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 Tue, Apr 21 1992 Date: Tue, 21 Apr 92 05:41:43 EDT Message-ID: 04-21 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update April 21, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MORTGAGE SCAM STINGS OWNERS: A tricky mortgage scam is costing homeowners. Scam artists tell homeowners their mortgage servicing contract has been transferred and payments now must be sent to a new company and address. The fake organization sets up accounts and post office boxes, cashes the checks and leaves town, all within a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, the true mortgage servicer is out one or more payments. (For more, see special Scam package below.) HOUSING GLITCH TO BE PROBED: Vermont and regional federal housing officials agreed Monday to survey tenants in three housing projects because a bureaucratic miscommunication may have denied them their right to choose a place to live. The report said the Vermont State Housing Authority mistakenly issued HUD certificates directly to three projects, denying residents a choice of housing projects. REALTORS ARE LINKED BY NET: Pacific Bell and the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors Monday announced an agreement to join in the development of a high-speed information network. Called Pacific Bell RealtyLink, it will electronically link realtors to a multiple listing service. It also will allow Realtors to lead clients on color photo tours of homes for sale and provide maps of neighborhoods. SYSTEM USES DIGITAL NETWORK: The Pacific Bell Realtylink uses a high-speed digital network service. Eventually, the marriage of telecommunications and real estate information systems promises to link all parties in real estate transactions - Realtors, lenders, escrow agents, title companies, attorneys, advertising publications, and local boards of Realtors - creating a mammoth pool of knowledge and information. LAWYERS CAN LOOK TO REAL ESTATE: Attorneys in the Pacific Northwest can look to "workouts of non-performing loans and ongoing and new transactions" for opportunities, according to Anne DeVoe Lawler of the National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women. Lawler says opportunities also exist to serve clients refinancing existing products and those with equity who "have the vision to act" in the down market. A HOME OF ONE'S OWN: The mobile home is the fastest-growing type of housing natiowide, up 59% in the past decade compared with a 13% increase for all other home types, according to the 1990 Census. Almost 1 in 5 new homes built in the 1980s was a mobile home. Behind the growth: Housing costs. And growing numbers see mobile homes as their only hope of owning a detached home on its own plot of land. FIXED-RATE MORTGAGES DECLINE: The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. were listed at 8.76% Monday, down from Thursday and down from 8.84% the week before. They were at 9.74% a year ago. For 30-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the rates were 6.11%, down from Thursday and down from 6.15% the week before. A year ago they were at 7.37%. ARM INDEXES DROP: The one-year Treasury ARM index rates were listed at 4.14% Monday, down from Thursday and down from 4.25% the week before. A year ago they were at 6.26%. For the 11th District ARM index, rates were at 5.800%, unchanged from Thursday and unchanged also from the week before. A year ago they were at 7.848%. T-BONDS INCREASE: Treasury security rates for the 30-year bonds showed an increase Monday, listing at 8.02%. That's up 0.09 from rates of 7.93% Thursday and up 0.17 from 7.85% the week before. A year ago T-bonds were at 8.29%. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SCAM: SCAM HAS CROPPED UP: The Mortgage Bankers Association and the Florida comptroller's office have warned homeowners about a scam the latter says has cropped up several times in the past year. Scam artists tell homeowners their mortgage payments have been transferred to a new company - and collect the payments, leaving the homeowner out the payment and behind on the mortgage. HOME LOSS IS NOT LIKELY: This scheme can cost homeowners money and damage their credit, says Warren Lasko of the MBA. Worst case: They could lose their homes. But, says Lasko, more likely the true lender will call the homeowner soon after the first payment is missed. So it's rare that more than one or two payments are lost. But that could be quite a bite, nonetheless. TRANSFERS ARE COMMON: Although some mortgage holders send their monthly payments to the same address for the life of the loan, others have seen their mortgage servicing transferred several times, each time to a company with a new address, said Debra Carroll of Countrywide Funding Corp. This change in loan servicers is a common and legal practice, which makes it easier on the crooks. S&L SALES HELP CROOKS: Increased sales of savings and loans help make the transfer of mortgage servicing more frequent and believeable. Also giving the scam a boost: A surge of mortgage refinancing activity means a larger pool of potential victims. And frauds of all kinds increase when times are tight. Homeowners should check with the original mortgage servicer if they are notified of a change of servicers. (End of package.) Real Estate Editor: Beth Mann. (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