11
T he P ortland O bserver « S eptember 6, 1995
P age A 7
ortlanh
baerucr
B Of A Increases Minority, Low Income Lending
Bank o f America increased the
number o f loans it made to low-
income and minority Californians in
1994 through its Neighborhood Ad
vantage program, despite a drop of
11 percent in its overall home loan
volume due to a general downturn in
the residential real estate market.
According to data collected un
der the federal Home Mortgage Dis
closure Act, Bank o f America made
a total o f 15,797 home loans to mi
norities in California during 1994,
representing nearly 23 percent o f all
home loans the bank made during
that time period. It made 23,787
loans to low- income borrowers (those
earning less than 100% ofthe median
income o f the area where they live),
which represents 34.2 percent o f all
home loans BofA made during 1994.
“Our 1994 HMDA data con
firms that we are successfully reach
ing out to minority and low-income
borrowers through ourNeighborhood
Advantage program to provide them
with the opportunity to buy their own
home and leverage it as a financial
resource," said Executive Vice Pres
ident Don Mullane, head ofthe bank’s
Corporate Community Development
unit.
The bank also said its portfolio
o f Neighborhood Advantage loans,
targeted at low- and moderate-in-
come borrowers, is performing as
well or better than its conventional
home loan portfolio.
In a speech before a Dallas Fed
eral Reserve conference today, Bank
o f America Chairman and CEO Ri
chard M. Rosenberg said that on
average, the 90-day delinquency rate
o f Neighborhood Advantage loans
originated between 1989 and 1992 is
25 percent lower than the delinquen
cy rate in the bank’s portfolio o f
conventional home loans.
“ We believe these performance
measures argue strongly for the via
bility o f carefully underwritten low-
income mortgage programs,”
Rosenberg said. “They also suggest
that low-income borrowers, given
the opportunity for home ownership
with a product that fits their needs,
can meet their financial obligations
responsibly and consistently.”
Under the Home Mortgage Dis
closure Act, home loan providers
may collect information on the race,
ethnicity and gender o f loan appli
cants to help determine how effec
tively they are meeting the needs o f
the community. HMDA data includes
home purchase loans, refinancings,
and products such as home equity
and home improvement loans.
In addition to its internal analy
sis o f 1994 HMDA data, which is
reported annually to the Federal Re
serve, BofA also contracted with an
independent consultant and HMDA
expert, John Lind o f the Caniccor
organization, to review its HMDA
data during the last quarter o f 1994
and the first quarter o f 1995. Cannicor
is an interfaith group o f churches
that monitors corporate social re
sponsibility programs.
According to Lind’s analysis,
Absentee Washington Homebuyers
Average N um ber Sold
572
393
60
53
51
47
39
35
34
28
While more than halfofW ash-
ington state’s out-of-state home-
buyers live in California and Ore-
gon, the third most common state o f
residence is Hawaii, a real estate
information service reports.
A total o f 572 California resi-
dents bought a house or condo in
(3-
P u rch ase P rice
$158,383
$129,678
$154,758
$128,148
$175,404
$176,861
$117,500
$206,606
$147,283
$142,508
W ashington state during the 12-
month period ending in July. That
accounts for 33.7 percent o f the 1,699
homes bought by out-of-state resi-
dents during the period, according to
DataQuick Information Systems.
Oregon residents bought 393
W ashington hom es, follow ed by
RMLS O
Realty Inc.
300 NE Multnomah, Suite #27
Portland, Oregon 97232
George A. Hendrix
MBA, GRI, Broker
(SO3) 230-1390 • (Res.) 287-6837
All Furnaces Need Check-ups
A ll heating systems should be ser
viced periodically by a qualified con
tra cto r to ensure top performance,
according to the American Gas Asso
ciation. Such maintenance w ill ensure
safe and efficient operation.
Heating contractors should fo llo w
the m a n u fa c tu re r’ s m a intenance
guidelines fo r each unit in accordance
w ith local building codes and regula
tions, A .G A. says.
The check-up should include:
• inspection o f the furnace vent sys
tem;
other obstructions from inside the
chimney;
replacement or cleaning o f the air
filte r;
lubrication o f the blower motor;
replacem ent o f b lo w e r b elts, i f
needed;
cleaning o f pilots and burner cham
ber;
removal o f dust and lin t from fu r
nace vents, registers and baseboard
heaters; and
cleaning and adjusting o f thermo
stats.
• rem oval o f any leaves, nests or
Hawaii, Florida and Texas (see
chart).
California residents paid an av
erage o f $158,383 for their homes
while Arizona residents paid an av
erage $ 117,500, the company re
ported.
DataQuick monitors real estate
purchasing, financing and foreclo
sure activity nationwide. The com
pany, which has an office in Belle
vue, provides information to con
sumers, lending institutions, title
companies and industry analysts.
Out-of-state absentee ownership is
assumed when bills for property
taxes are sent out-of-state.
By city, the highest number o f
out-of-state homebuyers live in Port
land, followed by San Jose, Hono
lulu, Anchorage and Beaverton.
