As the number of Hispanic homebuyers continues to climb across the country, real estate companies big and small are taking steps to woo the demographic.

One Connecticut company is hoping to capture that group across the country as it rolls out a franchise operation this November, with plans to expand into Massachusetts.

Casa Latino Real Estate began in Danbury, Conn., last January and its success and interest from people throughout the United States has prompted Chief Executive Officer Robb Heering to start a franchise corporation that will extend across much of the country.

“All the big players are tripping over themselves to serve the Hispanic community,” he said. “They’re all doing what they can to grab a piece of the Latino pie.”

Mary Mancera, spokeswoman for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, said many businesses, including real estate companies, have become more conscious of demographic trends pointing to growing numbers of Hispanic households across the country and have tried to tap into the market in recent years.

“There’s a heightened level of awareness about the Hispanic market and the opportunity associated with it,” said Mancera.

The number of Hispanic households will continue to climb within the next 15 years, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. By 2010, 49 percent of the nearly 13 million Hispanic households nationwide, or more than 6.3 million households, will own homes, the center estimates.

The center also predicts that immigrants will comprise 80 percent of the first-time homebuying segment by 2010, and 40 percent of that immigrant pool is expected to be Hispanic.

But Mancera said currently there aren’t nearly enough Hispanic Realtors to service the growing market. Only 4 percent of the 1.3 million members of the National Association of Realtors identify themselves as Hispanic, she said.

“That means a big opportunity for anyone who is in real estate,” she said.

In Connecticut, Heering said his firm has been successful because its services go beyond translation. It specializes in first-time homebuyers, and the mainstay of the company’s services is the amount of time its agents spend with customers.

There is a formal, one-on-one education program, during which the agent sits down with a potential homebuyer to make sure he understands the obligations – such as taxes, insurance costs and maintenance – that go along with owning a home.

“We just spend so much more time,” Heering said.

Before looking at listings, the agent takes an in-depth look at the buyers’ credit. Heering also runs a mortgage company, so Casa Latino agents sometimes can send homebuyers there to get pre-qualified.

“Then we operate like any other Realtor,” Heering said.

But while Casa Latino’s agents show listings like any other agent, they do so with more understanding of the Hispanic culture, he said.

After closing, the agent is again available to help the buyer when his first mortgage statement arrives. The homebuyer can come into the agency, or an agent will visit the home to review the statement and make sure the buyer understands the details.

“It’s kind of a full circle,” Heering said. “We think it’s a beautiful niche.”

‘A Wonderful Opportunity’
Heering said he is confident the planned franchise will be a success.

Since CNN en Español aired a story about the firm, the company has received calls from across the United States, and from other countries, although an international franchise is not yet on the horizon. The interest prompted him to document the business model and proprietary methods and start the franchise.

Heering hired Raquel “Garcia” Colby, a Realtor and a former law partner in the international tax and commercial law firm of Withers Bergman, as senior vice president and general counsel for the franchise.

Casa Latino will debut its franchise at the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professional’s annual convention in Las Vegas in November.

By then, the firm will have the necessary paperwork complete to do business in 38 states, including Massachusetts.

“Massachusetts presents a wonderful opportunity for Casa Latino,” Heering said in an e-mail. “We have identified several markets in Massachusetts where Casa Latino franchisees will be sought – including, but not limited to, Greater Boston, Holyoke, Lawrence, Springfield and Worcester. Although we are cognizant of the fact that large national real estate brands as well as smaller regional and local agencies are tripping over each other to grab a piece of the Latino pie, we also know that the Latino population in New England is poorly serviced by existing real estate companies. The entry of Casa Latino into the region will present a much-needed option and will result in increased homeownership among Hispanics.”

Indeed, companies like Casa Latino have more Latino consumers to serve in the Bay State. The Hispanic or Latino population grew 18.1 percent from 2000 to 2005, and remains the largest minority group in the state, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Massachusetts has seen a spike in immigrants from Latin America in the last five years. The number of people living in the Bay State that were born in Latin America increased 40.7 percent from 2000 to 2005, the Census Bureau reported last week.

According to the census, 321,321 people living in Massachusetts last year were born in Latin America, representing 37 percent of the total immigration population.

Some Bay State Realtors already have found success by targeting the Hispanic market.

Springfield broker Maria Acuna opened a real estate firm five years ago that mostly caters to Latino homebuyers and sellers.

Acuna, who used to work for a local Coldwell Banker office, said she started her own business – Maria Acuna Real Estate – because she already had established a strong Spanish-speaking clientele.

“I already had my niche in the Spanish community, so I thought, ‘Why not open up my own business?'” said Acuna, who noted that most of the Latino customers were referred to her. “At the time, there weren’t many full-time Spanish Realtors.”

Acuna’s company currently has 19 agents, most of whom are Spanish-speaking. While the firm serves buyers and sellers of all nationalities, the bulk of the company’s business comes from Hispanic clients, said Acuna.

Acuna was one of the first brokers in the Springfield area to establish her own real estate business specifically targeted to Latinos. But in the last three years, many more Spanish-speaking Realtors have emerged, and some have started their own companies, according to Acuna.

In Lawrence – where nearly 70 percent of the city’s residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the most recent census figures – brokers Alfonso Garcia and Patricia Valley started a firm two years ago to serve Hispanic consumers in that city, as well as Haverhill and Methuen.

“We started the company Â… trying to compete with big names in the area because we thought the Hispanic community needed someone who knows about the culture,” said Garcia, who along with Valley was a top-producing agent for Century 21 McLennan, Ortega & Fermin in Lawrence before forming Garcia, Valley & Assoc.

Garcia estimates that 95 percent of his company’s business comes from Hispanic buyers and sellers.

All of the eight agents working at the company are Latino, said Garcia. The firm has done well in two years, according to Garcia, capturing a large share of the market.

But given that the residential real estate market has shifted and Lawrence is struggling with a jump in foreclosure filings, Garcia said now might be a tough time for a franchise like Casa Latino to enter the city.

‘Looking Bright’
The concept for Casa Latino came about when Heering, a lawyer, started a mortgage company – Fortune Lending in Southbury, Conn. – several years ago. He had been working in real estate law, and wanted to see another side of the industry, he said.

“I just wanted a different take on it,” Heering noted.

About three years ago, he hired a mortgage broker of Puerto Rican descent. The broker started to bring in large numbers of potential first-time homebuyers who wanted to get pre-approved. Heering was happy to refer the homebuyers to local Realtors when it came time to shop for a home, but after awhile he started hearing complaints.

Some Realtors did not speak Spanish. Others were trying to push the buyers to homes they felt they could not afford, and others balked when the homebuyers asked to bring their extended family to see a property, a common request among Hispanic homebuyers.

So in January, Heering started Casa Latino. The firm leases space from the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury.

The public was interested in the idea from the beginning, Heering said.

“From the get-go we were getting a lot of press coverage,” he said.

CNN en Español came to Danbury and followed around one of the firm’s agents, and the resulting story ran several times on the network.

“Things were certainly looking bright for us,” Heering said.

Heering said he believes in the strength of the Hispanic demographic, that he was willing to effectively forego a section of the market by choosing a name like Casa Latino for the company. Although anyone can become a customer of the firm, the name attracts mostly Hispanic homebuyers.

“Brian Jones is probably not going to call Casa Latino when he’s looking for his first home,” Heering said.

Danbury was a good place to test the model, he said. The city has a sizable Hispanic population, but it is still a relatively small city. Heering said he plans to expand to the Connecticut communities of Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury. The Bridgeport office will be open within a month, he said.