero
had promised. The couple, now with a 2-year old son, Jose Antonio, remained at Manna Christian, where their low rent
allowed them to expand the business.
They moved to the Cedar Creek community of Bonita Springs in 1998 and bought their own home — three bedrooms, a
couple of baths, a two-car garage and a big yard.
The same year, Maria's Restaurant moved into a second location in East Naples. The family had also added on, with a
second son, Allan. This year, Maria's expanded to a third location and its second in Bonita Springs. The restaurant
occupies the space that formerly held Corky's restaurant on Old 41 Road. The family added a fifth member. A few
months before the restaurant opened in September, Fabian joined the family.
Also, for the first time, the Romeros bought the land and restaurant they occupy. They're now the proud owners of the
38,000 square-foot building near the intersection of Old 41 and Terry Street. The immigrant family that spent years
learning English at the Bonita Springs Literacy Council and lived in the Manna Christian migrant camp a few years ago
paid a little less than $1 million for their newest location.
"The first night we saw this place we started dreaming," Romero said. "This is a big, beautiful building. I didn't believe it
when the bank said 'Yes, we can loan you the money.' I was jumping up and down when I went home and told my wife
we had it ... I'm still dreaming. I keep dreaming and I don't want to stop. I don't want somebody to wake me up."
Romero said his goals have also changed slightly. Now he says he also feels responsible for helping to improve the
image of Hispanics in Bonita Springs.
"I want to prove to the people around here that Hispanics are good people," he said. "I feel embarrassed when I see
something bad in the paper with Hispanic names. I don't want people to think that everything with Hispanic names is
associated with drugs or shooting or crimes. We came from a country that gave us an education. We were taught to work
hard to make things work. Our family has been here for 10 years and every time we've been in the paper it's been
because of something good for the community. We want our sons to be the same."
The work of the Romero family has been raised as an example by others in the Hispanic community of Bonita Springs.
Alberto Baillères, a Mexican immigrant who now owns a mortgage company, said Maria's Restaurant is one of the
successes of the immigrant community that has been overlooked.
"You look at what he has accomplished and it's just amazing," Baillères said. "That family is an example to everyone.
Look at that beautiful new restaurant. And I'm proud to say it's one of our own."
The company is set to grow again. Maria's Restaurant will open its fourth location within the next few months, this time
expanding to Fort Myers.
"When we started we bought one piece of meat at a time," Romero said. "Now we buy 15 or 16 cases of beef (60 to 70
pounds per case). We buy 800 pounds of chicken every week. It's a big change, but it reflects how hard we have worked
and still work.
"All the Hispanic people are around (the Old 41 location). They can walk here. Our Bonita workforce lives here. But the
upscale is also nearby. I want to show them that the Hispanic people work hard and try to make their American dreams
come true. These dreams can come true. This is the only country where it really can."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Lower rates foster a rush to refinance
Saturday, October 27, 2001
By PAUL HERRERA, Staff Writer
The chart of mortgage rates for the past year looks like the profile view of a soft ski slope. The 15- and 30-year fixed rates
for mortgages have been slipping steadily downward, mirroring the economy, the federal bank rate and most economic
indicators.
As the lending rate has continued to fall, the push toward refinancing existing mortgages or buying new homes has
surged to the point that real estate professionals like John Mathes, president of Mathes Realty Appraisal in Bonita
Springs, said, "As low as interest rates have dropped I think you'd be crazy not to do it."
Yazmine Del Rio, left, a loan processor, prepares refinance papers for Elizabeth Vachon as her son Cody, 18 months,
sleeps Thursday at Pinnacle Home Loans in Bonita Springs. Vachon, a homeowner for two years, said she was looking
to take advantage of lower interest rates to lower her payment. Gary Coronado/Staff
Local banks are finding that there's enough sanity in this market to fill their inboxes and schedules with customers who
want to refinance.
"Appraisers are backed up," said Martin Millender of Colonial Bank.
"Title companies are backed up because of the volume."
Mathes, a real estate appraiser who is hired by mortgage companies and banks to document property values for home
loans, said this may be the busiest period he has ever seen. The growing backlog of work in his office has reached a
week to 10 days.
"It just seems to keep coming," Mathes said. "You don't know what's going to happen. We're really getting slammed right
now ... . We're working until 10 or 11 at night and weekends."
It has been a boom time at Mathes Realty Appraisal, where a third appraiser is preparing to join the office.
In addition to the large number of people refinancing their homes, the winter tends to hail more real estate business.
"It's kinda feast or famine in this business," Mathes said. "Things can change and business can go away.
Right now we're busy because of (refinancing). Who knows if the economy changes what might happen. It's like the
saying, 'You gotta make hay while the sun shines.'"
For lower-end buyers, low interest rates have made it possible for more people to qualify for home loans because of
significant savings on monthly payments. At Pinnacle Home Loans, a mortgage company specializing in the immigrant
and laborer community, people with lower incomes are getting a rare window of opportunity to own a home.
"More people qualify when the rate environment is more positive," said Alberto Baillères, president of Pinnacle Home
Loans. "When your niche is first-time home buyers and you cater to that market, then obviously when you're telling the
renter that it is possible to buy their own home, all of the sudden they realize when rates go down that their monthly
payments are the same. As rates have gone down they're able to qualify and our target market grows. On a $100,000
loan, where your payment used to be $745 with principal and interest, now you're talking $640."
To a lesser extent, the same has been true at mainstream banks. Most banks are now wading through stacks of
refinancing paperwork that, by most estimates, is taking up 75 to 80 percent of their business. However, the falling tide of
interest rates have brought more people above water at every loan size.
