FHA/VA Financing and Price Discounts

This study examines the effects of FHA and VA mortgage financing on home prices. FHA and VA borrowers receive higher loan-to-value ratios (LVRs) and payment to income (PTIs) ratios relative to conventional underwriting standards. These more lenient standards are offset by the payment of additional financing costs in the form of default insurance premiums and origination fees. The hypothesis for this study is that the origination fees (in the form of insurance premiums and the funding fees) associated with FHA and VA financing will (1) be capitalized into buyer reservation values and (2) result in price discounts relative to conventional loans with lower LVRs. Using a database of nearly 9,000 homes sales in the San Antonio, TX area, we perform hedonic analyses that indicate that both types of government backed financing are associated with reductions in selling prices. The results of this study may imply a cost shifting behavior on the part of buyers and an implicit subsidy on the part of sellers. Our preferred regressions find that the price discounts for FHA underwriting are about 4% (3.81% to 4.14%) relative to conventional financing. VA discounts, as expected, are smaller, ranging from about 2% to 3.46%. Given the prior literature, we hypothesize that the results are likely a result of the fact that FHA and VA homebuyers are able to shift some costs to sellers.

Thoroughfares and Apartment Values

While the monocentric urban models were once adequate for predicting the declining rent gradients for North American cities, the advent of a transportation system with major arteries such as turnpikes, thoroughfares and commuter rails has distorted the rent gradient for many cities. In this study we examine the rent (or value) gradient for the City of Philadelphia with special reference to the impact of two major urban thoroughfares on apartment values. We find that apartment values decline by approximately 2.2% and 3.8% per block from major thoroughfares, while holding distance to the CBD and standard variables constant. As to be expected, distance to the CBD still continues to exert a dominant influence on apartment values in spite of the impacts of the thoroughfares. The findings are consistent with Ôaxial growth theory.

Radio astronomy in Africa: the case of Ghana

South Africa has played a leading role in radio astronomy in Africa with the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO). It continues to make strides with the current seven-dish MeerKAT precursor array (KAT-7), leading to the 64-dish MeerKAT and the giant Square Kilometer Array (SKA), which will be used for transformational radio astronomy research. Ghana, an African partner to the SKA, has been mentored by South Africa over the past six years and will soon emerge in the field of radio astronomy. The country will soon have a science-quality 32m dish converted from a redundant satellite communication antenna. Initially, it will be fitted with 5 GHz and 6.7 GHz receivers to be followed later by a 1.4 - 1.7 GHz receiver. The telescope is being designed for use as a single dish observatory and for participation in the developing African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network (AVN) and the European VLBI Network. Ghana is earmarked to host a remote station during a possible SKA Phase 2. The location of the country on 5 degree north of the Equator gives it the distinct advantage of viewing the entire plane of the Milky Way galaxy and nearly the whole sky. In this article, we present the case of Ghana in the radio astronomy scene and the science/technology that will soon be carried out by engineers and astronomers.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Full Referred Journal Article accepted for publication in the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP 2014) Conference Proceeding

The fusion of modern and indigenous science and technology: how should it be done?

Several African intellectuals, especially educators, have realized the need for the overhauling of Africa's educational systems to enable these intellectuals address the needs of Africans. In this paper, we have reechoed the need for this overhauling process, and have argued for an integration of indigenous knowledge systems with the formal school curriculum. In this paper, the benefits of integrating community science and technology with school science and technology and the constraints to the integration have been outlined. It also reports on the attempt at integration by the Centre for School and Community Science and Technology Studies (SACOST), at the University of Education, Winneba in Ghana. SACOST is a centre of excellence established by the African Forum for Children's Literary in Science (AFCLIST), a non-governmental organization. The paper identifies the community as having four major operating areas (the school, indigenous, informal and formal), each of which constitutes a group with shared interests, values and modes of operation. The model proposed for the integration focuses on the school as the central component that should utilize all the existing knowledge in the community in the human resource development. African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences Vol. 2(1) 2004: 49-5

Identification of Individuals for Directorship Roles: Evaluation of a University’s Succession Management

Identification of potential individuals for leadership roles is a critical aspect of a succession management programme, as other aspects of the programme depend on an effective identification. This study evaluates how the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana identifies potential non-academic senior members for directorship roles. We collected qualitative data through in-depth interviewing of nine directors at the university. We analysed the data using constant comparison analysis by developing three themes, under each of which we presented similar categories of data. We found that the criteria for identification of potential directors include seniority; both internal and external sources; and familiarity with the culture, the legal framework, and the higher educational system. We conclude that UCC does not operate a structured, formal succession management but fills leadership vacancies through the traditional recruitment and selection method, an all-inclusive approach which we argue is not suitable for identifying and developing potential individuals for leadership positions

Historic Districts and Land Values

We measure the net effect of historic districting on the value of federally certified historic sites. The impact could be either positive or negative depending on the tension between positive externality effects and the constraints on property rights. Since federally certified historic parcels are not severely encumbered by regulations, we expect positive externality effects to dominate any negative effects of constraining rights. We find that the net effect of historic districting on land values is significantly positive. We also find that while residential parcels within historic districts attract a huge price premium of 131%, the premium associated with nonresidential parcels within historic districts is statistically insignificant.