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, Jul 10 1992 Date: Fri, 10 Jul 92 05:13:31 EDT Message-ID: 07-10 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update July 10-12, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network TIME-SHARES ARE HARD TO SELL: Almost 60% of all time-share owners are trying to sell their interests, says a recent study by the Resort Property Owners Association. And although their shares have been on the market for an average of 4.4 years, less than 4% of all owners actually have been able to sell their shares, says the survey of more than 1,100 consumers - including 485 time-share owners. (For more, see special Shares package below.) CLINTON FAVORS FHA LIMIT HIKE: Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton would favor raising Federal Housing Administration loan limits to 95% of an area's median home price, reports Real Estate Finance Today. A Clinton campaign specialist, discussing housing issues at the National Housing Conference, said the Arkansas governor would also consider revising the 57% cap on financing FHA closing costs. DUTY WOULD RAISE WOOD COSTS: U.S. housing-industry officials say a potential 6.5% duty on wood from Canada would raise the price of an average house by about $500. The average new house contains 16,000 board feet of lumber at a cost of $4,160 - less than 4% of the $106,000 price of the average new home in the USA, according statistics from the National Association of Home Builders. MOVIE MANSION UNSOLD: Despite a long-running connection with the movie industry, the Teague mansion, an historic 9,600-square-foot home in the hills of California's Ventura County, has been languishing on the market for more than two years. The house, used in more than 39 movies, originally listed at $3.9 million, but the asking price has been dropped to $1.65 million. INTERNATIONAL INTEREST WAKING: With commericial values down 30% or more in some areas, interest in U.S. real estate is rising slightly among foreign bargain hunters, says a survey by Arthur Andersen. Although Japanese investment in U.S. real estate fell from $16 billion in 1988 to $5 billion last year, the worst is over, says Robert Davis, Arthur Andersen's director of real estate capital markets. PENNSYLVANIA AWARDS GRANTS: Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey Thursday announced statewide grants totaling $38 million to help communities fund housing and other projects. Under the federal Community Development Block, Bradford County, for example, will get $265,694 grant for housing and to improve facilities for the disabled. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES HOLD: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.29% Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday. They were at 9.62% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 5.69%, unchanged from Wednesday. A year ago they were at 7.25%. Rates are unavailable from a week ago because of the Fourth of July holiday. ARM INDEXES STABLE: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 3.96% Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday. A year ago they were at 6.40%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 5.290%, unchanged from Wednesday. A year ago they were at 7.329%. Rates are unavailable from a week ago because of the Fourth of July holiday. T-BONDS DIP: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds registered a drop Thursday, listing at 7.59%. That's down 0.01 from rates of 7.60% Wednesday. A year ago T-bonds were at 8.53%. Rates are unavailable from a week ago because of the Fourth of July holiday. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SHARES: TIME-SHARES TOUGH TO UNLOAD: Consumers have invested more than $12 billion in time shares. Many have found out the hard way that there is no resale market for time-share units, says Clinton Burr, director of the Resort Property Owners Association. Burr, a leading critic of the time-share industry, says his group represents owners and renters of vacation properties. FEW AVENUES LEFT FOR BUYERS: Aggressive sales promoters rarely mention the one-way nature of most deals, critics charge. Owners who would like to sell time shares can sell their units themselves or list them with time-share brokers, who usually charge stiff fees, even if they can't find a buyer. Some time-share promoters may try to resell units but often charge commissions of up to 20%. PROMOTERS CITE POPULARITY: Time-share promoters have fought proposals to spur the resale market, says Burr. But industry officials deny his charges. "His numbers are way off, says David Matheson of the American Resort Developers Association, a group of time-share promoters. Past ARDA studies have shown only 12% of all time-share owners wish to sell, he says. "Time shares are more popular than ever," Matheson adds. (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