THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502160219
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Three local real estate brokers were cited by the National Association of Home Builders last month at the NAHB convention in Houston.
William J. Ashbrook of William E. Wood & Assoc. in Virginia Beach was named sales manager of the year for Region 17, which includes Hampton roads.
Priscilla LeMoine of Rose & Krueth Realty Corp. in Virginia Beach was selected regional salesperson of the year and Bobbi Greenstreet of Rose & Krueth in Chesapeake was named regional rookie salesperson of the year.
Phillip Szpiech recently became a partner and senior vice president of the Laskin Road office of RE/MAX Central Realty in Virginia Beach.
The Ameribank Mortgage Corp. has recognized Mitchell Saks for the fourth consecutive year as the highest producing loan officer in the number of closed loans.
Saks has been responsible for the origination and closing of more than 1,000 home loans with a real estate value of $110 million over the past four years.
Two employees of S.L. Nusbaum Realty in Norfolk have earned designations from the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors.
John M. Profilet, a commercial leasing and sales agent, has been awarded the SIOR office designation while Jonathan Guion has achieved the SIOR industrial designation.
Profilet completed nine years of creditable experience in the field of office real estate and passed a written exam. Guion completed eight years of experience in industrial real estate and also passed an exam.
The Portsmouth/Chesapeake Association of Realtors will stage its annual Awards Banquet, beginning at 6 p.m. March 25 at the Holiday Inn, Greenbrier, in Chesapeake. Music will be provided by Bill Deal and Ammon Tharp.
Tickets are $35 each. Special sponsorship blocks of tickets are available. Phone the association office, 397-4613, for details.
The purchasing power of both move-up and first-time home buyers rose slightly during the fourth quarter of 1994 despite the hike in interest rates, according to the National Association of Realtors' Housing Affordability Index.
According to the NAR figures, half of American families had at least 131.6 percent of the income needed to qualify to buy a dwelling for $107,000, the nation's median price of a house. The typical family could afford a home costing $142,000.
Breaking this down, the statistics indicate a family earning $20,000 per year could qualify for a $72,200 home by borrowing $57,800. A household with an income of $30,000 could afford a $108,300 dwelling by financing $86,600.
Those earning $40,000 could buy a home for $144,400 by borrowing $115,500 and a $50,000 household could buy a $180,500 house with a loan for $144,400.
However, the NAR also reports that rising mortgage rates curbed demand for existing homes last year and sharply trimmed increases in housing values.
Only 80 of the 133 metropolitan areas in an association survey posted gains in median home prices in the fourth quarter when compared to the final three months of 1993.
And in most of these, the appreciation ranged from 0.1 percent to 6 percent, compared with typical increases of between 5 percent and 10 percent two years earlier.
High interest rates definitely plague first-time buyers, says NAR Executive Vice President Almon R. ``Bud'' Smith, who are already faced with big down payments. MEMO: On the Move reports management changes, awards, seminars and new
services offered by real estate firms. The events should be generally
open to the public. Photos will be used as space permits and cannot be
returned.
Send the information to Real Estate Weekly, The Virginian-Pilot, 150
W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk Va. 23510, or fax it to 446-2531. Please
include a phone number.
ILLUSTRATION: Profilet
Guion
by CNB