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T he P ortland O bserver • M ay 7, 1997
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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.
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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