De Young Properties Awarded Key to City for Building the Riojas Family Home on Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition
Madison, WI – March 31, 2009 – De Young Properties of Fresno, California, a client
of AVID Ratings since 2006, was awarded a key to the city for building a new, quality-crafted De Young
home for the Riojas Family on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
De Young Properties proudly announced the selection of the Mary Ann Riojas family for ABC’s Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition. The third-generation builder joined up with the Emmy award-winning,
hit reality television show to build a home in only seven days with all products and labor being donated,
so De Young encouraged the entire Central California community to get involved with this project. De
Young Properties successfully completed the home in less than a week and helped to raise $145,000 for
the Riojas family. The Central California builder was then given a key to the city from the Fresno City
Council and Mayor’s Office, and January 15, 2009 was declared “De Young Properties Day” to honor their
generosity and mission to continue giving back to the community.
Mary Ann Riojas has been a hero in her community, and De Young was proud to share in giving back to
her and her four children. Mary Ann has unfortunately been dealing with a great deal of adversity since
being born without legs and having only one fully-developed arm, being placed in foster care, and growing
up in poverty. She later had four children but always struggled financially. Despite her living conditions
and her disability, she was determined to lead an active and independent life and to support her children.
Mary Ann was the first in her family to graduate college. She became both an employee and state/national
Ambassador for the Easter Seals program, a job that has taken her all over the country inspiring many
along the way to overcome adversity for success. In 2006, she became a first-time homeowner and has
since been employed by the local Housing Authority counseling other struggling families in her community
to find housing.
Although she was proud to be a homeowner, her first home presented many physical challenges for her
disability and led to many serious injuries, causing her four teenage children to worry about their
mother’s safety when she was home alone. In an intense, one-week build, De Young Properties was asked
to construct the Riojas Family’s new 3,000 square foot home, a home that upholds the highest standards
of quality craftsmanship, architectural design, and energy efficiency.
About De Young Properties
De Young Properties, now in its third generation, built over 7,000 of the finest homes in Central California
and has had a 30-year tradition of giving back to their community. Jerry and Paula De Young established
De Young Properties in 1974 to help families realize the American Dream of home ownership. The family
has a reputation for unsurpassed quality craftsmanship, industry innovation, customer service, excellence,
and especially for the time and resources they contribute to their local community.
De Young Properties regularly supports local schools, non-profits and community groups, and even donated
two homes to benefit the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 2007 and 2008 and will donate another
home in 2009. It was De Young’s dedication to their community that attracted Conrad Ricketts, Executive
Producer of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where De Young Properties was asked to construct
the 3,000 square foot quality-crafted Riojas home in an intense, one-week schedule.
After being given the key to the city by the Fresno City Council and Mayor’s Office for their work on
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Paula De Young, executive vice president of De Young Properties
said, “We were truly surprised and touched by this proclamation. We give back to our community because
it is the right thing to do. We put our heart into each home we build to make sure it is a quality crafted,
healthy living environment and environmentally responsible.” De Young maintains a partnership with Build
It Green and Energy Star, utilizing the industry’s best practices to provide extremely energy efficient
homes while also helping to preserve the environment for future generations.
De Young Properties realizes that finding the perfect home is only a part of building the American Dream
and that financing a home is the other. With their commitment to offering affordable home ownership,
they proudly recommend their affiliate, Premier Mortgage, who offers the smartest programs and one-stop
financing to make the home buying process easier and more enjoyable. Above all, De Young Properties
focuses on building homes families will cherish for many years to come.
About AVID Ratings
Founded in 1993, AVID Ratings is a full-service customer loyalty management firm, providing customer
loyalty research, organizational strategies, employee training, and proprietary solutions to the home
building industry. Serving over 400 companies throughout the United States and Canada, AVID Ratings
maintains the largest homebuyer survey database in the home building industry. AVID Ratings assesses
homebuyers’ experiences and then provides focused business solutions and training to improve referrals,
margins, and long-term customer loyalty.
