A ugust 10, 1994 • T he P ortland O bserver
P \c.t: A 4
Consumers Want One-Stop Shopping
Consumers want more informa
tion. faster and they want to get it
with ease. One-stop shopping in the
home bus ing and selling process tits
this scenario and the National Asso
ciation of Realtors wants to do all it
can to promote this concept, says
NAR President Robert H. Elrod.
"A real estate broker’s ability to
provide a wide variety o f services,
including finding a buyer for the
seller and matching the buyer with a
mortgage to complete the sale, rep
resents the future for the real estate
industry, and the future is now,”
Elrod say s. “This type of one-stop
shopping is part of ail evolution in
home buy ing. triggered by sophisti
cated consumers who want the pro
cess to be quicker and more stream
lined.”
One-stop shopping, available
through electronic technology, has
long been applied in other indus
tries, such as the travel industry.
However, in home sales, this con
cept is made possible through com
puterized loan origination (CLO)
systems. These systems enable the
real estate broker to offer informa
tion on financing options and move
the m ortgage loan application
through its initial processing. CLO
sy stems prov ide instant affordability
analy sis, loan comparison and loan
tracking services. They directly ben
efit buyers by providing an option to
wrap several steps into one.
Revisions to the federal rule on
one-stop shopping in home buying
were released late last month by the
U.S. Department o f Housing and
Urban Development. The revisions
to the Real Estate Settlement Proce
dures Act (RESPA) could impact
how real estate services are bundled
and made available to buyers and
sellers.
“Our hope is that HUD will not
change RESPA in a way that would
limit consumer options in the real
estate services and settlement pro
cess," Elrod said. "While there have
been some critics who say the con
sumer is not well-served by getting
all or most of his real estate settle
ment and financing needs served in
one place -- namely , the real estate
broker’s office -- we believe these
criticisms are short-sighted and self-
serving.”
A real estate professional is of
ten the home buyer’s first point of
contact. As a result, buyers have
long relied on brokers and associates
to compile a list of mortgage options
that suits theirneeds. They want help
in detenuining monthly payments
and how much they can afford 00
and most o f them don’t want to wait
until they visit a mortgage broker to
get this information, Elrod explained.
“We were very pleased in 1992 when
HUD correctly backed our conten
tion that CLO systems can benefit
consumers by providing a wide
choice of mortgages, interest rates
and loan terms -- all in the conve
nience of the real estate broker’s
office.”
The association leadership is
hopeful that HUD will continue to
allow CLO systems so that real es
tate businesses can continue to com
Share Your Home,
Heart And Heritage
pete freely in the marketplace. In the
1992 RESPA regulation, HUD rati
fied the fees for services payment to
real estate brokers using CLO sys
tems RESPA prohibits payments for
simple lender referral.
The regulation also allows con
trolled business arrangements, which
preserves the right o f real estate firms
to diversity and to offer consumer
discounts for bundles services. “Op
ponents of our position have errone
ously charged that real estate bro
kers tend to refer buyers only to
lenders who pay the highest fees,
regardless of quality of product or
service, and that consumers are not
well-served. This simply is not true,”
stressed Elrod
"Today’s consumers are short
on time,” he said. “Home buyers
don’t want to run around to a real
east broker to see listings, to a mort
gage company to get a loan, then to
a title company for title insurance.
Multiple-service, diversified real
estate offices provide an easier, faster
way to sell a home.”
World Heritage, a non-profit, public benefit organization, invites you
to share your home, heart and heritage with some very special people. Host
an exchange student for the coming school year!
These high school students are well-screened, fully insured and come
with their own spending money. They are from Spain, Mexico, Germany,
France, Swenden, or the former Soviet Union, and are eager to experience
living as an American! They are also enthusiastic about sharing their own
culture and customs with their host families, friends, and communities and
to be included in families, friends, and communities and to be included in
family activities.
Share Your Home, Heart And Heritage
World Heritage, Invites you to host an exchange student, from abroad.
If interested call collect, Roger 801 -969-9270 or Amy at 1-800-888-9040.
