Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.real,americast.usa-today.real From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: real Mon, Sep 21 1992 Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 04:39:57 EDT Message-ID: 09-21 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update Sept. 21, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network AVERAGE FIXED RATES CLIMB: Fixed mortgage rates climbed to their highest rate in two weeks but still remained below the 8% mark, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. says. Fixed, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 7.89% last week compared to 7.84 a week earlier. One-year adjustable rates averaged 5.03% vs. 5.15% a week earlier. O&Y PAYMENT PLAN APPROVED: A judge in Ontario, Canada, Friday approved a plan for Olympia & York Developments Ltd. to pay for its operation costs until the company's bankruptcy protection expires Dec. 30. Part of the company's operating and creditor committee costs will come from management fees for the buildings that creditors have for securities; some from marketable securities lenders. ATLANTA'S FUTURE PAINTED GRIM: Atlanta will be mired in crime by the year 2020, says a report by the steering committee of the Atlanta Regional Commission. The reports also predicts that homeless families will overwhelm available services and traffic jams in the suburbs will be virtually around-the-clock. The commission says it will propose strategies for improving the city. SANTE FE TAKES TOP HONORS: Santa Fe is the best vacation destination in the world, according to Conde Nast Traveler's fifth annual Readers Choice survey. The city wasn't on the ballot but won with write-ins. Cited: Landscape, cultural life, fine hotels and restaurants. Last year's winner, San Francisco, took second place followed by a host of European cities. The magazine said 24,000 subscribers voted. FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE ORE. BLAZE: A 10-day-old fire in Oregon's Fremont National Forest should be under control by Tuesday, according to firefighters. Lightning-sparked the wildfire, which was contained Saturday after consuming more than 10,000 acres. LAND BILL HEADS TO FULL HOUSE: The U.S. house Interior Committee has approved a bill to put nearly 1.5 million roadless acres of Montana forest under federal wilderness protection. The measure passed after two days of debate that included the rejection of an effort to broaden the wilderness protection to 3.5 million acres. The full House must now vote on the bill. ARIZONA PARKWAY PLAN PROCEEDS: Arizona's Transportation Board passed a $18 million plan Saturday to purchase 369 single-family homes in the path of the east-west Paradise Parkway. The approval has drawn fire from state Rep. David Schweikert, R-Fountain Hills, because funding for the parkway, estimated to cost $430 million, has not been found. Construction is expected to begin after 2006. BANK ADDRESSES BIAS: First American National Bank of Nashville, Tenn., says it is taking steps - including the automatic review of all denied loan applications - to correct the disparity in approval rates between blacks and whites, bank officials say. The bank's 1991 loan-rejection rates were 18.3% for whites, 49.5% for blacks. HOUSING AUTHORITY UNDER FIRE: A New Haven, Conn., home destroyed by fire Friday may have been intentionally set ablaze to protest a controversial Housing Authority plan, officials suspect. The proposal would bring low-income renters into a middle class neighborhood. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information. GROUP HOPES TO SAVE STATION: A citizens' committee trying to save the former Baltimore & Ohio rail station in Wilmington, Del., which set for demolition next month, will meet with state and city officials Friday. It stands at the end of an abandoned rail line identified in a recent study as a potentially important gateway to the city. FIRM AWARDED BUILDING CONTRACT: Fluor Daniel Inc. has been awarded a $40 million contract by Somatogen Inc. to build a clinical manufacturing facility in Boulder, Colo. The plant will produce synthetic hemoglobin, the first alternative therapy to red blood cell transfusions. Fluor Daniel's Greenville, S.C., office is providing engineering, procurement and construction management services. REALTOR ANNOUNCES PURCHASE: Santa Anita Realty Enterprises Inc. has announced the acquisition of The Commons, a 328-unit apartment community in San Antonio, Texas. The Orange, Calif.-based real estate investment trust bought the 10-acre complex from the Travelers Insurance Co. for $4.5 million. 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. 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