Upfront

The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation is warning consumers and mortgage companies to beware of a new type of business purporting to offer "loss mitigation consulting," "foreclosure prevention" and similar services. Many of the businesses, which advertise through direct-mail solicitations and other marketing materials, are offering Maryland consumers help in negotiating resolutions of their delinquent mortgage loans with lenders and servicers in exchange for upfront fees.

NEW YORK -- Not so long ago, this was the time of year when the television networks flexed their muscles. Big-name companies were summoned to network headquarters in New York, given a peek of next fall's prime-time lineup and told to place their orders for advertising slots. A day or two later, all the slots were gobbled up.But now, as this year's "upfront" advertising season gets under way, the tables are turned on the networks. If the past two summers and surveys for this year are accurate guides, advertisers will drag out the negotiations over weeks and haggle over the prices.

The Annapolis Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended the city approve a 162-townhouse development near Aris T. Allen Boulevard and Bywater Road despite potential crowding at Parole Elementary School.The panel of residents appointed by the mayor to review land-use proposals ruled Thursday night that the city does not have the authority to charge the developer of Oxford Landing a fee to compensate for crowding, a practice used in the county.The commission did recommend that the city require the developer to work with the developers of Oxford Mews and a new Safeway shopping center to widen 400 feet of Bywater Road from two lanes to five.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and housing advocates warned Maryland homeowners yesterday to avoid shady businesses that charge high upfront fees to avoid foreclosure. Since the mortgage and housing crisis began widening last year, Maryland officials have tried to stem the tide of people losing their homes to foreclosure. Since September, officials said, they've seen a troubling trend of struggling homeowners turning to for-profit companies that offer so-called "loss mitigation consulting" or "foreclosure prevention."

NEW YORK -- If you buy your mutual funds through a stockbroker or financial planner, you may have two tough decisions to make. First, is the recommended fund really what you want? And second -- a new challenge -- which of two or three methods of payment should you choose? How you pay will affect how much you ultimately earn.Some brokers and planners tell you how much you're paying and explain the options. Others don't. Some may arbitrarily choose a payment method for you.There's a fee table in the prospectus.

When buying mutual funds, I always used to buy Class B shares or Class C shares, the type that do not levy an upfront sales charge. These always seemed to make more sense to me; they looked like the cheaper way to go. Then my financial adviser opened my eyes. He explained why Class A shares, which require an upfront sales fee, often are cheaper to own than Class B shares or Class C shares. I think your readers should know what I just learned. Can you please relay this message? - B.S., Titusville, Fla. With so many variables, it's impossible to say that one particular share class always has a clear-cut cost advantage over another.

NEW YORK -- Homeowners are swarming to redo their mortgages.Behind the boom: a drop in interest rates and mortgage fees. Last year at this time, interest rates on fixed loans averaged 9.3 percent, according to HSH Associates in Butler, N.J. Now they're at 7.3 percent. Upfront costs are also down. That makes it profitable to refinance for a rate cut of around 1 percent, says John Lewis, managing editor of Inside Mortgage Finance, a newsletter based in Bethesda, Md.Here's the traditional way of telling whether refinancing will pay:Compare the new loan's upfront cost with the total amount that you'll save in monthly payments each year.

New York --If you buy mutual funds from a stockbroker or financial planner, you're being sliced up to pay sales fees. It's entirely proper to pay a salesperson for advice. But you may not realize how large your fees can grow over the years, or the damage that does to your investment returns -- especially in bond funds, where average returns aren't all that high in the first place.The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) will impose a new rule beginning July 7 to suppress the unregulated growth of mutual-fund sales charges.

More reality TV for us, less money for the networks, and new series for Jill Hennessy and chef Emeril Lagasse on NBC. That's what the news is expected to be today as NBC announces its new fall prime-time schedule in New York launching the 2001-2002 network TV upfront sales season. The strange annual dance between the network television industry and Madison Avenue features the six broadcast networks announcing new lineups of fall shows - some of which exist only on paper - and advertisers voting thumbs-up or thumbs-down to those shows with the time they buy or don't buy for next fall.

NEW YORK -- Do you own a house you'd like to sell, but can't?Are you eager to buy yourself a house, but can't?That's the story all over America: sellers and buyers passing each other like ships in the night. So here's an idea that you both could try: leasing the house with an option to buy.Lease-options are commonly used by real estate investors who buy, rent and resell single-family homes. But they're equally good for someone who is struggling to sell a house or condominium in a slow real estate market.