David W Myers

David W. Myers' June 18 article, "Bill to License Appraisers Set for Vote" covered quite well many of the problems and issues involved with licensing of real estate appraisers and the involvement of the California Assn. of Realtors through its bill, AB 527. I oppose the blanket "grandfathering" of brokers as appraisers. To me, the conflicts of interest inherent in this are both obvious and overwhelming. I support the California Coalition of Appraisers' position that brokers can be licensed or certified if they pass the course requirements, pass the exams and pay the appropriate fees that all other professional appraisers will have to meet also.

Three of the five top national awards for outstanding real estate news coverage have been won by David W. Myers, Times staff writer, while the Times real estate section again was named as one of the nation's best. Myers' four-part series, describing various ways that cash-strapped buyers can purchase a home, was named both as Best Consumer Report and Best Newspaper Report in the 39th annual National Assn. of Real Estate Editors' realty journalism competition.

Contributing to the verdict coverage were Alan Abrahamson, Emily Adams, Randal C. Archibold, David Avila, Alexei Barrionuevo, Sharon Bernstein, Patricia Ward Biederman, Howard Blume, Edward J. Boyer, Bettina Boxall, Nancy Rivera-Brooks, Elston C.

David W. Myers, a real estate writer for The Times, is a double first place winner in the nation's annual awards competition for outstanding real estate writing. He won top honors for consumer writing in the National Assn. of Realtors' 23rd annual Real Estate Journalism Achievement Competition for a four-part series dealing with various real estate investments. The stories ran on consecutive Sundays in the real estate section, starting on Feb.

This letter is to clarify portions of "WW II Legislation Helps Reduce GIs' Bills" by David W. Myers (Feb. 17), regarding the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act. First, the article states that the act protects full-time service members from certain debts incurred prior to "joining up." Not only are pre-enlistment debts protected, but also debts incurred prior to being called to active duty. Thus, a reservist can receive protection for debts incurred after enlistment but prior to the time orders to report to active duty become effective.

There are no "flaws in the (recording) system." Rather there are serious flaws in David W. Myers' understanding of the system. Mr. Myers' article may cause needless fear that California property owners may be in jeopardy because some eccentric may record a deed, which purportedly divests them of their ownership. If there is a problem at all, it is the dignity which Mr. Myers has given to a private computer firm's (Dataquick) work product. California property owners have been protected for over 100 years, and continue to be protected, by California's recording system.

I am an active, professional real estate broker and work hard to meet my clients' needs and provide accurate information on the marketplace. Your reporting in "The Big Chill" (Jan. 14) by David W. Myers has erroneously created a perception that we are not selling homes. According to you, if homes do sell, they sell for $100,000 less than asking price, and every seller has to give a trip to Tahiti to get the home sold. This is not correct. In our board in Glendale we had more sales in the last quarter of 1989 than we had in the same quarter in prior years.

I commend The Times for its series on housing choices and options faced by older Americans. However, the last story ("Caring Communities" by David W. Myers, Sept. 30), which was designed to cover a range of supportive housing alternatives, contains a confusing description of continuing-care facilities and failed to identify several important emerging housing types for the older frail person. To describe a life-care or continuing-care retirement community as a "hybrid of congregate care (homes)

Patricia Vincente has been trying to sell some commercial property for longer than she cares to say. And some of her clients have had homes on the market for two years without so much as a nibble--even though they've dropped their prices, offered to help with financing and even suggested trading with potential buyers. So Vincente has gone a step further in hope of getting an edge in a depressed real estate market: She bought three 6-inch, $3 plastic statuettes of St.