1959 Housing Act lncreoses lnterest, Sets Trode-in Deols

The 1959 Housing Act, recently signed by President Eisenhower, increases interest rates to S/a/o and, extends FHA's authority to insure home improvement and modernization loans to October I,, Igffi. It contains the following provisions:

Section 203-The maximum amount insurable to owneroccupant borrowers for. single-family properties is now V2,5W, and for two-family properties $25,000. Three and four-family properties have not been changed and remain at $27,500 and $35,000, respectively.

New trade-in provisions in the Act provide that the high-ratio of loan-to-value available to an owner-occupant may now be made available for a non-occupant builder or realtor mortgagor. llowever, I5/o of the amount of the loan is to be escrowed so as to be applicable to a corresponding reduction of the mortgage if the property has not been sold within 18 months. The new procedure will make it possible to have only one closing and one set of closing costs on a trade-in.

Section 203(i)-F'or low-cost housing in outlying areas, the maximum amount of mortgage is increased to $9,000. The regulations have been amended to extend this section to cover loans on existing dwellings with a reduced loanto-value ratio (X)/o instead ol97/o) for such dwellings less than one year old and not inspected by FHA or VA.

Section 207-The maximum mortgage for multi-family housing is increased from $12.5 million to 920 million. The maximum interest rate is increased to 5rl/o.

Section 220-Maximum amounts for urban-renewal mortgages for one and two-family houses are raised to correspond to Section 203, and maximum mortgages for threefamily structures are raised to $30,000. The same trade-in provisions as Section 203 also apply.

Section 222-The maximum mortgages for servicemen's loans is raised to $20,000. This makes properties built under provisions of Sectiot 203(i) eligible up to maximum loans of $9,000.

Special Provisions-The FHA is permitted to accept for high ratios of loan-to-value dwellings under Section 203 and 203(i) approved prior to beginning of construction and inspected by VA. FHA will examine all changes approved by VA in order to make a determination as to whettier the value of the dwelling has been affected.

Pocific €ement & Aggregqtes, Inc. Appoinrs Burroughs to Sqn Jose

A recent change in Pacific Cement & Aggregates, Inc., sales personnel brings J. W. (Ji-) Burroughs (right) back to the San Jose district as a general line salesman. Burroughs started his PCA service in 1949 at San Jose af ter completing studies at San Jose State College. He was subsequently transferred to Oakland. and soon after was promoted to superintendent of PCA's Peralta St. yard. In 1957 Burroughs was transferred into sales and assigned to the Hayward territory.

(Tell them Aou saa it in The California Lumber Merchant)

Helen Geib, vice-president, etc., of the Norwalk (Calif.) Lumber Co. will attend the paint convention in Chicago, while husband George, the lumber dealer, stays homi: to batch and mind the store, wheeling and dealing as usual.

Wendell Robie of the Auburn (Calif.) Lumber Co. and president of the Central California Federal Savings & Loan Assn., Auburn and Davis, Calif., was in Los Angeles recently for a savings-and-loan gathering at the Statler-Hilton. The veteran dealer dropped into the offices of the CLM to see why Publisher Jack Dionne has never yet compiled selections of his famed "Vagabond Editorials" in book form (thinks he is "doing an injustice to Americans if he does not" and promises to order 50 copies if he does).

Walter A. Remak, district representative of the Weyerhaeuser Company in Los Angeles, showed the brand-new company movie, "Tomorrow's Trees," at a dinner meeting of the YMCA in Torrance, Oct. 19, followed by a question-answer period.

All down to L.A. from the north last month to see the Dodgers doings were Mr. and Mrs. Bill Constans and Dick Curd of Raloh L. Smith Lumber Co., Anderson, Calif.; Mr. and Mrs. Loren Hall, Hazel Valley Lumber Co., Placerville; Mr. and Mrs. Hillman Nugent, Feather River Pine Mills, Feather Falls; Del Pugh, Sierra Mountain