11
T he P ortland O bserver « S eptember 6, 1995
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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.
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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
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