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 Fri, Oct 2 1992 Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 04:56:03 EDT Message-ID: 10-02 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update Oct. 2-4, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network NEW VENTURE TARGETS OFFICES: Real estate brokers may have a new homeowners magazine with a whopping $12.95 cover price in their offices soon. But it's really free - and a new venture by a couple of entrepreneurs. American Dream Home isn't a typical magazine. Although it's glossy and looks like a magazine, half the articles are timeless pieces and worksheets on how to buy a house and make relocation easier. (For more, see special Magazine package below.) HOMEVIEW HAS NEW BUYER'S GUIDE: HomeView Realty Search Services, a little high-tech firm in Needham, Mass., thinks it has the best way possible of showing buyers as many houses as possible without wearing everyone out. HomeView uses multi-media to show houses throughout the Boston area. A buyer describes what he wants in detail and the computer sorts through its picture index, then walks them around the house. IBM INVESTED IN HOMEVIEW: IBM gave its seal of approval to HomeView Realty Search Services' new computerized home buyers network last month by buying a piece of HomeView. IBM won't say what it paid or how much it owns, but HomeView officials say it's what they need to expand. The company plans to triple the workforce, now at 70 employees, and extend service to the USA's 30 largest metro areas next year. VACATION CONDO RENT IS UP: Prospects for renting resort condominiums to vacationers look good for the owners. Selling a condo won't be so easy. A recent survey by the Resort Property Owners Association found 35% of vacationers said the are renting condos more often. Also surveyed were vacation home owners. Of those, 42% bought their homes from 1984 to 1987. Only 4.3% bought in 1988 and just 1.1% last year. DEVELOPMENT FIRM GETS EXTENSION: Olympia and York Developments Ltd. received an extension Thursday until Dec. 8 to file an exclusive plan for a bankruptcy reorganization in the USA. The Toronto-based parent company has operated under Canadian and U.S. bankruptcy protection since last May. Prudential Insurance Co., which holds a $155 million secured claim on an O&Y building, objected the extension. PREPAYMENTS SHOT UP: Prepayments on Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. mortgages shot up in September and will probably continue at a breakneck pace well into the new year, according to Bloomberg Business News. As expected, prepayments on 30-year 8.5% through 9.5% coupons increased the most this month, analysts said. IRT PROPERTY CLOSES SALE: IRT Property Co. said Thursday it has closed the sale of 23 shopping center properties to Ingles Markets Inc. The shopping centers, 22 in North Carolina and one in Georgia, were leased to Ingles and were anchored by supermarkets operated by Ingles. The sales price of the properties was about $55.6 million. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES STABLE: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.02% Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday but up from 7.89% the week before. They were at 8.92% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 5.02% Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday but down from 5.03% the week before. A year ago they were at 6.83%. ARM INDEXES UNCHANGED: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 3.16% Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday but up from 3.15% the week before. A year ago they were at 5.50%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 4.874% Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday but down from the week before. A year ago they were at 6.845%. T-BONDS DECLINE: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds showed a decrease Thursday, listing at 7.32%. That's down 0.06 from rates of 7.38% Wednesday and down 0.09 from 7.41% the week before. A year ago T-bonds were at 7.84%. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON MAGAZINE: ADVICE FEATURES WON'T CHANGE: American Dream Home is a new publication with advice pieces for the homebuyer. These features won't change in the next issue. The quarterly magazine isn't for sale on newsstands yet and the publisher isn't really interested in selling subscriptions. But your real estate broker will probably give you a copy free, because the magazine is sponsored by the National Association of Realtors. ECV MEDIA PUTS OUT MAGAZINE: "It's a cross between a reference manual and a magazine," says William Fried, 35, who publishes American Dream Home with partner Oliver Brown, 34. "I want to see it up there on the shelf between the cookbook and the encyclopedias." Their firm is ECV Media in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. The idea, Fried says, is to reach homebuyers as they start the average five-month search for a home. MAGAZINE IS BASED ON TIMING: Other magazines cover housing and decorating, but he feels American Dream Home reaches homeowners at the "flash point" of making decisions about carpets, drapes, appliances and other things advertisers would love to sell. Clearly, real estate agents like the idea. The magazine now has a circulation of 420,000 that should jump to 750,000 next year as it goes to more real estate offices. (End of package.) Real Estate Editor: Martin Baucom. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 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