Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.real From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: real Mon, Apr 6 1992 Date: Mon, 6 Apr 92 05:43:33 EDT Message-ID: 04-06 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update April 6, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network FIXED MORTGAGE RATES FALL Rates for fixed mortgages fell slightly last week, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. says. The drop, the second in two weeks, came after the average rate hit 9.03% three weeks ago, the highest mark this year. Thirty-year fixed mortgages averaged 8.96% last week, down from 8.98% the week before. One-year adjustable mortgages averaged 6.22% vs. 6.19% the previous week. RATES BELOW PREVIOUS PEAKS: When the average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages hit 9.03% three weeks ago, it reached its highest point so far this year. That's down from the peak of previous years, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. In 1991, 30-year fixed mortgages reached a high of 9.75%, down from 10.67% in 1990 and 11.22% in 1989. In 1984 they climbed to 14.68%. ADMINISTRATION PLANS ATTACK: The Bush administration is easing rules that govern savings and loans. One rule would let thrifts count some intangible credit-card-related assets as core capital, a thrift's financial cushion. Allowing weak S&Ls count such assets at market value without also having to recognize depressed market values on real-estate assets "is intellectually dishonest," says economist Dan Brumbaugh. DOWNTOWN L.A. WORKSHOP PLANNED: The first in a series of workshops reviewing the development of Los Angeles' Downtown Strategic Plan, a community-based effort charting the future development of downtown Los Angeles, is set for Thursday, April 9, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. The forum is sponsored by the Downtown Strategic Plan Advisory Committee and the Community Redevelopment Agency. RECYCLED HOMES FOR THE FUTURE: The house of the future may be made from recycled materials. That's the idea behind a house underway at the National Association of Home Builders Research Center, reports Real Estate Today. G.E. Plastics, for example, has developed a roofing material that is 52% recycled. The home, to be finished in May 1992, is designed to be lived in after the demonstration period. OPPORTUNITIES STILL AVAILABLE: Lenders and borrowers will still find real estate opportunities with projects such as credit-anchored shopping centers," says Sharon L. Kline, a member of the board of directors of the National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women. Opportunities will also lie with multi-tenant buildings and doctor-owned medical office buildings on or near a hospital campus, says Kline. ARK. CITIES COMPETE FOR SCHOOL: Seven Arkansas cities have filed applications to become the site of the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science. Among the cities vying for the residential school, scheduled to be opened by August 1993, are Batesville, Benton, Blytheville, Conway, Fayetteville and Hot Springs. PRESERVATIONISTS GAIN SAY: Responding to preservationists' pleas, officials have agreed to consider moving - rather than tearing down - a 115-year-old brick building at Reformatory Prison for Women in Framingham, Mass. The building is an historic site once inhabited by Red Cross founder Clara Barton, preservations say. GROUP TO CONSIDER SPORT PLAN: A plan to build $1 million soccer complex with 16 fields on 86 acres goes before the Westerville, Ohio, 1,200-member Amateur Soccer Association Monday. It will be largest one-site soccer facility of its kind in Midwest, group official said. Phase I, with 5 playing fields, is expected to open next spring. BOND'S OUTCOME TO BE DETERMINED: Trustees in San Antonio Monday will officially determine the outcome of a $211 million bond issue designed to refurbish 93 elementary, middle and high schools. Votes were cast Saturday, with unofficial returns reporting the issue losing 2-1. Many feared the issue would raise taxes. 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