Casa Latino a Slam Dunk for Retired NBA Star.

SOUTHBURY, Conn. -- 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.