Gabriel Libutti

Banks still reluctant to lend Fewer banks tightened lending standards in the past three months, but loans are still tough to come by. Banks said this won't change until next year at the earliest. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Loans for consumers and businesses remained tough to come by over the past three months, according to a report published Monday by the Federal Reserve. In the central bank's latest survey of senior loan officers, banks said they lent less from May through July, as demand for loans dwindled further and the creditworthiness of potential loan recipients worsened. The only category of loans where banks reported greater demand was prime residential mortgages, home loans to borrowers with the highest credit quality. Though a smaller percentage of banks said they were tightening their standards when compared to earlier this year, bankers were still pessimistic about the future. Most banks said they expected their lending standards would be tighter than average until at least the second half of next year. For subprime companies and consumers, the majority of lenders said those standards will be stricter than normal for the foreseeable future.

Even with:

• 50 States to lend in due to national licensing
• Strength of a Federally Chartered Bank with plenty of money to lend
• Historically Low rates today. 5% FHA and 4.875% Conventional
• 15 years experience and a monster book of business to tap into.

My phone is not ringing off the hook. I would say that the reasons are many. Here are a few:

• Unrealistic Home Sellers! Most of my clients that are in the market to purchase a new home are already pre-approved but are very scared to own 2 properties at once, but are still unwilling to drop the prices of their homes to a realistic level where they would actuallysell. Instead the clients want to have their cake(a very great buy on their potential new home) and eat it to(not take a huge loss on thier current home) You just cant have it both ways.
• Tighter Credit Standards! With my minimum credit score now at 600 middle score for FHA and 620 for conventional many potential homebuyers just do not have the credit score to qualify. The income is fine, job history is great, credit is decent but the credit score is still to low to get them approved.
• Foreclosures and ShortSales! These are the buzz words of the the year in Real Estate. Problem is most clients that at looking in the price range that I deal with $350K-$750K have far fewer options for these properties. The banks and realtors have reduced the foreclosures and shortsales to the correct pricing levels but most of the listings in the $350k-$750K range are not priced correctly and are not selling because of it!

So I will continue to sit by my computer, ready willing and able to lcok your buyers in!!!

Dont make me wait to long!!:)

Gabriel Libutti
Sales Manager
American Home Bank

20460-4 Chartwell Center Drive

Cornelius, NC 28031

Cell: 704-657-6192

Office: 704-895-1002 Ext 1

Fax: 1-877-415-1460
glibutti@bankahb.com
Apply online at:

http://glibutti.bankahb.com

Foreclosure plague: No cure yet The housing market is still sick, with a record number of foreclosure filings posted in July. Big cities: Big changes in foreclosure rates Of the country's 20 largest cities, these six posted the fastest year-over-year growth and decline in their foreclosure rates during the first six months of 2009. View photosIs Obama's foreclosure rescue plan working? Homeowners in trouble are having mixed results applying for President Obama's foreclosure prevention plan. CNNMoney.com readers tell us their tribulations and triumphs trying to get their loans modified or refinanced. View photos Quick Vote When do you think the economy will improve? In the next few monthsIn six months to a yearIn a year or moreIt's already on the mend or View results10 Worst hit states Where the foreclosure rates are the highest Rank State Rate (One for every x households) Total number 1 Nevada 56 19,535 2 California 123 108,104 3 Arizona 135 19,694 4 Florida 154 56,486 5 Utah 350 3,694 6 Idaho 253 2,491 7 Georgia 356 11,136 8 Illinois 361 14,524 9 Colorado 388 5,488 10 Oregon 446 3,605 NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The foreclosure plague continued to devastate last month. There were more than 360,000 properties with foreclosure filings -- including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- an increase of 7% from June and 32% from July 2008, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes. In fact, one in every 355 U.S. homes had at least one filing during July. "July marks the third time in the last five months where we've seen a new record set for foreclosure activity," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "Despite continued efforts by the federal government and state governments to patch together a safety net for distressed homeowners, we're seeing significant growth in both the initial notices of default and in the bank repossessions." The jump occurred as several foreclosure moratoriums phased out. They were initiated by many states to give the administration's foreclosure-prevention efforts time to work. But for many help did not come: The modification and refinancing programs have met with less success than hoped. "It's starting to reach more and more people, but we have to do better and make sure the program reaches the millions of folks we intended it to reach," said Jared Bernstein, an economics adviser to vice president Biden. The picture would be even worse, however, without the programs. "Each of these programs nips away at the problem of excess supply," said Doug Duncan, cheif economist for Fannie Mae, "and fights against declining prices. ... The hope is that the aggregated programs will result in less loss than would happen in the free market." Out of their homes RealtyTrac statistics revealed that more than 87,000 properties were repossessed by lenders, effectively sending many families out of their homes. There have been a total of 464,058 repossessions -- or REOs in industry parlance -- so far this year (through the end of July). "We're seeing more option ARM resets, triggering defaults and more prime loans, which are failing due to job losses," said RealtyTrac spokesman Rick Sharga. That is resulting in more filings on higher priced homes, for two reasons: 1. option ARMs were typically used for more expensive properties; 2. borrowers using prime loans generally had better credit and were able to afford more expensive houses. Best and worst The worst hit areas continue to be in the "sand states," with California posting the highest number of total filings, 108,104, and Nevada posting the highest rate of foreclosure at one for every 56 homes. The other hardest hit states are Arizona, at one filing for every 135 homes, and Florida, at one for every 154. Las Vegas, with one for every 47 homes, had the highest rate among metro areas. That's Sin City's 31st consecutive month topping the list. These were bubble states, where home prices soared and banks financed mortgages for anyone who could fog a mirror. "We're seeing the highest levels of foreclosures in the markets that had the highest appreciation [during the boom] and the worst lending practices," said Sharga.

