Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.real From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: real Mon, Jun 8 1992 Date: Mon, 8 Jun 92 05:19:51 EDT Message-ID: 06-08 0000 DECISIONLINE: Real Estate USA TODAY Update June 8, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CALIF. RECOVERY TO BE SLOW: California home prices aren't likely to improve in the next few months and will recover only slowly for the next two or three years, industry experts said Friday. Depressed prices will probably reach bottom by the end of summer and then slowly upturn, said Rick Merrill, president of Prudential California Realty. The discussion was sponsored by The Daily Commerce, an industry newspaper. DISASTER LOANS IN JEOPARDY: President Bush may veto an emergency assistance bill for inner cities. Congress last week approved $500 million in disaster and business loans for Los Angeles and Chicago and added $1.4 billion for inner-city summer jobs. Advisers say the bill is too late and will add to the deficit. Labor Secretary Lynn Martin has advised Bush the jobs bill can't be spent productively in July and August. LAND PRESERVATION SALES AUDITED: Private nonprofit conservation groups that help the federal government add land to its system of parks and other public preserves sometimes benefit "unduly" from the transactions, Department of Interior auditors said in a report released Friday. The organizations "overall" have helped preserve important lands, but some of the transactions have been dubious, say auditors. NONPROFIT GROUPS REAP BENEFITS: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has paid $5.2 million too much to nonprofit organizations for 64 land transactions, says a report released Friday by the Interiors Department's office of inspector general. In most cases, the organizations, which financed and arranged the sales, held the land until the department had the funds to buy the property. FAA ADDRESSES AIRPORT NOISE: The Federal Aviation Administration released a letter of intent Friday to spend $88.5 million over the next eight years to control noise at the Cincinnati:Northern Kentucky International Airport. The plan includes soundproofing or buying homes, schools, churches and hospitals under noisy flight paths and extending a runway to divert noisier airplanes. CHEMICAL BANKING RAISES PRIME: The only major bank to cut its prime rate after the Federal Reserve eased credit in April, Chemical Banking, has raised its prime rate from 6.25% to 6.5%, the same as most other banks. Chemical says it took the action because it doesn't anticipate further Fed easing in the near future. BMW PICKS U.S. FACTORY SITE: BMW executive say that the company has picked the Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., area for its first U.S. assembly plant, reports this week's issue of German magazine Der Spiegel. The magazine reports that the factory will cost approximately $625 million and employ 2,000 people. BMW reportedly considered a site in Nebraska. DENVER BROKER INVESTIGATED: Authorities have begun investigating whether Denver real estate broker Marlen Mollohan may have violated federal rules. Mollohan, under a contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was prohibited from buying the homes he listed for the government. Records and interviews show that Mollohan secretly purchased 30 of the homes, the Rocky Mountain News reports. L.A. DEPARTMENT FILES APPEAL: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Friday filed an appeal on a $333,407 late property tax payment penalty assessed by Inyo, County, Calif. The department, which has asked that the penalty be waived, "pays $21 million in property taxes to 19 counties in five states, and has never had a late payment in 75 years," says Daniel W. Waters, DWP general manager. ST. LOUIS PLANS RENOVATION: St. Louis officials plan to buy and renovate five of the landmark Cupples Station's warehouses in order to lure offices of the Department of Defense to the city. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service would bring nearly 4,000 jobs. DAM CONSTRUCTION APPROVED: Four North Dakota administrative boards in Morton and Oliver counties have approved the construction of a recreational dam nine miles north of the tow of Mandan. The Soil Conservation Service will provide $2 million of the projects $2.7 million costs. Construction could begin in 1994 or 1995. FIRM COMPLETES LAND SALE: Pope & Talbot, a Portland, Ore.-based paper, pulp and wood products company will sell nearly 22,000 acres of timberland near Oakridge, Ore., the company announced Friday. It completes the company's sale of surplus timberland from the 1989 sale its Oakridge facilities. 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