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Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 10

Publication:
Argus-Leaderi
Location:
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Issue Date:
Page:
10
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

10A Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D. Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993 How to reach us Business news inquiries and tips: Brenda Wade Schmidt, business editor, 331-2321 Markets. 9A Home appraisers in short supply James Pulley to tell them there isn't enough work when home sales and refinances slow, he said. The local office is considering whether it should add people to its list of qualified appraisers, he said.

FHA has eight approved appraisers that are randomly assigned to properties. The federal agency does not pay the appraisers, but approves them. Bom the sale of a property and refinancing an FHA loan lending require an appraisal. The FHA approved two additional appraisers within the last year. The appraisers also do valuations for conventional loans.

Appraiser Greg Kaschmitter, who is qualified to do FHA work, has been working long hours for more than a year. Appraisals federal Housing and Urban Development officials and South Dakota's congressional representatives about the problem. The delay in appraisals is because of FHA properties, said Sterling Kloster, review appraiser for the FHA in Sioux Falls. The number of conventional loans has increased much faster than government-backed loans because of lower interest rates and appreciation of properties, he said. Those conditions allow people with FHA loans to refinance with conventional loans, he said.

"From our point of view, it's no busier for us than it has been," he said. "It's definitely a problem." The FHA is reluctant to certify additional appraisers only to have Shortage causes troubles as buyers, sellers close deals By BRENDA WADE SCHMIDT Argus Leader Staff Home appraisals in Sioux Falls are taking too long, often leaving buyers and sellers in limbo, because there are not enough government-approved appraisers, real estate agents say. Appraisers are three to seven weeks behind schedule and are completing their work too near the closing on the sale of a home, when the final paperwork is done, said Ken Dunlap, who is on the Sioux Falls Board of Realtors. LodgeNet, Nintendo join forces to bring games to travelers I "We're getting appraisals back in some cases a few days before they close," he said Monday. "We feel mere's a problem out there and we don't feel it's being addressed." The problem is especially evident with properties purchased with FHA-backed financing, said Dave Anderson with Century 21.

"It's the biggest problem we have in the office," he said. The delays leave little time to do improvements before a sale is final and the short notice causes stress on buyers and sellers, real estate agents say. The Sioux Falls Board of Realtors is asking the Federal Housing Administration in Sioux Falls to add more appraisers. The board also has written to 1991-1993 models. The problem stems from a faulty connection between the generator and its wiring.

"The vehicles involved in this campaign could experience excessive electrical flow should a short circuit occur in the generator," said Richard "Skip" Le-fauve, Saturn president, in a statement being mailed to owners of its cars. "Under certain conditions, enough heat could build up to ignite surrounding materials. If this happens, an underhood fire could result with or without the engine running and without warning." Sioux Falls as of Aug. 9. I At requested now will not be done for a month.

The turnaround time for FHA appraisals used to be five days, he said. Most of his business is appraisals for refinancing loans. Kaschmitter said his company sometimes is reassigned appraisals that others haven't gotten done and he tries to fit all jobs in before they're due. "We're a service business, too. We want to make sure the customer is getting what they want and when they need it." Depending on what interest rates do, the number of appraisals, which follows home sales, could drop.

"If interest rates go up a point or two, it's just going to stop. It's just going to be dead." third in the air by the end of the month, said Jon Austin, company spokesman. The company plans to install the Nintendo equipment on 20 planes before the end of the year. Because of a lack of a digital link for passengers between airplanes and the ground, the system won't provide services such as fax and computer connections. For Nintendo, the system puts its games into the hands of more people, who might be more inclined to go to the toy store and buy a unit for home, said Jim Silver, publisher of The Toy Book, an industry publication.

But questions remain as to whether travelers want new gadgets rather than more important services such as more frequent flights and better inflight meals. "In-flight (entertainment) tends to be one of the last things ranked by travelers as important," said Nick Athana-siou, senior consultant for Arthur D. Little Accounting and Consulting. Passengers would not be allowed to use it during takeoff and landings, though. Most airlines prevent the use of personal computers, CD players and other electronic items at those times.