Foreclosures: How bad is your city? Foreclosures are easing in some of the worst hit metro areas, but watch out for the next wave of filings to start crashing in unexpected cities. Hot or not? Where foreclosures are heating up -- and cooling off -- in the 20 biggest U.S. cities. Rank Metro area Foreclosure filing rate (One in # of homes) Change from first half of 2008 1 Seattle 107 +72% 2 Minneapolis 90 +58.6% 3 Phoenix 22 +51.7% 4 Miami 28 +40.9% 5 Tampa 39 +31.5% 6 Chicago 59 +30.3% 7 Los Angeles 42 +29.9% 8 Riverside 17 +11.8% 9 Atlanta 49 +11.5% 10 San Francisco 52 +8.7% 11 San Diego 37 -0.1% 12 Philadelphia 168 -6% 13 Washington 73 -9.6 14 Dallas 131 -16.5% 15 Detroit 54 -16.4% 16 St. Louis 127 -21.2% 17 Baltimore 212 -22.5% 18 New York 211 -23.5% 19 Houston 153 -31.3% 20 Boston 144 -40.7% Source: RealtyTrac Lured back to prime neighborhoods Thanks to sinking home prices, these 5 homebuyers were able to score deals in areas they couldn't previously afford. View photosMortgage Rates 30 yr fixed mtg 5.49% 15 yr fixed mtg 4.85% 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 6.39% 5/1 ARM 4.58% 5/1 jumbo ARM 5.27% Find personalized rates: Rates provided by Bankrate.com. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Sun Belt cities dominated the list of metro areas with the biggest foreclosure problems during the first six months of 2009. Cities in just four states -- California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada -- captured 29 of the top 30 places with the highest foreclosure rates, according to a report issued by RealtyTrac on Thursday. Greeley, Colo., was the only outsider, coming in at 29th. The good news is that some of the worst hit spots, such as the Central Valley cities in California, showed some improvement, according to James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "There are some significant differences beginning to show up in the data," he said. "Some of the markets that had the highest saturation of foreclosures over the past few years have seen declining rates." But we could also be in a lull before the third wave of foreclosures hits, according to Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's spokesman. The first wave was triggered by the subprime mortgage meltdown. The second wave was caused by layoffs and other economic fallout from the subprime meltdown. "The third wave," said Sharga, "will be the fallout from the option-ARM resets over the next several months." Where it's getting worse Many cities with populations larger than one million experienced rapid increases in foreclosure during the past six months. Seattle, for example, wasn't the worst hit city, but it experienced the biggest increase in the rate of filings. While a relatively small 1 in 107 homes received notices, that is a 72% jump compared with the same period a year ago. In second place was Minneapolis, where the filing rate grew by 58.6% to 1 in 90 homes; Phoenix spiked 51.7% to 1 in 22. But some big cities showed substantial improvement. Filings in Greater New York fell 23.5% (1 in 211), and tumbled 40.7% in Boston (1 in 144) and 31.3% in Houston (1 in 153) Taking the title of foreclosure capital is Las Vegas, which surpassed Stockton, Calif., for the honors. Stockton, which is 80 miles east of San Francisco, wore the crown for all of 2008. Vegas, with a whopping 1 in 13 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the first six months of 2009, is six times worse than the national average of 1 in 84. The number grew 56% since the first half of 2008. The Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, Fla., area was second with 1 in 14 homes. California posted six cities in the top 10 list, with Merced coming in third at 1 in 15 homes being in trouble. The Rust Belt, however, may have put the worst of its foreclosure problems behind it. Now even economically devastated Detroit recorded only 1 in 54 properties receiving filings. That's a 16% decline over the first half of 2008. Cleveland, one of the first cities to get whacked, has also improved and is now ranked only 56th among all U.S. metro areas. The city was once home to the nation's hardest hit neighborhood -- Slavic Village -- but filings are now just 1 for every 73 homes, a 30% decline. Inversely, Chicago, which had not previously suffered from the foreclosure blight, has pushed up 30% from last year to 39th place among cities. That equates to 1 in every 59 homes having a black mark.

