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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1997)
i, ‘ iZ f»*-A & . 7 ¿S^x ': > A - A 7 / - ■ S . ^ wwhw P age A5 T he P ortland O bserver • M ay 7, 1997 ^Jortlanb ®hseruer U.S. mortgage rates fall again Home mortgage rates fell this week as a series of downbeat eco nomic data eased inflation fears, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Fixed rate mortgage rates slid for the second week in a row. Thirty-year loans averaged 8.01 percent in the week ending May 2, down from 8.08 percent last week, while 15-year mortgage rates fell to 7.53 percent from 7.62 percent. One-year adjustable mortgage rates inched down a third consecu tive week to 5.84 percent from 5.86 percent last week. A year ago, the 30-year rate averaged 7.99 percent, the 15-year 7.50 percent and the adjustable loan 5.76 percent. Lenders charged an average ot 1.7 percent in fees and points on both 30- and 15-year loans, un ch anged from last w eek. I hey charged 1.4 percent on adjustable loans, down from 1.5 percent last week. "Both existing and new home sales were down in March, largely in response to a rise in mortgage rates, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac s deputy chief economist. "This, coupled with a dip in con sumer confidence in April indicat ing that consumer spending may decline over the next few months, eased concerns the economy was growing tooquickly and helped lead to a moderation in interest rates. The National Association of Re altors said Thursday its U.S. Hous ing Affordability Index fell to 130.8 in the first quarter from 131.6 in fourth quarter 1996 The Commerce Department said earlier this week that new home sales fell 2.5 percent in March to an annualized rate ot 8 13,000 units, while the realtors association last week reported that March sales of U.S. existing homes also fell 2.8 percent to a 4.11 million unit an nual rate Freddie Mac is a corporation chartered by Congress that buys mortgages from lenders and pack ages them into securities for inves tors Homeless elderly assisted The Massachusetts Extended Care Federation (MECF) announced it has contributed $50,000 to the Commit tee to End Elder Homelessness to help complete outfitting and furnishing for the newly built apartments at the East Concord Street Housing com plex for homeless elders. The c o n trib u tio n had been pledged by the MECF last fall by Federation President Susan S. Bailis when the Committee to End Elder H o m elessn ess k ic k e d o ff an $800,000 capital campaign to com plete the $6 million construction and renovation project near the Bos ton Medical Center. The East Con cord Street Apartment Complex has 40 units o f permanent housing for elderly homeless citizens. A recent survey by the Comm ittee found 1,047 homeless elders in Massachusetts on February 24, 1997 — the date o f the one-day survey, a 25% increase from a study completed in 1993. “ As providers o f long term care services to the elderly, we know that hope and dignity are essential to the w ell-being o f the elderly,” said Bailis. “The Com m ittee's advocacy on behalf o f homeless elders has given them back that hope and dig nity. We are very proud to be part of the East Concord Street develop m ent.” In addition to the check, Bailis and a dozen members o f the MECF Board o f Directors also presented Anna Bissonnette, president o f the Committee to End Elder Homeless ness, with an oversized door key to signify the beginning o f real hous ing opportunity for so many in need. The program was held at 10 a.m. at the East Concord Street complex. “This key is really a perfect sym bol o f what so many o f us take tor g ra n te d in our liv e s, said Bissonnette. “But for more than a thousand elders throughout our state, shelter is not a given, it is just a memory and an unreachable goal. We are so grateful to the M assachu setts Extended Care Federation and their members for making the roof o f their organization a little larger so that it might help provide shelter tor our at-risk elders.” The Massachusetts Extended Care Federation, based in Newton, is the state’s largest elder care provider organization representing 500 nurs ing facilities, assisted living resi dences and retirement communities providing services to more than 50,000 people. Performance guarantee programs Move designed to enhance con sumer advocacy positioning and increase mortgage loan volume In HomeOwner Centers Three bold new perform ance guaranty program s d esig n ed to enhance A m eriN et’s consum er advocacy positioning in real e s tate financing and to increase m o rtg a g e lo an v o lu m e in A m eriN et H om eO w ner C en ters were announced W ednesday by John J. Pembroke, chairm an, presi dent and ch ief executive o fficer o f AmeriNet Financial System s Inc. (O TC/BB:A N FS). "These program s clearly stake out A m eriN et’s p o sitio n as an advocate for consum ers in their acquisition o f home m ortgages, Pembroke said. “ We are so co n fi dent that Am eriNet can provide consum ers with the m ost com peti tive home loans available to them in the m arketplace that we are backing our com m itm ent with fi nancial perform ance guarantees.' Tw o o f the three A m eriN et pro gram s are for consum ers. The first, the "A m eriN et Service G uar anty,” pays a cash reim bursem ent to a hom e bu