The Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona, is shown in this undated handout image courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.

PHOENIX | Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:50pm EST

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A Phoenix home designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright for his son and daughter-in-law was purchased by anonymous benefactors on Thursday, sparing the distinctive residence from possible demolition.

The David and Gladys Wright House, which features a circular spiral layout reminiscent of Wright's iconic Guggenheim Museum in New York, was purchased for $2.38 million, listing agent Robert Joffe said.

The Chicago-based Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy said it had facilitated the purchase of the home by the anonymous buyers, who would in turn transfer the property to a not-for-profit organization for restoration and maintenance.

"This purchase is a magnificent and generous action," Conservancy president Larry Woodin said. "It is a gift to the people of Phoenix, a gift to the worldwide architectural community and to everyone that cares about the history of modern architecture."

The conservancy said plans for restoration were already under way and that donations would be sought from the public to continue that work. The new owners were also seeking historic landmark designation for the home from the city of Phoenix.

The home was completed in 1952 and Wright's son, David, lived there with his wife Gladys until his death in 1997 at age 102.

It was purchased from the family in 2009 and ultimately sold three years later to a local development company, 8081 Meridian, which had initially planned to demolish it and build new homes on the site.

Phoenix-area real estate agent Bob Hassett, who represented the buyers, said his clients wanted to remain anonymous and purchased the home in order to see it preserved.

"They just absolutely love Frank Lloyd Wright's work and always admired (the home) and cared about its historic value," Hassett said. "It would have been a travesty to tear it down. This is one of his better-known works.

Hassett said his clients had been in negotiations to buy the home several months ago and stepped in again recently after another set of buyers dropped out.

"My buyers just said, 'enough is enough,'" Hassett said.

The conservancy has gathered more than 28,000 signatures on a petition urging the city to give the home landmark status. Local agencies have approved that designation but it still awaits final approval by the city council.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton thanked the conservancy for its work in preserving the home.

"We developed a close working relationship in this process and we stand ready to help them with landmark designation, restoration and a conservation easement so that this important piece of our Phoenix history and the Frank Lloyd Wright legacy will be preserved for generations to come," Stanton said.

Wisconsin-born Frank Lloyd Wright, designed more than 1,100 structures, nearly half of which were completed, according to the conservancy. Considered one of the most important architects of the 20th Century, he died in 1959.

(Writing and additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)

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E L James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey, poses for photographers during a book signing in London September 6, 2012.

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NEW YORK | Fri Dec 14, 2012 8:09pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A piano used in the classic film "Casablanca" sold for just over $600,000 on Friday, falling far short of predictions that it could fetch $1 million or more.

The 58-key upright piano on which actor and singer Dooley Wilson performed "As Time Goes By," the signature song of the 1942 film's star-crossed lovers played by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, sold at Sotheby's for $602,500 including commission.

The auction house had assigned the iconic prop a pre-sale estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million, given some astonishing prices attained by movie memorabilia in recent years.

In the film, the character Sam (Wilson) plays the signature song "As Time Goes By" during flashback scenes set in Paris, as well as in Bogart's club in Casablanca, where he and Bergman rekindle their romance.

Bergman's memorable lines included the imploring: "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'"

Sotheby's had sold the piano, which was the one used during the Paris flashback scenes, to a Japanese collector in 1988, who paid $154,000, one of the highest prices ever paid for a movie prop at the time.

The film, set in Morocco during World War Two, won three Academy Awards including best picture, best writing and best director for Michael Curtiz.

The auction house did not identify the buyer.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Patricia Reaney and Bob Burgdorfer)

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NEW YORK | Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:12pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Public Library released designs on Wednesday for an overhaul of its flagship Beaux-Arts building in Manhattan that will open to the public spaces that only library staff have seen for the past few decades.

Under the plan, patrons will be able to borrow books from a new 100,000-square-foot lending library, creating what Mayor Michael Bloomberg said would be the largest combined research and circulating library in the world.

"With the Central Library Plan, we will open up more of our landmark building to the public, offering both circulating and research collections in one place, as well as the programs, classes, materials and services needed by our patrons," New York Public Library President Tony Marx said in a statement.

The building, with two stone lions famously guarding the entrance on Fifth Avenue, opened in 1911 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965. It became a research-only library in 1981 when the lending library was rehoused in a relatively drab building across the street.

That building will be closed when the renovation project is completed in 2018.

