Casa Latino a Slam Dunk for Retired NBA Star – LaSalle Thompson

“After setting records at the University of Texas, he was drafted into the NBA where he played for 15 seasons, most notably with the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers. Twenty years ago he was a feared big man on the basketball court, his size and power earned him the nickname “Tank”.

Now, more than a decade after walking off the court, LaSalle Thompson is preparing for a new role as a franchise owner of Casa Latino, America’s first nationwide Latino real estate brand.

At 45, LaSalle Thompson is no stranger to business. He has had ownership interests in various businesses including automotive dealerships and real estate investments.

“LaSalle Thompson has joined our team and we are very pleased to welcome him” stated Robb Heering, Casa Latino’s founder and CEO.

“LaSalle and his team of real estate professionals will open a Casa Latino Real Estate office in Sacramento next month and will likely open an office later this year in Indianapolis and perhaps several more in other California communities over the course of the next year”.

“We had a choice of several potential franchise owners for the Sacramento market, and we selected LaSalle because of his sincere commitment to serving minority consumers” said Heering.

Rich Wulff, principal of Phoenix based area developer Southwest Casa Latino Partners, LLC. who introduced LaSalle to Casa Latino said “LaSalle was a perfect fit for Casa Latino. Since his retirement from the NBA, he has focused on helping the community achieve home ownership through various real estate entities and projects in California and the Midwest. He saw this as a perfect fit to continue to give back, and to become further involved, specifically with the Latino community. He intends to take advantage of his professional sports contacts to enhance the presence of Casa Latino, both in his markets and the entire western region. As area developers, we are excited to have LaSalle join the Casa Latino family, and look forward to his continued and growing development of the Sacramento and Northern California markets.” LaSalle joins a growing list of new franchisees in the West, including offices that are currently open in Las Vegas, and opening this month in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Phoenix. When asked why the brand appealed to him, LaSalle stated “There were numerous things that I liked, but the attitude of the Casa Latino Franchise Corporation of doing business in a caring and honest way was very important. Additionally a support system has been developed that allows us to lead in the California real estate market.

It will allow me to build relationships within the community, help my agents and my brokers to succeed. It is a very exciting concept!”

About Casa Latino Franchise Corporation
Casa Latino was created in 2005 based upon the premise that Hispanic home buyers and sellers have unique needs based upon cultural differences and lifestyles, bolstered by the fact that those needs are not being effectively served by any other national brand. The company offers franchisees unprecedented culturally specific and significant back office support, training, marketing tools, advertising, coaching, and much more to ensure their success. The franchise model encourages a variety of agent compensation programs which dramatically enhance a broker’s ability to recruit agents. The low franchise fee and an exceptionally low transaction based royalty structure make Casa Latino an extremely attractive opportunity. Casa Latino has awarded franchises in 10 states and is executing an aggressive growth plan in the USA and many other countries. “

• The mayor of a wealthy suburb (San Pedro Garza Garcia) of Monterrey said Monday that he has sent his family to the United States for their own safety as he pursues his campaign against extortion and kidnapping gangs.
• Hispanic Entrepreneur profile: Entrepreneurship began early for Gándara family – El Paso
• La ‘éne•bé•a’ (NBA) campaign targeting Latinos is making big ‘esplashes’
• Beginning with the 2009-2010 season, Terra will stream select games live throughout Latin America, in both Spanish and Portuguese
• Trend Toward Smaller Families in Latin America – The number of people per household in Latin America will fall by 18 percent by 2020, according to a study released in this capital Tuesday by consulting firm Euromonitor International.
• Officials at U.T. Permian Basin are hoping to making this weekend’s Hispanic Youth Summit a regular event. – More than 200 high school students from around the Basin and Big Bend have been in Odessa for the Summit.
• Juliet V. Garcia, the president of University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, has been named one of TIME Magazine’s Ten Best College Presidents of 2009
• University of Texas Research Study Needs Midlife Latinas - needed to fill out an online survey on physical activity and ethnicity; Participants will be reimbursed
• Al Horford, the Hispanic ALtanta Hawk that everyone loves – father, Tito, was the first Dominican-born player to play in the NBA
• Members of a Guatemalan family living in Marin County are now separated by thousands of miles after immigration officials deported the parents of three children overnight. – California
• After deferring his dream to play in the NBA, Greivis Vasquez is returning to Maryland for his senior year. But in Venezuela, they’re more interested in what comes after that.
• Mexico’s family-friendly hot spots – Consider heading to locales in Nayarit and Oaxaca, where surf, sun and inexpensive attractions have been a hit for one family of four.
• APA Poll Finds Stress Having an Impact on Families, Hispanics
• They’ll (the NBA) take our money, but do they want us in the stands?
• Latinos need more than lip service – Families are being torn apart by America’s broken immigration system. President Obama needs to show leadership and fix it – (the view from England)
• Global Hispanic Real Estate Firm, Casa Latino, Executes National Franchise Development Deal for U.S. Expansion
• Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has appointed three people to the state’s Latino Family Commission – has never met since it was established in 2007 (?)
• The NBA this month launched Éne-bé-a, a multichannel marketing campaign.
• A book that aims to explain the business and culture of drug trafficking playing out in El Paso and Juárez was released today. – “Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez” is written by University of Texas at El Paso professor Howard Campbell.
• United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Appoints Javier Palomarez President and CEO