y er or seller if A m eriN et or any A m eriN et N et w ork provider creates a delay in closing the loan which creates cer tain expenses to the consum er, such as tem porary housing costs. T he seco n d , th e “ A m eriN et C h allen g e,” offers a cash rebate to the hom e buyer if A m eriN et can not "m eet or beat" the term s o f any m ortgage program com m itm ent b ro u g h t to an A m e riN e t H om eO w ner Center by that buyer or that b u y er’s sales agent, re gardless o f w hether or not the buyer chooses an A m eriN et pro gram . The third performance program is an exclusive “Commission Guar anty” for sales agents. If an AmeriNet lender does not honor a written loan Affordable manufactured homes New manufactured homes placed in land-rental communities in 1996 were 57 percent more affordable and, on private land or in subdivisions were 123 percent more affordable, than new site-built homes. A family could quality to pur chase a new, median-priced manu factured home and place it in a land- rental community with annual in come o f only $24,418. And it could qualify for that home on private land or in a subdivision with an annual income o f only $17,265. This compares to the $38,366 to qualify for the new, median-priced, site-built home. Those were some o f the conclu sions presented by a new nationwide affordability index developed by Apollo Properties Inc. of Mesa, Ariz. Manufactured Home Affordability Index Is A First "W e believe this is the first index to correlate all those factors that apply to the purchase o f manufac tured homes with median family income to derive at a real conclusion about affordability,” said Stephen G. Pappas, CPM(R), MBA. presi dent o f Apollo Properties. "W e felt that manufactured hous ing was getting lost in the general discussion o f home at fordabi lity, and that putting it on a level playing field with site-built housing might shed more light on the subject. T he P a p p a s A ffo rd a b ility Index(C) (see Table) is an indicator of the affordability o f new manufac tured homes on private land, in sub divisions or in communities. Simi lar calculations were made for new site-built homes in order to draw comparisons. "It essentially answers questions,” said Pappas, "o f what is happening to new home affordability in the United States.” What The Index Shows commitment to the buyer and the AmeriNet System is not able to close the loan to the buyer’s satisfac tion, then AmeriNet will pay the sales agent’s commission. "O ur objective is to make the entire hom e purchasing process easier, faster, less stressful and less expensive for the consum er,” Pem brokeexplained. " Ih e s e th re e program s put our m oney behind our guarantees!” C urrently, there are 28 national le n d e rs— including 13 o f the top 15 — as well as num erous re gional lenders on the A m eriN et N etw ork, offering thousands ot m ortgage product choices tor home buyers and hom eow ners that want to refinance their existing homes. AmeriNet HomeOwner Centers are presently operating in real estate broker offices in four states C ali- fornia, Oregon, W ashington and Colorado — including five different real estate franchise organizations. PGE's Ed Bunn. On call, on the move 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Site-built housing was out ot the affordable range completely from 1985 through 1991, mostly as a re sult o f interest rates, and has been bouncingjust in the affordable range ever since (although it continues to decline from its 1993 high ot 113). Without a doubt, real new home affordability lies with manufactured homes. Although interest rates also play a factor, the difference in affordability is so high that interest rates would have had to approach 20 percent in 1996 (for homes on pri vate land or in subdivisions) tor them to be out of the affordable range. What is most interesting is that it is more affordable to live in a manu- on economics. According to a report from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (Census ot Housing, Units in Structure,) single family, site-built, detached houses had their heyday in 1960, when they made up over two-thirds ot the nation s total housing inventory . Since then, they have steadily declined; by 1990, they made up just 59 percent ot the inventory. Manufactured homes, meanw hile, have grown from 1.3 per cent of the nation's housing stock to seven percent. WEIMER’S Finai Closing DiiX Sale 50% off All Merchandise Month of May Only All Sales Final , M thru F 8:30am to 5:00pm 3946 N E. M I.K Jr. Blvd. Phone 281-1217 SPA C E FO R L E A S E * Available June 1 * 2nd Floor Office Space (various sizes) URGENT! Going Fast: *D small, 1 O 'x l4 '* Big Studios, Bath St Kitchen* Retail Space • New Storefronts Facing Wygant • Visible from MLK (1) Deli Business Desired As part of Portland General Electric's Eagle Crew, Ed is always ready to roll. Power outages, broken poles from car crashes, house fires and safety inspections, —they're all in a day's work for Ed. Ed is there—first on the scene in North, Northwest and Northeast Portland. CALL Portland General Electric. The power t< ) make a difference. factured home on private land or in a subdivision than in a land-rental community. The decision to live in such a community is, therefore, more o f a lifestyle choice than one based B ill L eigh @ (503) 2 8 7 -2 6 3 4