Project architect Norman Foster, who has previously designed modern additions to other historic buildings such as the British Museum in London and the Reichstag in Berlin, said the flagship building's chandelier-bedecked Rose Main Reading Room would not be touched.

The library is making space for the lending library and increased research space by removing much of its stacks - seven stories of steel shelving containing millions of research volumes - at the rear of the building that are currently closed to the public.

Many scholars had previously criticized early plans to send most of the displaced volumes across the Hudson River to a storage building in New Jersey, saying the library's mission as a research center would be harmed if it were to take up to 24 hours for a requested book to arrive.

In response, the library said in September it had been given an $8 million donation allowing it to expand its underground storage space and keep onsite 3.3 million of the 4.5 million volumes currently stored there, with the remainder available nearly instantly in digital formats.

The library had earlier estimated the plan would cost $300 million but said on Wednesday the final budget would be higher, although it was not yet finalized. Bloomberg, who has endorsed the project, has said the city will contribute $150 million.

The library said the remainder of the funds will come from sales of buildings it owns nearby, and that consolidating several midtown libraries into one building will save about $15 million a year, which it will spend on librarians and books.

The plans still require approval from various city agencies, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission will have to give its approval for what the library calls "relatively minor" changes to the building's exterior before construction can begin next year.

(This story corrects reference in lead to who has access to areas being opened up)

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)

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Actor Liam Neeson poses before a news conference to promote his movie, ''Taken 2'' in Seoul September 17, 2012.

LOS ANGELES | Sun Oct 14, 2012 2:06pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Liam Neeson thriller "Taken 2" won a battle between two hostage movies over the weekend, holding on to its top box office rankings for a second week with $22.5 million from ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters.

Ben Affleck's highly praised Iran hostage thriller "Argo" was as close second, earning $20.1 million from Friday through Sunday. Low-budget horror movie "Sinister" came in third with $18.3 million, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters.

Action sequel "Taken 2" stars Neeson as a former CIA agent who is captured while on vacation in Istanbul. The movie has pulled in $86.8 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters since its debut a week ago, plus $132.8 million from international markets.

"We continue to play broadly across all demographics and it is a testament to the strength of Liam's character and the property," said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox, which released the film.

With a worldwide box office total already reaching nearly $220 million, he said the film was close to equaling the final box office total of the first "Taken" movie ($226.8 million), and therefore labeled the sequel as "a much bigger movie."

"Taken 2" sales outpaced receipts for "Argo," a movie that Affleck stars in and directs. The film is based on a real-life CIA plot to smuggle six U.S. diplomats out of Iran in 1979 under the guise of a fake movie production.

The diplomats had escaped the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran at the height of the Islamic revolution. They hid at the Canadian embassy until a CIA agent came to sneak them out of the country.

"Argo" is generating buzz as an Oscar contender after earning stellar marks from critics, with 94 percent of reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website praising the film. Ahead of the weekend, box-office forecasters had predicted an opening of $15 million or more.

"The movie is like the perfect storm, everything came together at the right time," said Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution for Warner Bros, noting that the combination of the film's appeal to all ages combined with critical acclaim and awards season buzz would spell a long commercial run.

"It's going to have legs," he said. "Critical acclaim is going to translate into commercial success."

Warner Bros. and GK Films paid about $44 million to produce the movie.

Sales for third-place film "Sinister" came in more than 6 times its tiny $3 million production budget. The movie stars Ethan Hawke as a crime novelist who moves into a new house and finds disturbing home movies. It was produced by Jason Blum, producer of the hit "Paranormal Activity" series of horror flicks.

Family film "Hotel Transylvania" held on to the No. 4 spot during its third weekend in theaters, pulling in $17.3 million. Total domestic sales since its debut reached $102.2 million.

New comedy "Here Comes the Boom," earned $12 million and landed in fifth place. The $40-million film stars Kevin James as a high-school biology teacher who competes in mixed martial arts to raise money for his school.

Another new entry, comedy "Seven Psychopaths," earned ninth place, grossing $4.3 million from a medium-sized run in about 1,500 theaters. The film stars Colin Farrell and Woody Harrelson in the story of a screenwriter who gets wrapped up in criminal activity after his friends kidnap a gangster's dog.

The movie, which won an 89 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, cost $15 million to make. It will expand to more theaters in two weeks.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, released "Argo." "Taken 2" was distributed by News Corp's 20th Century Fox studio. Summit Entertainment, owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, released "Sinister."

