Foreclosures and the Latino Community: The Hilton Head Island real estate market has certainly been affected by a variety of problems, but none is as veiled or less-considered than that of the mass exodus of illegal immigrants. In our area most of the illegal immigrants were and are of Hispanic descent. In the go-go days of 2004 through 2007 our area turned into a burgeoning market for Latino entrepreneurism and it was accompanied by a hefty need for housing on Hilton Head Island, in Bluffton and in Hardeeville. While many of these families rented apartments, mobile homes and smaller houses, loose lending practices enabled hundreds of other aliens to purchase property in our area. A friend of mine has a company that once employed over 100 people and the vast majority of his employees were of Latino descent. Today, in the wake of the struggling economy, his payroll has shrunk to 25. Only three of those people are Latino. “I don’t know where they’ve all gone,” he said this week when I asked him about the impact of the slow down. “But I can tell you this, they aren’t around here because there’s no work.” Where have they all gone? “Home,” said another client, who is of Mexican descent and much closer to the issue. “There are no jobs and no money. Job prospects aren’t any worse at home than they are here, so many have taken their savings and gone back because the money will last a lot longer.” Without discussing the merits of whether these folks should have been here to begin with, it is clear that they had a substantial impact on our housing industry. Another friend of mine owns over 15 rental properties. Just a few are now occupied. “All of my tenants were Hispanic,” he told me recently. “They paid on time and in cash, but the collapse of the building business means most of them have gone back.” The result has been devastating. Investors have really felt the pinch. A great example is the area known as Brighton Beach in Bluffton, which was home to significant contingent of Hispanic families. Driving through them today resembles a ghost town. There is no doubt that their exodus has had considerable impact on the Hilton Head Island foreclosure market. While we can’t pin numbers on the impact, it is so painfully obvious that to ignore it would be irresponsible. The Hilton Head Island real estate and foreclosure market has certainly taken a hit and it would be well worth remembering the importance of the Hispanic community the next time around.