The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 141

MS Auctions A70 Learning A77 Lifestyles A80 Confidential Chat A81 Hobbies A82 ---S Also Inside Sunday Sampler: Mansfield Nena Groskind Mortgage Rates THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE FEBRUARY 27, 1994 TO Consumer Watch Rush slows for 15-year mortgages Bill would require brokers to have 14 hours of continuing education every two years By Mary Sit GLOBE STAFF By Matt Carroll GLOBE STAFF Not in Massachusetts. The commonwealth is one of two states in the nation that allows brokers to practice real estate without mandatory refresher courses. Next month public hearings will be scheduled to consider a bill that would require 14 hours of continuing edur cation every two years. Variations of this bill, have been filed since 1991, according to Maria Ollari, re search director for the the committee on government regulations at the State House. Yet every year, the bill dies.

"We just haven't been successful in having people focus on the importance of it. We haven't hit the hot button," said Robert L. Nash, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Association of Real Estate, who drafted the bill. "There are probably a lot of folks who don't want to go back to school and those are exactly the When most consumers buy or sell a house, they are engaging in the biggest financial deal of their lives. And in most states, the people who help them with the transaction real estate agents must regularly beef up their credentials by taking continuing education courses to keep their license.

fl goes the refinance boom, so go 15-year mortgages. In other words, the stampede of homeowners who have been switch- ing from 30-year mortgages to kind of tolks who should be going back to school." Some in the industry, who asked not to be identified, suspect legislators who hold real estate licenses have been shoving this bill to the bottom of the heap because they don't want to be bothered with taking more courses to maintain their license. Last year, the bill passed in the House and lacked one step to be passed in the Senate. It was the last night of the session, and the legislature ran out of time. Rep.

Michael P. Walsh (D-Agawam), who sponsored the bill, said it's simply a matter of inertia. "I never caught a whisper of a legislator saying that we shouldn't do this because it would cause a hardship," said Walsh, who does not hold a license. "It was a good idea. It is something that we require of many other professions, and I don't think it's unreasonable to require that of our Realtors." Advocates argue that it's more than a good idea that without mandatory continuing edcucation the consumer can be harmed.

"Would you entrust your health to someone who had 25 hours of medical school? Absolutely not. Would you entrust the largest financial decision of your life to someone who had 25 hours of real estate school? That's the folly of it," pointed out William Wendel, president of the Massachusetts Homebuyers Club, a consumer advocacy group. Massachusetts requires 24 hours of courses to get a license as a real estate sales person; and 30 hours to earn a license as a broker, according to the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salesmen. Joe Autilio, executive secretary to that board, said it's vital that real estate agents be informed of a rapidly changing industry dealing with issues from fair housing laws to lead paint to people with disabilities. And his department doesn't have the money to mail newsletters to the 54,000 brokers and 66,000 sales people in the state.

"It puts our people at a competitive disadvantage and brings into question their competence," said Autilio. "There's a level EDUCATION, Page A48 i 1 15-year mortgages is easing at the same time the refinance market cools down, said mortgage and lending officials. Fifteen-year mortgages are still a major force in the marketplace 29 percent of home buyers with 30-year mortgages who were refinancing last year picked 15-year mortgages, according to Federal Home Loan Mortgage the Washington-based mortgage giant which is known less formally as Freddie Mac. But that was down from 1992 and 1991, when 42 percent and 34 percent of home buyers picked 15-year mortgages. The percent was as high as 70 percent a few years said Robert Van Order, a Freddie Mac economist.

The reason is simple, said economists and lenders; Most people who are refinancing are looking more to cut the length of the mortgage than keep payments low. Even though payments are higher on a 15-year mortgage compared with a 30-year, with a lower interest rate and some equity paid off, a homeowner who refinances could find he was paying the same or less on his monthly bill as he was previously. "Fifteen-year mortgages are the product of choice when people refinance if they're looking to remain in the property," said Michael E. Nickley, head of produce tion for Cambridgeport Mortgage in Newton. But the market for refinancings is drying up as interest rates continue to tick Since hitting bottom this fall, rates have climbed slowly but surely.