After the month-long “Name a
Piece o f Portland” contest, an an
nouncement was made on July 26,
1995 dubbing Kimpton Group’s new
est hotel Pioneer Place Suites. Since
then, Kimpton Group discovered that
ownership o f Pioneer Place shop
ping center prefers the name Pioneer
Place suites not be used.
In the spirit o f positive business
relations, Kimpton Group respects
their request and instead names it
Energy Facts
Natural gas energy heats 57 percent
o f the nation's homes and serves more
than 174 m illio n American consumers.
Ninety-nine percent o f the natural gas
consumed in the United States comes
from North America, with 90 percent
coming from the lower-48 states.
We’re
working
for you,
so you’re
always
connected.
Sometimes, building a successful
business means you have to do it all.
You work into the wee hours o f the
morning, running those numbers
New & used books on
Business, Music, &
African-American Studies
I
yet again, just so you can make the
most important connection—that first
soccer game or that sixth birthday
party. And one day your hard work
w ill pay off—for you, and for those
w ho w ill follow.
U S WEST understands what goes
into building a tradition o f excellence
that lasts for generations—because
POWELL’S
CITY OF BOOKS
w e’ve been w orking hard at it ourselves
for more than 100 years. Today we offer
you unparalleled reliability in products
and services that helps your business
run just that much easier.
That way, you're always connected.
9 AM - 11 PM Monday through Saturday
9 AM - 9 PM Sundays
Used books bought every day till 8:30 PM
On the #20 Bus line • One hour free parking
1005 West Burnside Street
conditions, which included several
increases in interest rates. Bank o f
America’s overall home loan vol
ume dropped 11 percent to 69,416.
Loan applications from minori
ty customers continued to be de
clined at a h igher rate than loans from
white customers. The 1994 decline
ratio — the rate at which minority
loan applications were declined di
vided by the rate o f white loan decli
nations— was 1.7 percent. That was
up slightly from the decline ratio of
1.5 reported in 1993.
“As our marketing and advertis
ing in low-income and minority com
munities has become more aggres
sive, we have attracted higher vol
umes o f applications, includinga larg
er number o f marginal applications
that do not meet our credit stan
dards,” Mullane said.
“We are continuing to refine our
Neighborhood Advantage program
to allow more minority and low-in
come borrowers to qualify while still
maintaining a safe, sound, and prof
itable portfolio,” he said. “Our goal
continues to be to steadily increase
the number of loans w e make to low-
income and minority Californians."
Neighborhood Advantage is a
special home loan program launched
by BofA in 1990 that offers flexible,
nontraditional underwriting criteria
to make home loans more afford
able. It now generates a significant
portion o f BofA’s home loan busi
ness, and has been used as a model
for affordable lending program s
throughout the industry.
BofA complements the Neigh
borhood Advantage program with
special homebuyer seminars that ed
ucate potential borrowers about the
application process.
Individuals who complete the
seminars qualify for special features
o f the Neighborhood Advantage pro
gram, such as down payments as low
as 5 percent. In the first quarter o f
1995, BofA hosted approximately
120 homebuyer seminars throughout
California.
It Is Now Fifth Avenue Suites
Out Of State Homebuyers
State
California
Oregon
Hawaii
Florida
Alaska
Texas
Arizona
New York
Michigan
Colorado
"Bank o f America has significantly
increased its lending to lower-income
categories ofborrow ers, resulting in
performances well above the indus
try level in all but the upper-income
category for both purchase loans and
refinancings.
“This pattern o f performance
above the industry level applies not
only to low— income borrowers as a
whole, but also specifically to black
and Hispanic borrowers.
Thus, the bank is performing
very well in the most crucial portion
o f the market, the low-income mi
nority borrower.”
Overall, home loans to minori
ties increased 1.3 percent from 1993
to 1994, with loans to African Amer
icans increasing2.7 percent to 2,319,
and loans to Latinos up 6.3 percent to
8,074. Loans to low-income appli
cants earning less than 80 percent o f
median income rose 0.5 percent, to
14,711, and loans to low-income
m inorities rose 15 8 percent, to 5,040.
In line with prevailing industry
And so is your business
LlftWEST
228-4651
e 1996 U S WEST, Inc
Despite the renaming, Grant
Brakett, author o f the name Pioneer
Place Suites, still receives the prizes
awarded to him.
Fifth Avenue Suites is sched
uled to open in the Spring o f 1996.
The hotel features 160 suites, 60
deluxe guest rooms and four grand
suites; approximately 6,000 square feet
of meeting and catering space accom
modates 10 to 200 people. A signature
Kimpton restaurant is adjacent.
Fifth Avenue Suites. This name was
the first-runner up in the contest.
Judith K. Feinstein, who has
lived in Portland since she was 3-
years-old, submitted the name Fifth
Avenue Suites. She wins a weekend
at the IJptel Monaco in San Fran
cisco, dinner for two at its restaurant
Grand Cafe and a weekend and din
ner for two at Fifth Avenue Suites. In
addition, a suite at the hotel will be
dedicated to Ms. Feinstein.
A n n iv e r e ^
CELEBRATION
of
(E lje ^ l a r t l a n h
(O b se r v e r