Sony Corp's movie studio distributed "Hotel Transylvania" and "Here Comes the Boom." CBS Films, a unit of CBS Corp, released "Seven Psychopaths."

(Additional reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Doina Chiacu and Gunna Dickson)

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U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talks at the Economic Club of Indiana in Indianapolis October 1, 2012.

TOKYO | Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:03pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Sunday said it was far from clear that the U.S. central bank's highly stimulative monetary policy hurts emerging economies, defending a policy raising concerns in China, Russia and Brazil.

In a blunt call for certain emerging economies to allow their currencies to rise, he also said that foreign exchange intervention encouraged destabilizing inflows of foreign capital, but he did not specify China by name.

"The perceived advantages of undervaluation and the problem of unwanted capital inflows must be understood as a package - you can't have one without the other," Bernanke said in Tokyo.

Bernanke has often defended Fed actions against domestic critics, who argue the policy of keeping interest rates near zero while ramping up asset purchases hurts savers and risks future inflation.

But in the Tokyo speech, Bernanke addressed critics abroad, saying stronger growth in the United States bolsters global prospects as well, countering the likes of Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega who has labeled the Fed's latest stimulus effort "selfish".

Critics say the Fed's unorthodox policies weaken the U.S. dollar and boost the currencies of developing countries, hurting their ability to export.

"It is not at all clear that accommodative policies in advanced economies impose net costs on emerging market economies," Bernanke said at an event sponsored by the Bank of Japan and the International Monetary Fund. While the speech was delivered in private, the Fed provided a text to the media.

Restating a theme that he has addressed in the past, the Fed chief also said that if emerging economies stopped intervening and allowed their currencies to rise, this would help insulate their financial systems from external pressure.

"Under a flexible exchange-rate regime, a fully independent monetary policy, together with fiscal policy as needed, would be available to help counteract any adverse effects of currency appreciation on growth," Bernanke said.

The Fed last month announced a new program of open-ended bond purchases that will be continued until there is substantial improvement in labor market conditions, barring a sustained and unexpected spike in inflation.

To start off, the central bank will buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities per month.

"This policy not only helps strengthen the U.S. economic recovery, but by boosting U.S. spending and growth, it has the effect of helping support the global economy as well," he said.

FRIEND OR FOE

In 2010, when the Fed launched its second round of monetary policy stimulus, known as quantitative easing, many finance ministers around the world accused the United States of pursuing a beggar-thy-neighbor policy.

Criticism of the current round of bond purchases, known as QE3, has been more muted, but nonetheless evident.

Brazil's Mantega told the IMF's 188 member countries in Tokyo on Friday that the policy was "selfish" and harming emerging markets both by stealing their share of exports and by spurring destabilizing capital flows and currency movements.

"Advanced countries cannot count on exporting their way out of the crisis at the expense of emerging market economies," he told the IMF's governing panel. "Brazil, for one, will take whatever measures it deems necessary to avoid the detrimental effects of these spillovers."

In opening remarks at the conference that Bernanke addressed on Sunday, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said aggressive steps by the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan were "big policy actions in the right direction."

But she took note of the distress those policies were causing elsewhere and called for central banks to step-up their dialogue and cooperation.

"Accommodative monetary policies in many advanced economies are likely to entail large and volatile capital flows to emerging economies," she said. "This could ... lead to (economic) overheating, asset price bubbles and the buildup of financial imbalances."

Critics of the Fed's policy, both foreign and domestic, contend it is likely to do little to help the U.S. economy, while risking unwanted inflation.

Central banks "should consider draining excessive liquidity injected into the market and eliminate inflationary pressure in the long-term," People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan was quoted as saying by the official state news agency Xinhua, which cited the Journal of Public Research, a PBOC magazine.

Russia also is worried.

"Everything is getting done, from my perspective, blindly, without regard to the consequences it could have," Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters in Tokyo.

"NO PANACEA"

For his part, Bernanke stressed that inflation in the United States was projected to run below the Fed's 2 percent goal over the next few years.

And while he admitted that QE3 was "no panacea," he argued the open-ended nature of the third round of bond buying makes the program more flexible and should make people feel more certain that U.S. economic growth, which registered a paltry annual pace of 1.3 percent in the second quarter, will pick up.

"An easing in financial conditions and greater public confidence should help promote more rapid economic growth and faster job gains over coming quarters," Bernanke said.

In response to the financial crisis and deep recession of 2007-2009, the Fed cut overnight interest rates to near zero and bought some $2.3 trillion in mortgage and U.S. Treasury securities to try to stimulate spending and boost employment.