Prices for the various services will be determined by airlines, hotels and cruise lines. Nintendo will collect a royalty. The Associated Press contributed to this story. getting a good start on the spring wheat," Peterson said. Winter wheat yields have typically ranged from 30-70 bushels an acre, he said.

"I've had some customers come in who said their whole crops averaged around 50 bushels. "That's 15 or 20 bushels an acre over the normal average." While most winter wheat has been cut in the central part of the state, the harvest continues in those counties north of Highway 12, Peterson said. An update on the size of the winter wheat harvest, based on Aug. 1 conditions, will be issued late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Rick Kelly Roger Risty life, health, and employee benefits department. MITCHELL CABLE announces that Thomas Bechen has joined the company as senior technician. Send On the Move announcements to: Janine Vallie, Argus Leader Newsroom, PO Box 5034, Sioux Falls, SD 57117-5034. Hotels, ships, planes will add entertainment By BRENDA WADE SCHMIDT Argus Leader Staff A Sioux Falls company is joining with Nintendo of America Inc. to provide video games to hotels, cruise ships and airplanes.

LodgeNet Entertainment 808 West Ave. North, and Nintendo of America Inc. will unveil plans at a news conference today in New York. LodgeNet will distribute Nintendo's product through the local company's agreements with hotels and cruise ships. Nintendo has an agreement with Northwest Airlines for games, movies, in-flight shopping and audio, Tim Flynn, the company's president and chief executive officer, was in New York and could not offer additional details on the project until after the news conference.

LodgeNet, which was founded in 1980, provides entertainment and information services, such as movies and hotel checkout services, to the lodging industry. The company serves 1,900 hotels with more than 250,000 guest rooms in the United States and Canada. The company has 180 employees in Sioux Falls and 23 field offices across the country. Northwest Airlines, which has been testing the video system, has added personal screens on economy class seats of two jets and will have a Blunt, Midland and Philip. "The railroad told me I'd get no cars this week.

"We're hoping it stays dry until we get the grain piles cleaned up." Peterson said he'd been told by Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad Corp. that rail cars are tied up elsewhere. "I also think there's a lack of locomotives and trains are going slower because of the wet conditions." It has been two years since the elevator has had huge piles of wheat on the ground, he said. Until this past weekend, the moisture content of most winter wheat continued to be high, he said. "It's been an ongoing struggle, but they're pretty well finished up with the harvest in this area and House fans cool for less, do good job Question: My son has a whole-house fan and his home stays almost as comfortable as mine with air-conditioning.

How much electricity does a whole-house fan save over air-conditioning and can I easily install one myself? T.H. Answer: Using a whole-house fan, instead of air-conditioning continuously, can cut your electricity usage by 80 percent. I use one in my home on all but the hottest days. I prefer the breezy fresh air, even it's a little warmer. A whole-house fan, mounted in a hallway ceiling, keeps you comfortable in several ways.

The gentle breeze throughout your home makes 80 degrees feel like 75 degrees. Just the quiet hum of a fan makes people feel cooler. By drawing in the cooler air, the entire structure of your house, furniture, cabinets, etc. cool down over night. They absorb heat again in late morning and this delays and reduces the temperature rise indoors.

Since most whole-house fans are mounted so that they exhaust the air into the attic, the attic stays cooler, too. This reduces the heat gain in your house, particularly in the early evening. You have two basic whole-house fan designs to choose from direct drive and belt drive. With direct drive (for small to medium-size houses), the fan blades are mounted directly under the motor and are attached to the motor shaft. Belt-driven fans are also quieter than direct-drive fans.

With different size pulleys on the motor and the fan blades, they can use steeply-pitched, slower-turning blades. This reduces noise. On either design, you can get a variety of speed controls including single, triple, and totally-variable. Whole-house fans are easy to install yourself. Each fan manufacturer has several sizes and models to fit typical attic joist spacing.

