But in venturing back into their homeland, many Salvadorans are returning to a country where there are still few rules to protect home buyers. Brokers are not licensed, although efforts are underway to do so. Meanwhile, there have been some scams.
Trujillo knew of the potential for problems. But he and his wife Marina, whom he met in the United States but who is also from San Miguel, were pulled by a strong desire to eventually return to El Salvador.
Parque Residencial Riverside in San Miguel, El Salvador, features American-style amenities such as barbecue grills.
(Lissette Monterrosa For The Washington Post)
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Metro Business: Coverage of Washington area businesses and the local economy.
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Marketing Memories
Nostalgia pricked Trujillo that Saturday two years ago after he heard a commercial on Radio America, a Spanish-language radio station broadcasting from Wheaton. A voice began enticing Salvadorans to remember their happy childhoods: canoeing down rivers and picking fresh fruit from trees in the countryside, free from the frantic pace of life in the United States. Then the soothing announcer invited listeners to return to their home country by buying land at Parque Residencial Riverside.
"I imagined [my house] had already been constructed like they described -- something secure and private," Trujillo said one recent evening, as he sat in the dining room of his house in Lanham.
When he heard that the Salvadoran real estate agent selling the project was at the office of Radio America, Trujillo drove to Wheaton to meet her. Trujillo and his wife hoped the land would someday help connect their four young U.S.-born children with their family. The children, the oldest of whom is 12, have never traveled to San Miguel.
At the offices of Radio America, Riverside real estate agent Any Rovira de Tusell showed Trujillo a promotional video of the project. Tusell has been selling upscale properties to Salvadorans living in the United States for three years. To reach them, she uses programs aired on Spanish-language stations in Washington, Los Angeles, Houston and other cities. She also airs commercials on Spanish-language television.
She said Salvadoran expatriates respond because they miss El Salvador, and she can offer them a lifestyle that combines both worlds. Antonio Medina, owner of the Mercadito Ramos grocery chain in Maryland, Washington and Virginia, agreed. Medina, who immigrated to Washington in 1978 and became a U.S. citizen 18 years ago, bought four lots in Riverside because he misses the slow-paced Salvadoran life.
"It's gentler there and more peaceful," said Medina, who plans to begin building a large home with an indoor pool here next year.
To help persuade Trujillo to buy, Tusell gave a tour of the Parque Residencial Riverside property to members of his family in El Salvador. Trujillo could not travel back to El Salvador and return to his home in Lanham without getting special permission from the U.S. government because he is not yet a permanent U.S. resident. Trujillo's sister-in-law and brother walked the property, recording a video for Trujillo. Then Tusell took the sister-in-law and brother to her office and let them call Trujillo in Maryland.
"I give them an international call so that they can personally tell their family member their impressions of the project -- if they liked it or didn't like it," Tusell said. "This is practically the close of the sell. I know that I have the sale."