U.S. job growth remains lackluster, but the unemployment rate did fall to 7.8 percent in September, its lowest in nearly four years.

For Bernanke, what is good for the world's largest economy is ultimately good for the world as well.

"Assessments of the international impact of U.S. monetary policies should give appropriate weight to their beneficial effects on global growth and stability," he said.

(Writing by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in Washington and Tim Ahmann in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Anna Yukhananov in Tokyo and Alister Bull in Washington: Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

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1 of 5. A man clicks his nails as he looks at an electronic board displaying share prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo September 20, 2012.

TOKYO | Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:54pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Monday on growth concerns ahead of the third-quarter corporate earnings season, lifting the safe-haven dollar which in turn undermined commodities.

As risk sensitive assets retreated, the dollar index .DXY measured against a basket of six major currencies gained 0.4 percent.

A stronger dollar and worries that a slowing global economy may further dent fuel demand pushed U.S. crude futures down more than $1 to $90.82 a barrel. Brent fell 0.6 percent to $113.99.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.3 percent.

Tokyo's Nikkei average .N225 was down 0.1 percent. .T

U.S. stocks wrapped up their worst week in four months, led lower on Friday by financial shares. More financial institutions will report earnings in coming days, including Citigroup (C.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N), amid concerns about their shrinking profit margins.

"People are just cautious, quite reluctant. It is not only equities, it is property and a whole range of asset classes, people are happy to have the money in the bank rather than put it to work," said Burrell & Co director Richard Herring.

"We will probably need a good earnings reporting season out of the U.S. or a change in the environment here - a more certain outlook," Herring said.

A decline in Chinese consumer and producer prices in September left scope for policy easing to underpin growth.

Data over the weekend from China, the world's second-largest economy after the United States, offered some positive news, suggesting government moves to underpin growth are working and additional policy action may not be needed.

China's broad M2 money supply rose more than expected in September while its exports grew at roughly twice the rate expected in September and imports recovered.

"The better than expected upswing in Chinese exports follows similar outcomes for Taiwan and Korea and may be consistent with a bottoming in global manufacturing PMIs in suggesting a possible stabilization or improvement in global growth," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital.

Commodity currencies failed to cling to an early lift, with the Australian dollar falling 0.6 percent to $1.0204, close to the near three-month low of $1.0149 plumbed a week ago.

US POSES RISK

The encouraging Chinese data could not completely dispel concerns about the global slowdown, with the euro zone's prolonged debt crisis dragging on.

Investors should brace for three or four months of jittery markets due to uncertainty over support for Spain and the looming "fiscal cliff" threatening the U.S. economy, BlackRock Chief Executive Laurence Fink told Reuters on Saturday. Fink warned that the U.S. stock market could lose 5 to 10 percent in a correction in the final months of the year.

"Markets have yet to fully reflect concerns about the 'fiscal cliff' but the issue represents a major downside risk," Takao Hattori, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo said .

Orders related to the U.S. military industry may feel the pinch as automatic across-the-board budget cuts set to begin on January 2 if there is no deal on deficit reductions, Hattori added.

The era of rising Western spending on weapons and wars is over, providing a more challenging environment for major arms manufacturers.

Hattori also said markets have been supported by expectations and hopes, rather than conviction, over how Europe will resolve its debt crisis.

The euro slipped 0.4 percent to $1.2897 as Europe muddles through debt relief measures for Spain and Greece.

Investors expect highly-indebted Spain to request assistance, triggering the European Central Bank's program to buy bonds of struggling euro zone states that ask for aid.

They also hope Europe will not allow Greece to leave the currency union.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said his government expects to agree a new austerity package with its lenders and for the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to bridge their differences on how to cut the country's debt by the time EU leaders meet on October 18-19.

Euro zone officials are considering new ways to reduce Greece's huge debts because delays to reforms by Athens and continued recession have put the target of a debt to GDP ratio of 120 percent in 2020 out of reach, euro zone officials said.

Euro zone officials also said Spain could ask for financial aid from the euro zone in November.

Asian credit markets weakened, with the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index widening by 2 basis points.

(Additional reporting by Ian Chua in Sydney and Victoria Thieberger in Melbourne; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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Sat Oct 13, 2012 3:54pm EDT

n">(Reuters) - Television host and actor Gary Collins died early on Saturday in Biloxi, Mississippi, of natural causes at the age of 74, according to the local coroner's office.

