For example, according to the 2005 Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies State of the Nation’s Housing Report, minorities are making inroads into all housing market segments across the United States.

This trend is expected to continue with minorities making up a growing share of the homeowner population with each successive generation. The study reveals that nearly 35 percent of all first-time homebuyers are minorities and more than 40 percent of all renters are minorities-these could be or will be the homeowners of the future.

Companies in the housing and mortgage industries are taking notice of this trend and are making efforts to meet the needs of today’s prospective homebuyers.

“Mortgage lenders need to have people who reflect the communities they serve located in the neighborhoods that we want to serve if we want to inspire people to become first-time homeowners,” said Jackson Cosey, senior vice president of Emerging Markets for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

For instance, Wells Fargo recently introduced a program designed to help serve consumers with down payment difficulties or lack of traditional credit history by helping them qualify for loans they can afford.

Called the Home OpportunitiesSM program, it includes qualifying debt-to-income ratios that address the growing reality that homeowners need to spend a greater percentage of their income on housing.

Also, it provides for nontraditional credit references that enable consumers who do not have traditional or lengthy credit histories to qualify for the program. In addition, flexibility on down payments and closing costs allows customers to purchase a home without a down payment.

“Home-financing options such as this program will allow more people including first-time homebuyers and low- to moderate- income borrowers to do something they have only dreamed about: owning a home,” added Cosey.

That’s especially important with IT tracking fixed assets. IT equipment is at the heart of any business operation today and often changes during its operational lifetime. Components may be switched, replaced or upgraded. Software is frequently installed, uninstalled or upgraded. Many of these changes are internal and therefore usually “invisible”.The value and highly portable nature of laptops, notebooks, peripheral devices and other items like the Blackberry may also explain their tendency to “disappear” from real life.

Central to any asset tracking system should be a powerful, centralised database which provides controlled access for all parties that require it.This system should also have the capacity to include information about those invisible software assets on your IT network how many programs and whether they are licenced or not?Ideally, a single audit should have the capacity to cover multiple locations and thousands of assets. It should also be compatible with inventory management systems.

This is particularly important with many asset tracking software packages designed to control and manage mobile and fixed assets that incorporate bar coding and RFID asset management (Radio Frequency Identification) technologies. Hand-held scanning devices can work with both accounting and tracking modules to provide an accurate and consistently current database.This will enable users to comply fully with auditor requirements relating to accurately accounting for and tracking their asset base. Once the audit data has been uploaded into the asset or inventory register, managers can get reports detailing total assets and suggested actions (dispose, relocate, upgrade etc) for each of the assets located in the audit.