You just saw a hole through the ceiling, reinforce the opening with 2x4's if necessary, and nail the fan in place. Install a louver kit under it. You can write to me for Utility Bills Update No. 513 listing whole-house fan manufacturers, model numbers, design types, and fan sizes, and charts of recommended fan sizes and attic exhaust vent areas for various-size houses. Consumers can receive James Dulley's Utility Bill Updates by writing to James Dulley, Argus Leader, 906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45244.

Include $1.50 and a self-addressed stamped business-size envelope. Blades turn slowly for quiet operation Larl steeply-pitched blades for high air (low Designed to fit standard Joist spacing Whole-house celling fan Is quiet and efficient Budget victory jumpstarts stocks NEW YORK (AP) Investor optimism following the president's budget victory as well as sharply tower interest rates pushed up stock prices Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq index to record highs. The Dow rose 15.65 points to a record 3,576.08, eclipsing its previous record of 3,567.70 set on July 26. Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 231.73 million shares.

The Senate's narrow passage of President Clinton's deficit reduction measures on Friday lifted bond prices and pushed down yields to historic tows. After a brief morning downturn, stocks followed and never looked back. Bonds rallied because of the real potential for deficit reduction. Powerful fgE motor i. i kit underneath vlr AP photo Armond Williams of Team Nintendo demonstrates the use of a Nintendo game Monday in a mock-up of an airplane in New York as Nintendo of America Inc.

announced plans to install its video games and other services on airplane seats, hotel rooms and cruise ships. Winter wheat harvest in piles GM recalls Saturns, citing wiring defect Too few rail cars, lack of storage blamed for backlog PIERRE (AP) Drier weather this month has helped with the rain-plagued winter wheat harvest in central South Dakota, but now there's a lack of rail cars, a grain elevator official said Monday. The huge grain elevator at Midwest Cooperatives in Pierre has about 250,000 bushels of wheat piled on the ground because there's no room left to store it, and rail cars are in short supply. "This car situation is absolutely a disaster," said Lowell Peterson, general manager of the cooperative, which also owns elevators in Homestake reports $11.3 million take SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Home-stake Mining the owner of a gold mine in Lead, reported second-quarter earnings of $1 1 .3 million on its worldwide holdings. The company said higher gold prices and tower production costs produced earnings of 8 cents per share.

The San Francisco-based company had a toss of $26.1 million during the second quarter of 1992. The loss included a one-time $16 million charge when the company reduced the value of a project in Canada. Homestake said gold production at its Lead mine increased to 121,800 ounces, the highest quarterly production since the mid-1970s. The company has holdings in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Mexico and Chile. On the move.

Gannett News Service DETROIT General Motors high-profile Saturn division is recalling every car built before April 15 to fix a wiring defect that has caused 34 engine fires. The huge recall larger even than the 1990 recall of the Pontiac Fiero for engine fires puts the reputation of Saturn as GM's top-quality producer on the line. It's the second time Saturn has recalled nearly all of its cars. The first came shortly after Saturns went on sale 1991 and involved just 1,800 cars. The recall affects 352,767 Lowest round-trip fares from Certain restrictions apply.

Honolulu $513 Source: Northwestern Travel. 4 San City $198 t. Francisco Denver Pf00 $226 4 Us Vegas $273 1 HWK Dallas nn -jmY I aplditTL-, Chicago $184 Wash.D.cS Kan8a, $252 City Atlanta $232 $205 mT LE MARS MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF IOWA recognizes the following employees: Steve Halverson, of Stephen H. Hal Steve Halverson verson Insurance, and Rick Kelly, of Doss-Costello-Kelly Agency were both named Agents of Distinction. HOWALT-MCDOWELL INSURANCE INC.

announces that Roger Risty was voted Employee of the Quarter during the second quarter of 1993. He has been with the company for seven years and is an agent in the (New Orleans! I Miami I $273 $278 Travel from Aug. 23 to Dec. 15th..

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Pages Available:
1,244,326
Years Available:
1886-2024