---

BACK TO TOP
|

Fannie Mae raises Hawaii loan limits

Home financier Fannie Mae said yesterday it will increase its limit for single-family mortgage loans that it purchases in Hawaii to $500,550 in 2004 from $484,500.

The loan limit for second mortgages will increase to $250,275. The limit on a two-family home rises to $640,725; for a three-family home, it's up to $774,450; and for a four-family home, the limit increases to $962,475.

The median resale price for a single-family home on Oahu hit $399,300 on Oahu in October, more than double the national median existing-home price of $172,400.

Fannie Mae increased its mainland loan limit to $333,700.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are chartered by the government to promote home ownership. The shareholder-owned companies finance housing by buying loans from banks, freeing the lenders to make more loans.

They make a profit on the loans they hold in their portfolios and on guarantee fees on mortgages sold to investors as securities. The companies can provide a lower cost because their government-chartered status allows them to borrow at a lower rate than other finance companies.

BancWest keeps building in family

BancWest Corp., parent of First Hawaiian Bank, has paid $194 million to buy the 30-story First Hawaiian Center in downtown Honolulu.

BancWest had been paying $13.8 million in lease rent to an Ohio company that was set up to own the building and lease it to tenants, including First Hawaiian Bank's headquarters. When the lease ran out yesterday, BancWest exercised its option to buy the building, which is more than 95 percent occupied, bank officials said.

Bank merger talk deadline nears

Today is the deadline for public comment to be submitted for a hearing Monday where state officials will listen to opinions on Central Pacific Financial Corp.'s bid to buy CB Bancshares Inc.

Those who wish to speak at the 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. hearing in the state Capitol auditorium should submit five copies of their written testimony to the Division of Financial Institutions in Room 602-A of the old Post Office building at 335 Merchant St.

DFI officials have said submitting written testimony will secure the right to speak at the hearing, but if time remains, those who did not provide advance testimony will be allowed to speak.

City Bank said it will accept public testimony at any of its branches and submit the papers to DFI. City Bank parent CB Bancshares opposes the takeover by the parent of Central Pacific Bank.

UH seeks biz plan contestants

The University of Hawaii is accepting applications from teams that want to participate in the 2004 UH Business Plan Competition.

The competition, now in its fifth year, is presented by UH College of Business Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business. Awards total $50,000 in cash prizes.

Teams must have at least two but not more than five members and have at least one University of Hawaii student. They may register until Jan 23. For details and to register, visit www.cba.hawaii.edu/bpc, e-mail pace@cba.hawaii.edu or call 956-5083.

---

BACK TO TOP
|

[Hawaii Inc.]

NEW JOBS

>> Dr. Jeffrey Smith has joined Market Trends Pacific as director of research and statistics. He brings 30 years of experience to the Honolulu market research firm, with expertise in survey sampling, questionnaire design, and tabulation and multivariate analysis. He will direct projects in market feasibility, consumer behavior and attitudes, travel research, image studies, public opinion research, real estate development and condominium studies, media research, store audits and distribution observations, and product testing. He was previously a Hawaii Criminal Justice Commission statistical research consultant.

PROMOTIONS

>> Douglas Ching was recently promoted to Team Vision senior Web project manager. He will manage the programming team in addition to Web site programming and database maintenance and design. He previously served as the company's Web programmer, where he was responsible for preparing and optimizing client Web pages, programming front- and back-end systems, Web site maintenance, and designing and maintaining databases. The company is a full-service marketing and Web development agency that specializes in Internet solutions.

ON THE BOARD

>> Saint Francis School has elected Darin M. Fukunaga and Russell Figueiroa to its board of directors. Fukunaga is principal of ADM Retail Planning & Architecture Inc. Figueiroa is president of R.M. Towill Corp.