Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.real From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: real Fri, Jun 19 1992 Date: Fri, 19 Jun 92 05:24:16 EDT Message-ID: 06-19 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update June 19-21, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network PROPOSITION 13 UPHELD: The Supreme Court Thursday upheld California's Proposition 13, saying it doesn't violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court said the state could assess lower taxes on the property of long-term homeowners than on the property of newer homeowners. Cited: Long-term owners are already burdened with a purchase and do not have the option of not purchasing the home. HOME SHOPPING BY PHONE: Seattle shoppers can now search for a place to live over the phone. SureFind Classifieds by Telephone, in operation four months, gets 5,000 calls a week. On their telephone keypads, callers punch in information, such as how many bedrooms, preferred neighborhoods, target price or monthly rent. An automated system then searches more than 3,000 home listings. (For more, see special Phone package below.) TIME-SHARES ENJOY GROWTH: The number of time-share condominiums worldwide has grown 30% since 1990 to about 157,000 today, says an American Resort Development Association-sponsored study out this week. The number of U.S. time-share owners has risen 18% since 1990 to 1.4 million. The average purchase price for a week is $9,500 in the USA, up $500 from last year. CONDOMINIUM COSTS VARY: The Resort Property Owners Association says the national-average price tag for one week in a one-bedroom condominium is $654. That rate varies from a high of $762 in California to a low of $483 in Missouri. The property-owners group publishes two guides, $20 each, to vacation-condo rentals. For more information, call 1-800-989-0710. PAMPHLET COVERS MORTGAGE RIGHTS: The Federal Trade Commission publishes a pamphlet of people's rights when the servicing of their mortgage is transferred from one company to another. For a free copy of Mortgage Servicing, write: FTC Public Reference Branch, Sixth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20580. RCP STOCK SEEN FALLING: Rockefeller Center Properties' dividend, running at an annual rate of $1.92 a share, is in for a big cut - at least to $1 and maybe to 50 cents, says money manager Lance Lessman. Lessman, who runs LL Partners, a New York firm with $25 million of assets, sees the stock, which closed Thursday at $14.25, dropping to as low as $8. Lessman thinks both forecasts could be realities by next June. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES STABLE: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.54% Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday but down from 8.59% the week before. They were at 9.66% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 5.90%, unchanged from Wednesday but down from 5.94% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.22%. ARM INDEXES UNCHANGED: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 4.18% Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday but down from 4.27% the week before. A year ago they were at 6.40%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 5.427%, unchanged from Wednesday and unchanged also from the week before. A year ago they were at 7.501%. T-BONDS DECLINE: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds remained stable Thursday, listing at 7.82%. That's unchanged from Wednesday and down 0.05 from 7.87% the week before. A year ago T-bonds were at 8.46%. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON PHONE: BUYERS SHOP BY FAX, PHONE: SureFind Classifieds by Telephone in Seattle can read home and apartment ads over the phone or send the ads via fax to callers. The service is free, but individual home sellers are charged $45 weekly for an ad. The service can also connect callers directly with any of the six real-estate companies that use SureFind or the 14 property managers that operate apartments. NEWSPAPERS FIGHT PHONE ADS: Former Seattle Times reporter James Lalonde launched SureFind and hopes to bring it to other cities. But the newspaper industry opposes such plans. Newspapers are also fighting phone companies, which have expressed interest in offering classified advertising by phone. Newspapers are fighting a bill in Congress that would allow regional Bell companies to transmit ads. CONGRESS MAY RESOLVE CONFLICT: SureFind's Lalonde contends the local newspapers are being anti-competitive. He wants newspaper real-estate listings to carry SureFind's phone number, but The Seattle Times won't allow it. A lawsuit isn't out of the question, says Lalonde. Sen. Brock Adams, D-Wash., has asked the Senate to investigate the conflict. (End of package.) Real Estate Editor: Christopher Goldthwaite. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM