NEW REFINANCING SURGE HAS BANK OFFICERS RUNNING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 11, 1993                   TAG: 9303110113
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
NEW REFINANCING SURGE HAS BANK OFFICERS RUNNING
Loan officers in the Roanoke Valley have been working way beyond what's commonly called bankers' hours.
Mortgage rates are lower than they've been in about 25 years and people are bombarding loan offices trying to get mortgages and refinancing.
"It slowed down a little in January and February," said Chris Yesawich, office manager for Dominion Bankshares Mortgage Corp. "But it's picked up in the last couple of weeks."
Yesawich said about half of his six staff members have worked overtime plowing through the paperwork.
Most people are interested in refinancing their mortgages, the officers said.
"Some people got good rates last year and they're back," said Debbie Wilson, a loan officer with Signet Mortgage Corp.
Customers are changing their 30-year mortgages to 15 years, she said. Although that increases their monthly payments, there is an advantage: "It's building equity in their houses faster, so they can buy bigger homes sooner."
Although NationsBanc Mortgage Corp. has a processing office in Charlotte, Betty Sample, vice president and branch manager of the Roanoke office, has been so busy that callers are warned that it might take a while - up to a day - for someone to get back to them.
"In most cases, we call them at home at night," she said.
Wilson said she expects the busy trend to continue, just as it did last year when rates dropped. As for when it will slow down:
"I have no idea," she said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB