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 Thu, Oct 22 1992 Date: Thu, 22 Oct 92 04:38:37 EDT Message-ID: 10-22 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update Oct. 22, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network COURT RULES AGAINST REDLINING: Denying homeowners insurance or charging higher premiums in minority or poor neighborhoods is against federal law, an appeals court says. A lawsuit in Milwaukee accuses American Family Mutual Insurance of redlining to discriminate against several black homeowners. A federal court ruled that redlining violates the Fair Housing Act because mortgages are unavailable without insurance. DISCRIMINATION NOT YET DECIDED: The insurance practice of redlining has become an issue in Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles and other cities. A recent federal ruling against redlining "gives us a handle to prove (insurance companies) contribute substantially to segregated housing in the United States,"says ACLU spokesman John Powell. Still to be decided by the court: Whether the practice is descriminatory. AMERICANS NEGLECT LEAD LEVELS: Only one in four Americans have had their water tested for lead despite the Environmental Protection Agency's growing concern over contamination, according to a new survey by EcoWater Systems. The survey also says that 20% of Americans find their drinking water unacceptable. Of those, 44% believe they have little or no control over the quality of the water that comes into the home. WARRANTIES MAY LOWER DEFAULTS: Mortgages on properties covered by a home warranty plan may be in less risk of borrower default than those not protected with home warranty coverage, according to Buyers Home Warranty Co. The company claims that financially strapped homeowner may have to use funds to repair a major home system or appliance that breaks down, thus jeopardizing the ability to pay of mortgages. SOUTHERN CAL. MORTGAGES DROP: The number of successful mortgage applicants in Southern California dropped by 10% in the first nine months of 1992 compared to the same period a year ago, according to TRW REDI Property Data. Although lenders are experiencing slack consumer demand for home purchase loans, this has been compensated by a buoyant refinancing market as interest rates are at their lowest in 20 years. REFINANCING IS UP: More than half a million Southern California home owners refinanced their existing mortgages in the first nine months of this year compared to 370,000 in the same period last year, representing a growth of 44%, while mortgage applications are down. Regionally, San Diego has emerged as the least affected county in terms of the downturn in real estate purchase lending activity. WESTAM FILES TO SELL BONDS: Westam Mortgage Financial Corp. Wednesday filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell as much as $1 billion of mortgage-collateralized bonds, according to Bloomberg Business News. The bonds will primarily be secured by mortgage collateral. The collateral may include mortgage-backed certificates guaranteed by government sponsored enterprises. NORTH AMERICAN REPORTS INCOME: North American Mortgage Company, one of the nation's largest mortgage originators, said Wednesday that net income for the third quarter was $8,797,000, a 98% increase over net income of $4,433,000 for last year's third quarter. Earnings per share for the quarter increased to 64 cents per share. Officials attribute much of the increase to the acquisition of IMCO Realty Services. FLEET MORTGAGE REPORTS INCOME: Fleet Mortgage Group Wednesday reported net income of $29.4 million for the third quarter. This compares to $19.5 million for the third quarter of 1991. Earnings per share from the time of Fleet Mortgage Group's initial public offering on Aug. 7 through Sept. 30, were 40 cents a share. Loan servicing revenue, which was affected by increasted prepayments increased to $60.8 million. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES STABLE: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.01% Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday and unchanged from the week before. They were at 8.82% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 4.97%, unchanged from Tuesday and unchanged from the week before. A year ago they were at 6.71%. ARM INDEXES UNCHANGED: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 3.26% Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday and up from 3.09% the week before. A year ago they were at 5.33%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 4.874%, unchanged from Tuesday and unchanged 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 Wednesday, listing at 7.60%. That's down 0.04 from rates of 7.64% Tuesday. Rates were up 0.11 from rates of 7.49% the week before. A year ago they were at 8.07%. Real Estate Editor: Martin Baucom. (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