Collins was admitted to the Biloxi Regional Medical Center less than 24 hours before he was pronounced dead at 12:56 a.m., according to Brian Switzer, deputy coroner at the Harrison County Coroner's Office.

He starred in the 1970s TV series "The Sixth Sense" and appeared in other series including "JAG," "Yes, Dear" and "The Young and the Restless," as well as on "The New Hollywood Squares" game show.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann Mobley, a former Miss America from Brandon, Mississippi, and the couple spent some of their time in the state. Collins had been a host of the Miss America pageant.

In January 2011, he was accused of skipping out on a $59.35 restaurant tab in Biloxi, which in Mississippi is a felony. Those charges were later dropped but not before Collins was arrested in his Biloxi home after the restaurant's employees called the police.

In 2007, Collins was sentenced to four days in jail as the result of a car wreck in California. Police blamed that accident on the driver of the other car, though Collins pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence.

In the 1980s, he hosted talk shows "Hour Magazine" and "The Home Show."

(Editing by Eric Beech)

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1 of 6. People walk in front of a logo of Softbank Corp at its branch in Tokyo, in this file picture taken March 2, 2011. Japan's Softbank Corp said on October 12, 2012 that it is in talks with Sprint Nextel Corp about investing in the U.S. telecoms firm, but nothing has been decided.

NEW YORK/TOKYO | Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:13pm EDT

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese mobile operator Softbank Corp is near a $20 billion deal to acquire control of U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel Corp, sources familiar with the matter said, as the firm led by billionaire Masayoshi Son seeks a foothold in the U.S. market.

A deal, which the sources said could be announced as early as Monday, would be Japan's biggest overseas buy, and would also give Sprint ammunition to potentially acquire peers and build out its 4G network to compete better in a U.S. wireless market dominated by AT&T and Verizon.

Softbank shares tumbled more than 7 percent early on Monday, and have lost more than a fifth of their value since news first broke of the firm's interest in Sprint. Investors are concerned that Son, who has a reputation for taking risks, may be offering too much.

Under the deal taking shape, the sources said Softbank would buy some $12 billion worth of Sprint shares and spend another $8 billion on new Sprint securities. The Japanese firm would initially buy $3 billion of bonds convertible into Sprint stock at $5.25 a share, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It would also buy $5 billion in stock directly from Sprint, and offer $7.30 a share for stock it buys in the public markets. Sprint closed on Friday at $5.73.

Sprint, led by CEO Dan Hesse, has net debt of about $15 billion, while Softbank has net debt of about $10 billion. Adding the $2 billion of net debt of eAccess Ltd, which Softbank recently agreed to buy, would raise "post-deal gearing levels to unacceptable heights", Societe Generale said in a client note on Friday.

"It's the same (market) reaction as when Softbank said it was going to buy Vodafone a few years ago. Everyone came out and said it was far too expensive," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, general manager of investment and research at SMBC Friend Securities.

Softbank acquired Vodafone's Japan unit for $15.5 billion in a landmark deal in 2006 that propelled the firm into the mobile carrier business.

CLEAR FOR CLEARWIRE

Sprint confirmed on Thursday it was in talks with Softbank about an investment that could involve a change in control. If Softbank takes a 70 percent stake of Sprint for $20 billion, that would imply the No. 3 U.S. wireless company was worth about $28.6 billion, some two-thirds greater than its market capitalization at Friday's close.

On Friday, Standard & Poor's put its "BBB" long-term rating on Softbank on 'credit watch with negative implications', saying the deal "may undermine Softbank's financial risk profile" and would pressure its free operating cash flow for at least the next few years.

A tie-up between Sprint and Softbank could see the U.S. firm use some of the proceeds to buy the part of Clearwire Corp it doesn't already own, given that company's attractive spectrum assets, analysts and investors have said. Clearwire stock soared on Friday.

An alliance with Sprint could also give Softbank leverage when dealing with Apple Inc, helping bolster its domestic position against KDDI Corp, which also now offers the iPhone in Japan, and market leader NTT Docomo, which is yet to offer the Apple smartphone.

A Tokyo-based Softbank spokesman reiterated on Monday that the company was in talks about making an investment in Sprint, but no agreement had been reached. Sprint representatives were not immediately available to comment, and a Clearwire spokesman declined to comment. CNBC's David Faber reported the news earlier on Sunday.

Softbank is in talks with Japan's leading banks - Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group - to borrow up to $23 billion for a deal, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The banks involved in the syndicated loan could provide a commitment letter as soon as this week, the sources said.