Harlan Parrish, president of Colonial Bank's Southwest Florida Region, said many customers also are spurred to speed up
purchases they might have been planning for a later time.
"I think some people who were in the process of saving for a new home, it makes it much more affordable," Parrish said.
"Logic would tell you that certainly some people who might have decided to stay on the sidelines a little longer are able
to go ahead and do it now."
After diving lower in the weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, mortgage rates have leveled off over the past
month and nudged upward slightly in Florida and nationwide. The lowest point came in early October; the rates have
begun slipping downward again at a very slight pace over the past week.
"This is probably one of the few industries that has benefited from this whole mess," Baillères said. "Not only from the
refinancing perspective but also because more people can now qualify to buy a house."
Saturday, October 27, 2001
By PAUL HERRERA, Staff Writer
The chart of mortgage rates for the past year looks like the profile view of a soft ski slope. The 15- and 30-year fixed rates
for mortgages have been slipping steadily downward, mirroring the economy, the federal bank rate and most economic
indicators.
As the lending rate has continued to fall, the push toward refinancing existing mortgages or buying new homes has
surged to the point that real estate professionals like John Mathes, president of Mathes Realty Appraisal in Bonita
Springs, said, "As low as interest rates have dropped I think you'd be crazy not to do it."
Yazmine Del Rio, left, a loan processor, prepares refinance papers for Elizabeth Vachon as her son Cody, 18 months,
sleeps Thursday at Pinnacle Home Loans in Bonita Springs. Vachon, a homeowner for two years, said she was looking
to take advantage of lower interest rates to lower her payment. Gary Coronado/Staff
Local banks are finding that there's enough sanity in this market to fill their inboxes and schedules with customers who
want to refinance.
"Appraisers are backed up," said Martin Millender of Colonial Bank.
"Title companies are backed up because of the volume."
Mathes, a real estate appraiser who is hired by mortgage companies and banks to document property values for home
loans, said this may be the busiest period he has ever seen. The growing backlog of work in his office has reached a
week to 10 days.
"It just seems to keep coming," Mathes said. "You don't know what's going to happen. We're really getting slammed right
now ... . We're working until 10 or 11 at night and weekends."
It has been a boom time at Mathes Realty Appraisal, where a third appraiser is preparing to join the office.
In addition to the large number of people refinancing their homes, the winter tends to hail more real estate business.
"It's kinda feast or famine in this business," Mathes said. "Things can change and business can go away.
Right now we're busy because of (refinancing). Who knows if the economy changes what might happen. It's like the
saying, 'You gotta make hay while the sun shines.'"
For lower-end buyers, low interest rates have made it possible for more people to qualify for home loans because of
significant savings on monthly payments. At Pinnacle Home Loans, a mortgage company specializing in the immigrant
and laborer community, people with lower incomes are getting a rare window of opportunity to own a home.
"More people qualify when the rate environment is more positive," said Alberto Baillères, president of Pinnacle Home
Loans. "When your niche is first-time home buyers and you cater to that market, then obviously when you're telling the
renter that it is possible to buy their own home, all of the sudden they realize when rates go down that their monthly
payments are the same. As rates have gone down they're able to qualify and our target market grows. On a $100,000
loan, where your payment used to be $745 with principal and interest, now you're talking $640."
To a lesser extent, the same has been true at mainstream banks. Most banks are now wading through stacks of
refinancing paperwork that, by most estimates, is taking up 75 to 80 percent of their business. However, the falling tide of
interest rates have brought more people above water at every loan size.
Harlan Parrish, president of Colonial Bank's Southwest Florida Region, said many customers also are spurred to speed up
purchases they might have been planning for a later time.
"I think some people who were in the process of saving for a new home, it makes it much more affordable," Parrish said.
"Logic would tell you that certainly some people who might have decided to stay on the sidelines a little longer are able
to go ahead and do it now."
After diving lower in the weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, mortgage rates have leveled off over the past
month and nudged upward slightly in Florida and nationwide. The lowest point came in early October; the rates have
begun slipping downward again at a very slight pace over the past week.
"This is probably one of the few industries that has benefited from this whole mess," Baillères said. "Not only from the
refinancing perspective but also because more people can now qualify to buy a house."
Financial briefs
Sunday, January 25, 1998
Daily News
BAILLÈRES ON PANELS: Chase Manhattan Bank announced that Naples FL Residential Loan Officer Alberto Baillères
has joined the Collier County Chamber/EDC Coalition's Affordable Housing Committee and the EconomicDevelopment
Council New Business Development Committee's International Task Force.
The objective of the Affordable Housing Committee is to increase availability of housing in the community that is
affordable to employees of Collier County businesses and government agencies.
The objective of the New Business Development Committee's International Task Force is to develop an international
relocation package and a pre-immigration package; determine targeted marketing for international markets,
import/export opportunities, reverse investments and international trade missions; and, increase opportunities for
participation in Enterprise Zones and Foreign Trade Zones for the Immokalee and Everglades City areas.
Sunday, January 25, 1998
Daily News
BAILLÈRES ON PANELS: Chase Manhattan Bank announced that Naples FL Residential Loan Officer Alberto Baillères
has joined the Collier County Chamber/EDC Coalition's Affordable Housing Committee and the EconomicDevelopment
Council New Business Development Committee's International Task Force.
The objective of the Affordable Housing Committee is to increase availability of housing in the community that is
affordable to employees of Collier County businesses and government agencies.
The objective of the New Business Development Committee's International Task Force is to develop an international
relocation package and a pre-immigration package; determine targeted marketing for international markets,
import/export opportunities, reverse investments and international trade missions; and, increase opportunities for
participation in Enterprise Zones and Foreign Trade Zones for the Immokalee and Everglades City areas.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
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