World Heritage (Originally founded As Spanish Heritage) Is a Non-
Profit Public Benefit Organization. World Heritage is Officially designated
as a exchange visitor program by the United States Information Agency
(US1A).
Architecture Professors Criticize Suburbs
TwoUniversity ofOregon land
scape architecture professors con
tend that American suburbs have
often failed to deliver on their prom
ise to blend city and country living in
a way that captures the best of both
worlds.
"There is often little or no con
nection between one subdivision and
the next or even between yards,
streets and parks within subdivi
sions,” says Kenneth Helphand, a
professor in the UO Department of
Landscape Architecture.
"The solution is to develop a
comprehensive system ofopen space
networks linking the private world
FHA Program Good But Can Be Made Better
A recent report states that
m o rtg a g e in te r e s t ra te s are
headed up and housing starts ac
tiv ity is down, em phasizes the
need to expand and responsibly
im p ro v e the F ederal H ousing
A d m in istratio n ’s single-fam ily
m ortgage insurance program , the
N ational A ssociation o f Realtors
said.
“ FH A ’s m ortgage insurance
is a valuable governm ent pro
gram that generates its own in
com e and helps low-, m oderate-
a n d m id d le - in c o m e p e o p le
achieve the dream o f hom e ow n
ersh ip ,” said NAR President Rob
ert H Elrod. “C ongress now has
a chance to im prove on a good
thing by m aking FHA easier to
use and available to a greater
num ber o f people." Elrod added.
“ H ousing bills now before the
U.S. H ouse and Senate could
make the FHA program acces
sible to m ore hom e buyers at a
time when financing costs are
increasing and housing construc
tion is teete rin g .”
E lro d ’s rem arks came on the
heels o f Federal R eserve C hair
man Alan G reen sp an ’s w arning
to C ongress that interest rates
may need to m ove higher to en
sure that inflation rem ains in
check. Also, the governm ent re
ported that housing starts were
down 9.8 percent in June from
May.
N A R -supported provisions
in the House and Senate housing
bills would raise the m aximum
FHA loan limit in high cost areas
from $141,750 to $172,675 and
w ould increase the FHA base
am ount — the loan lim it in places
not designated as high cost —
from $ 6 7 ,5 0 0 to m ore th an
$100,000.
R aising the FHA base loan
am ount to $100,00 would allow
1,5 m illion more fam ilies to buy
hom es, according to NAR ana
lysts. In addition, raisin g the
m axim um FHA loan lim it in
high-cost areas so it's indexed to
85 percent o f the Fannie Mae-
Freddie Mac loan lim it would
allow another 250,00 fam ilies to
buy hom es using FH A -insured
m ortgages, the analysts estim ate.
Increasing the FHA limit in
high-cost areas would be esp e
cially helpful to potential buyers
in New England and C alifornia
cities, w here home prices are far
h ig h er than elsew h ere in the
country. These prices are well
above the U.S. m edian existing-
home p riceo f$ 1 0 6 ,8 0 0 for 1993.
“ People in these high cost areas
sim ply a re n 't able to use the p ro
gram , re g a rd le ss o f th e ir in
com e,” Elrod said.
The real advantage to people
using FHA is that they do n ’t have
to come up with all the up-front
costs in cash, as required in the
co n v en tio n al m arket. Instead,
they can finance the up-front
m ortgage insurance premium and
most o f th eir closing costs. As
part o f the U.S. D epartm ent o f
Housing and Urban Development
(HU D), FHA has insured sin g le
fam ily hom es for m ore than 21
m illion borrow ers since its cre
ation in 1934.
of yards to the public realm of streets
and parks,” says Cynthia Girling, an
assistant professor in the UO De
partment of Landscape Architecture.
Helphand says the design alter
natives in the book can be adapted to
new or existing developments to
transform them into sustainable, liv
able communities.
Innovative proposals in the book
include designing residential streets
so that they are geared less to the
automobile and more friendly to pe
destrians and cyclists, rethinking the
front driveway, and exploring new
opportunities for public parks in
places such as shopping malls.