A deal for Sprint at around the levels mentioned by sources - and including a follow-on deal for MetroPCS - would lift the tally of outbound deals by Japanese firms to a record $80 billion this year, Thomson Reuters data shows, underscoring a strong appetite for overseas assets seemingly unaffected by signs of slowing global growth.

SECOND STEP

With Sprint in hand, Softbank may also look to acquire smaller U.S. carrier MetroPCS Communications, Japanese media have reported. Sprint has had a long interest in MetroPCS, which earlier this month agreed to merge with T-Mobile USA, part of Deutsche Telekom AG.

A takeover of Sprint would require approval from U.S. regulators, including the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. Given the importance of telecommunications to U.S. national security, any deal would also likely warrant a review by the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, according to one Washington-based attorney who advises on mergers and acquisitions

The attorney said that Japan's status as a close U.S. ally would help Softbank win approval for the deal.

($1 = 78.3550 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Sophie Knight, James Topham and Andrea Shalal-Esa.; Editing by Gunna Dickson and Ian Geoghegan)

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Hakan Tale (R), listens to Joseph Sant, a lawyer at Staten Island Legal Services, as Sant explains the latest round of paper work from Chase Bank regarding a denied loan modification application for Tale's mortgage, in Staten Island, New York, December 9, 2011.

NEW YORK | Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:00am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The TV and radio ads make it all seem so easy. Walk into a lender's office, refinance your home loan at a rock-bottom rate, and walk out with a lower monthly payment.

Here's a little tip: It's not so easy.

If you know the pitfalls, you can at least prepare for them - and perhaps chart a wiser course. A few issues that could have your application earmarked for the ‘Rejected' pile:

1. Heightened credit score demands

If you're refinancing, that means you've successfully secured a home loan already. But since then, lenders have started to demand near-pristine credit scores. "Now to get access to the lowest rates, you need a FICO score above 740," says Keith Gumbinger, VP of mortgage information site HSH.com.

Not quite the perfect score of 850, but still quite challenging to achieve. Credit scorer FICO does not break out the average number for refi applicants, but the national average is 690 -- well below what will get you prime lending rates.

2. Low appraisal

While interest rates have gone down, so have U.S. home values. The average home value dropped a third from the start of 2007 to the start of 2012, according to housing analytics firm Fiserv. For refinancing, that's a problem.

Chicago's Jesse Raub and his wife have owned a home for about three years, and recently started the refi process. But then the appraisal came in low.

"Beware that the appraised value of your home may not be what you think it should be," says Raub, 27, who's a trainer and educator for Intelligentsia Coffee. "Our new mortgage amount was close to the total value of the home - which required us to get mortgage insurance as well."

3. A home equity line of credit

You may have forgotten that you once took out a home equity line of credit. You may have not even touched a penny of it. But it could still derail a refi, because it means another lender has a claim on the value of the home.

"If you're refinancing your first mortgage, the lender of the home-equity line has to agree to that," says Mike Fratantoni, vice president of research for the Washington, D.C.-based Mortgage Bankers Association.

Essentially, that lender needs to sign off on being second in line, and agree that the primary mortgage will always be paid off first (in the event of a foreclosure, for instance). "There may be fees associated with that, and so a home-equity line of credit is one more thing that could make a refi more difficult."

4. Condo or co-op troubles

If lenders are going to fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars, they don't want any issues to make them nervous. And when the property is subject to decisions of an unpredictable board of directors, that can make them nervous.

"Any number of issues might trip you up," says Gumbinger. "If the building finances aren't in good shape, or if the insurance isn't paid up, or if there are any units in foreclosure, or if there are any lawsuits against the condo association, or if the building is comprised largely of renters. All kinds of fun stuff can arise."

5. Timeliness requirements

Banks want to see the most up-to-date financial information possible before they sign off on a mortgage. But they also have a tendency to ask for document after document after document regarding your financial situation. If the refi process has ballooned to 60 or even 90 days, but they require documents from the last 30 days, that could put you on a carousel of paperwork straight from the ninth circle of hell.

So get out your yoga mat, breathe deeply, and have a mantra ready. You're going to need lots of patience. "Expect the worst," advises Erin Lantz, director of the mortgage marketplace for real estate site Zillow.com. "If you come to terms with that at the beginning, it will remove the stress later on."

(Follow us @ReutersMoney or here Editing by Beth Pinsker Gladstone)

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