Home prices fall a record 15.6% Year-over-year prices may have fallen at a record pace, but there are signs of improvement. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Median home prices fell a record 15.6% during the three months ended June 30, compared to the same period in 2008, according to an industry report. There is good news though: The survey from the National Association of Realtors reported the median home price rose 4% compared to the first quarter of 2009 -- to $174,100 from $167,300. The increase in median price was not a surprise, representing, as it did, the traditionally strong spring selling season. But the jump did offer the prospect that the worst of the price declines may be behind us. "With low interest rates, lower home prices and a first-time buyer tax credit, we've been seeing healthy increases in home sales, which are a hopeful sign for the economy," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist.. In the vast majority of metro areas -- 129 out of 155 -- median prices dropped year-over-year. Some of the decline can be traced to an increase in the percentage of foreclosures and short sales. They accounted for 36% of all transactions during the quarter. These "distressed properties" are usually sold at discounts of at least 15% compared with traditional sales. Cheapest and priciest areas The Cape Coral metro area in Florida recorded the largest decline: 52.8% to $84,000. Davenport, Iowa, had the biggest gain: 30.6% to $113,200. The lowest priced market in the nation is now Saginaw, Mich., where the median home sold for $55,700 during the quarter, a 30.6% drop over last year. The most expensive market was Honolulu, with a median price of $569,500 -- although that's still a 10.5% discount from a year ago. San Jose, Calif. led all mainland cities at $500,000 but that was still down a whopping 33.8% from a year ago. Condo market Condo prices have taken an even more severe beating. They fell 19.8% year-over-year, but rose 3.6% quarter-over-quarter. If you're in the market for a condo in Las Vegas, you may never find a better time. Prices dropped 54.1% compared with the second quarter of 2008 and fell 11.7% between the first and second quarters of 2009. The median price now stands at a bargain basement $66,400. Condo prices rose year-over-year in only three of 61 metro areas surveyed by NAR. The biggest gain was in Wichita, Kan., where condos gained a measly 2%. Dallas (0.7%) and Colorado Springs (0.2%) were the only other gainers. The most expensive condo market was San Francisco, where the median price was $405,700, down 22.5% from a year ago. Las Vegas was the cheapest condo market by far, with Reno a distant second at $103,100. First Published: August 12, 2009: 10:19 AM ET NAR 2nd quarter 2009 home prices† Single-family Homes Apartment Condo-Coops Total Home Sales Metro Area State Median home price 2nd Quarter Percent change from 2nd Quarter 2008 Akron OH $88,000 -17.4% Albany-Schenectady-Troy NY $189,400 -4.5% Albuquerque NM $182,200 -8.6% Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton PA-NJ $225,600 -10.3% Amarillo TX $127,300 2.2% Anaheim-Santa Ana CA $468,100 -19.0% Appleton WI $113,900 -15.6% Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta GA $121,400 -23.3% Atlantic City NJ $218,700 -14.5% Austin-Round Rock TX $194,000 -0.1% Baltimore-Towson MD $253,000 -9.8% Barnstable Town MA $325,600 -7.0% Baton Rouge LA $168,500 1.7% Beaumont-Port Arthur TX $138,600 11.0% Binghamton NY $117,700 -2.6% Birmingham-Hoover AL $152,300 -6.9% Bismarck ND $157,800 3.5% Bloomington-Normal IL $153,000 0.1% Boise City-Nampa ID $187,900 -1.6% Boston-Cambridge-Quincy MA-NH** $336,100 -8.3% Boulder CO $373,300 -0.7% Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk CT $442,900 -1.6% Buffalo-Niagara Falls NY $115,400 6.7% Canton-Massillon OH $101,500 -1.3% Cape Coral-Fort Myers FL $84,000 -52.8% Cedar Rapids IA $141,700 0.4% Champaign-Urbana IL $141,000 -1.3% Charleston WV $198,200 -7.9% Charleston-North Charleston SC $131,200 -4.0% Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord NC-SC $199,700 -0.8% Chattanooga TN-GA $125,700 -5.1% Chicago-Naperville-Joliet IL $204,300 -20.7% Cincinnati-Middletown OH-KY-IN $129,600 -7.1% Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor OH $116,200 -1.1% Colordo Springs CO $189,000 -12.0% Columbia MO $144,300 -1.5% Columbia SC $137,900 -7.8% Columbus OH $136,600 -6.2% Corpus Christi TX $133,400 -7.6% Cumberland MD-WV $123,500 21.7% Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX $150,700 -0.2% Danville IL N/A N/A Davenport-Moline-Rock Island IA-IL $113,200 30.6% Dayton OH $106,500 -8.9% Decatur IL $91,300 -3.1% Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach FL $127,200 -26.6% Denver-Aurora CO $223,700 -0.7% Des Moines IA $150,100 -4.2% Detroit-Warren-Livonia MI N/A N/A Dover DE $193,700 -4.4% Durham NC $185,500 -0.2% El Paso TX $85,000 11.3% Elmira NY $131,800 -4.3% Erie PA $98,100 -5.6% Eugene-Springfield OR $202,400 -12.1% Fargo ND-MN $141,200 0.7% Farmington NM $188,600 -2.2% Florence SC $115,500 1.1% Ft. Wayne IN $94,600 -2.0% Gainesville FL $178,200 -13.0% Gary-Hammond IN $115,100 -15.6% Glens Falls NY $152,400 -9.2% Grand Rapids MI $86,500 -23.1% Green Bay WI $141,300 -6.1% Greensboro-High Point NC $141,800 -7.4% Greenville SC $140,000 -12.7% Gulfport-Biloxi MS $138,700 -3.2% Hagerstown-Martinsburg MD-WV $164,900 -14.6% Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford CT $234,100 -7.8% Honolulu HI $569,500 -10.5% Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land TX $157,400 2.6% Indianapolis IN $121,300 2.4% Jackson MS $140,100 8.2% Jacksonville FL $152,700 -18.3% Kalamazoo-Portage MI N/A N/A Kankakee-Bradley IL $132,200 -1.3% Kansas City MO-KS $144,100 -5.7% Kennewick-Richland-Pasco WA $163,900 0.3% Kingston NY $207,000 -18.1% Knoxville TN $144,700 -5.8% Lansing-E.Lansing MI $81,200 -25.1% Las Vegas-Paradise NV $141,800 -39.7% Lexington-Fayette KY $142,700 -2.8% Lincoln NE $133,100 -0.3% Little Rock-N. Little Rock AR $134,600 0.7% Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana CA $311,100 -25.7% Louisville KY-IN $132,700 -1.6% Madison WI $214,200 -0.058 Manchester-Nashua NH $222,600 -12.6% Memphis TN-MS-AR $121,100 -8.0% Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach FL $207,400 -33.1% Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis WI $218,100 -0.8% Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI $184,500 -12.5% Mobile AL $128,800 -7.3% Montgomery AL $134,200 -6.9% NY: Edison NJ N/A N/A NY: Nassau-Suffolk NY $236,200 -14.3% NY: Newark-Union NJ-PA $165,800 1.8% Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro TN $379,800 -16.3% New Haven-Milford CT $425,200 -14.9% New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner LA $331,700 -11.2% New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island NY-NJ-PA $386,800 -17.1% New York-Wayne-White Plains NY-NJ $379,400 -9.7% Norwich-New London CT $216,200 -10.5% Ocala FL $110,200 -25.3% Oklahoma City OK $128,300 -2.1% Omaha NE-IA $134,900 -2.2% Orlando FL $149,200 -33.2% Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville FL $104,100 -29.7% Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent FL $147,800 -8.6% Peoria IL $126,100 1.0% Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington PA-NJ-DE-MD $211,000 -10.5% Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale AZ $131,100 -36.1% Pittsburgh PA $124,200 -0.8% Pittsfield MA $189,000 -15.2% Portland-South Portland-Biddeford ME $209,400 -9.4% Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton OR-WA $246,200 -13.9% Providence-New Bedford-Fall River RI-MA $215,700 -19.9% Raleigh-Cary NC $211,300 -0.9% Reading PA $151,900 -1.1% Reno-Sparks NV $192,100 -30.0% Richmond VA $211,200 -11.7% Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario CA $161,500 -39.1% Rochester NY $119,100 -0.1% Rockford IL $113,400 -6.0% Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville CA $177,500 -22.7% Saginaw-Saginaw Township North MI $55,700 -30.6% Saint Louis MO-IL $133,600 -10.1% Salem OR $191,200 -11.6% Salt Lake City UT $216,500 -7.6% San Antonio TX $153,100 -3.2% San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos CA $347,100 -20.2% San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA $472,900 -31.0% San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA $500,000 -33.8% Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice FL $175,800 -34.0% Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA $328,400 -13.7% Shreveport-Bossier City LA $146,800 3.0% Sioux Falls SD $146,000 1.1% South Bend-Mishawaka IN $88,100 -1.5% Spartanburg SC $122,700 -5.8% Spokane WA $177,800 -9.6% Springfield IL $116,200 3.5% Springfield MA $189,500 -9.3% Springfield MO $120,900 -0.2% Syracuse NY $124,600 0.8% Tallahassee FL $149,800 -10.0% Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater FL $140,900 -22.1% Toledo OH $87,100 -16.3% Topeka KS $113,300 2.7% Trenton-Ewing NJ $254,300 -20.3% Tucson AZ $174,100 -19.4% Tulsa OK $133,200 0.9% Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News VA-NC $216,000 -4.0% Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV $319,200 -14.0% Waterloo/Cedar Falls IA $106,700 -7.5% Wichita KS $125,300 -0.4% Worcester MA $220,300 -10.9% Yakima WA $162,800 0.3% Youngstown-Warren-Boardman OH-PA $71,500 -0.3% U.S. $174,100 -13.8% NE $246,000 -15.9% MW $146,800 -6.8% SO $158,600 -10.8% WE $212,600 -19.8%