J.L.S. Lawn Service
office: 503-335-0263
pager: 503-940-7721
Estimates
Buyer Boost In Condos
Sales ofexisting condominiums
and co-operatives rose a healthy 18.2
percent to a seasonally adjusted an
nual rate of 436,000 units in 1994's
second quarter compared to the same
quarter last year, the National Asso
ciation of Realtors reported
Sales of existing condos and co
ops rose by double digits in all re
gions across the nation between the
second quarter of 1994 and the same
period a year ago. The strongest in
creases were posted in the Northeast
and South.
Robust sales and unusually high
appreciation rates indicate a market
supported by a strong demand from
retirees and first-time buyers, who
are clearly not discouraged by rising
mortgage interest rates, according to
NAR President Robert H. Elrod.
• W h ile firs t-tim e b u y e rs
have alw ays been a strong factor
in the condo and co-op m arket,
an unusually strong appreciation
o f these types o f properties across
th e b o ard in d ic a te a m ark e t
y '
A, .
'.-J
Dad’s
flo o d e d by re tire e s w ho are
choosing to move out o f their
p re s e n t h o m es and into th e
higher-priced end o f the condo
m arket,” Elrod explained.
According to the Federal Home
Loan Mortgage Corp., the national
average commitment rate for 30-
]
year, conventional, fixed-rate mort
gages was 8.45 percent for the sec
ond quarter of 1994, compared to
7.45 percent a year ago.
“The demand in this segment of
the real estate market is very healthy,”
noted NAR Chief Economist John
A. Tuccillo.
W hen C hris & N icky
WON A NEW REFRIGERATOR,
THE EARTH WON A NEW FRIEND.
USCENSED IN OREGON SINCE 1975
Singles & Seniors, I can help you!
“1st Class Gaurantee”
A. the recent
A-ZEBRA
Q. RMLS
George A. Hendrix
MBA, GRI, Broker
â
R e a lty In c .
».
l
Speedy Service
Friendly Call
For Quote
a j
§1
fund SERP, and it
Potter and Nickv
300 NE Multnomah, Suite #16
Portland, Oregon 97232
(503) 230-1390 • (Res.) 287-6837
McMurptiy's
Appliance Center
U J a s h e r fit D r y e r * 1 9 9 “
00
Ranges From ’ 129 100
Silverstone of
turned out to be a
N ortheast
wise investment.
Portland won a
The S E R P refrig
new refrigerator
erator pictured
donated by Pacific
here, along with
Power. Lucky
Chris, Nicky and
them! But it's
their daughter
really lucky for all
M addie, is not
of us, since this is
only C F C free,
no ordinary fridge.
but it’s about 30°/o
C h ris’ and
more energy effi
N icky’s new
cient than federal
Chrie Petter, AVrKy Silveretene and daughter
J fuddle, in kitchen with new refrigerater
standards. And
that means in
developed by
W hirlpool and is the w inning
addition to Chris and Nicky
model from the Super Efficient
w in n in g —we all win.
For more inform ation on where
R efrigerator Program (SER B).
Open Mon. - Fri. 9:00om to 5:00pm
S E R P was a national competition
to h u v y o u r very own S E R P refrig
Saturday 10:00am to 2:00pm
for m anufacturers to develop a
erator, or to learn more about other
Sunday Closed
refrigerator that s both energy-effi
ways we re w orking for the envi
cient and free of chlorofluorocar
ronm ent, call our Energy Services
bons (C FC s), which can deplete
Hotline at 1-800-222-4335.
heating oils
-ci*
»3
$1 million to help
Portland, Chris
refrigerator was
Service
contributed
Clean Air Fair in
Refrigerators From *129
*.
i ** •
Pacific Power
the e arth ’s ozone layer.
Best Cash Prices
104 NE Russel
Portland, OR 97212
282-5111
# PACIFIC POWER
THf RIGHT KIND O f fNCRGY
g#®;«
«sag
.
• • .