And the higher they go, the fewer homeowners CONSUMER WATCH, Page A50 We just haven't been successful in having people focus on the importance of it We haven't hit the hot ROBERT L. NASH, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Association of Real Estate Lots Blocks MATT CARROLL AND MARY SIT Realtors on-line: Eleven different Realtor boards across the state have picked a computer vendor to set up a technologically advanced system that will allow them to show buyers color pictures of homes for sale. The system is expected to be on-line by mid-June for the Eastern Middlesex Association of Realtors, with other boards going on-line every two weeks after that The contract to set up and run the system was awarded to Moore Data of Minneapolis, which already has a similar system operating in its home town. Currently brokers receive a book with black-and-white photos of homes for sale, along with information about the house. Under the new system, brokers will be able to show buyers up to nine different interior and exterior photos of homes and are expected to have more detailed information as well.

Until now, each of the 1 1 boards had operated its own Multiple Listing Service. Now they have set up Bay State MLS Inc, said David A. Murphy of Northampton, president of the new corporation. Case-Schiller home price index for Greater Boston The indexes measure market price changes from the change in price between consecutive sales of the same homes (three month average.) The Globe runs the repeat sales index each month. Price ranges 110 Up to $132,000 V.

-i: GLOBE STAFF PHOTO TOM LANDERS The 14-room home was built in 1900 by Boston leather manufacturer J. Henry Emery. A place in the Adams legacy The 10 other boards are: Franklin-Hampshire County, Greater Haverhill, Greater Lawrence, Greater Lowell, Northern Worcester Cpunty, Plymouth County, Greater Salem, Greater Springfield, Greater Worcester, and Greater Holyoke-Chicopee. Greater Boston operates under a different system. Whoops Dept: Because of some misinterpretations, Banking Commissioner Alan Morse has restated the state's position on interest-rate locks on mortgages that expire.

According to Morse, rate locks on mortgage applications do not have to be honored if they expire through no fault of the lender. For instance, if the borrower is slow getting information to the lender, the rate locks can expire and the lender cannot be held responsible. Typically a home buyer can lock in an interest rate when he fills out a mortgage application or is waiting for his mortgage to close. On Jan. 31, Morse mailed letters to two lending organizations reminding them of their rate-lock obligations.

The organizations were the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association and the Massachusetts Association of Mortgage Brokers and Correspondent Lenders. In 1986 and 1987, expiring rate locks were an issue because lenders could not cope with an unanticipated deluge of homeowners refinancing their mortgages. While it has not been a major problem recently, Morse wanted to make sure it did not become one, he said. HUD funds for homeless: Several nonprofit agencies in Massachusetts are splitting $2.1 million in grants to provide services and shelter for the homeless. The money is from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The agencies are: Friends of the Shattuck Shelter in Jamaica Plain; Greater Boston Adult Center, Boston; Action for Boston Community, Boston; and Vietnam Veterans Workshop of Boston. Agencies in Maine, Connecticut and Vermont also received funds. Also, HUD has established a new toll-free number for people seeking a list of HUD-approved housing counseling agencies. The agencies can help people having difficulty in paying their 'mortgage and help renters interested in buying. The number is: H800) 569-4287.

By Kathleen Howley SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE $132,000 to $186,000 nc Over $186,000 cular oak staircase, three parlors, a formal dining room, and an old-fashioned kitchen. On the second floor, there are six bedrooms, including two in the servants' wing. All of the rooms have oak floors, and most of them have delicately carved woodwork and crownmold-ings. The home, built-circa 1900 by Boston leather manufacturer J. Henry Emery, is being sold by Harris' three sons.

It sits on a half-acre lot, with a two-story carriage house. But the story of how Harris came to live in the Quincy home really begins in 1920, when a young Wilhelmina, fresh out of college, knocked on the front dbor of the Adams OF THE WEEK, Page A50 QUINCY When Wilhelmina Sellers Harris retired in 1986 at the age of 90, she was the oldest federal employee in the country. For almost 40 years, she headed the Adams National Historic Site, the home of two American presidents, in Quincy. From her marriage in 1927 until her death in 1991, she lived across the street from the Adams mansion, in a stately, 14-room Georgian Revival Colonial home, now on the market for $399,000, listed with Paula Hegarty of DeWolfe New England in Milton. Thcfcfirst floor of the Harris house has an ornate foyer with a cir- Former residence of woman who ran Adams National Historic Site isupforsala 85 80 75 70 4- 1993 3d quarter 1990 1991 1992 SOiiRCE: Case SctwBer Inc 19 Al Rits Reseoed GLOBE STAFF CHART.