The Rocky Mountain News reports from Colorado. "Last year, the lending division Peter Garvin headed from his Denver Tech Center office made $1.5 billion in mortgage loans to new-home buyers across the country. On Aug. 6, he was laid off when his company, American Home Mortgage, filed for bankruptcy. The company said 'extraordinary disruptions' cut off its funding to make new loans."

"'I think the nature of the mortgage business is that it is a transient business that ebbs and flows with interest rate fluctuations,' Garvin said. 'You lose jobs, you get jobs. That has happened to me six or seven times.'"

"The almost 40 percent drop in new-home building permits in the Denver area will take its toll on other parts of the economy, from appliance and furniture sales to landscapers, said Bernie Markstein, senior economist for the National Association of Home Builders. 'You'll see a drop in Dunkin' Donut sales,' he said, half-jokingly."

The East Valley Tribune from Arizona. "The mortgage industry’s tailspin from lofty heights has left potential Valley homebuyers scrambling to pick up the pieces of shattered deals, as lending standards tighten on a near-daily basis."

"During the housing boom, it was easy to get a loan, said Elaine Paddy, senior VP at Alliance Home Mortgage in Mesa. 'If you lived and breathed, the underwriting guidelines would pretty much allow for you to get a loan,' she said."

"Subprime and Alt-A borrowers are taking the biggest hits because they are at greatest risk for default, said loan officer Jeff Underwood. Many Alt-A borrowers are self-employed and have depended on these loans, Underwood said. That includes local investors, a number of them real estate agents, who hope to refinance loans on multiple properties in the coming months, he said."

"'I really feel like we’re going to see a lot of Realtors, who are going to be in trouble this year,' he said."

The Arizona Republic. "The number of people losing homes in metropolitan Phoenix climbed again in July, and market-watchers are concerned that foreclosures haven't peaked yet. Last month, 806 homes were foreclosed on Valley-wide. That's at least a five-year high, according to Information Market."

"Most of the homes, almost 86 percent, in foreclosure now are going back to the lender. In the past, Maricopa County trustee sales or foreclosure auctions were very popular with investors. But now more is owed on most of the homes than what they are worth."

"The precursor to foreclosures, notice of trustee sales, climbed to 2,478. That's also a five-year high for metro Phoenix."

"National housing analyst John Burns decided to focus on the positive in his newsletter this month since there's 'so much doom and gloom in the market.' Phoenix as well as Las Vegas, Atlanta and Orlando made his list of 'favorite long-term markets.'"

"Burns also said 'these markets were speculator favorites too, so their corrections this year will be steep.' That's not such great news but not a surprise. At least one-third of the foreclosures in the Valley now are on homes bought by investors."

"Undocumented immigrants are starting to leave Arizona because of the new employer-sanctions law. Adrian, a 34-year-old undocumented immigrant from Sonora, plans to move back to Mexico as soon as he can sell a 2-acre tract he owns in Tonopah."

"'Yes, we are desperate to leave the moment I sell my property,' said Adrian, who rents a house in Goodyear."

"Adrian has been calling his real-estate agent every day to see if there are any potential buyers for his property. But Guadalupe Sosa, the agent, said this is a bad time to be selling. Undocumented immigrants are putting their homes up for sale when there is already an abundance of houses on the market, adding to a glut."

"In July, the Arizona Regional MLS listed 52,336 homes for sale in the Valley, up 17 percent from a year earlier."

"Adrian said his sister also is selling her house with plans to return to Mexico. He knows other undocumented immigrants who are refinancing their houses and getting cash out so they can return right away rather than waiting for their houses to sell."

"Sosa said, many immigrants are not buying homes because they are worried about losing their jobs under the law. That has made it even harder to sell homes in immigrant neighborhoods."

"She pointed to three of her West Valley listings that are owned by illegal immigrants who want to leave Arizona. One was a brick four-bedroom selling for $167,000 in the historic district of Avondale. Another was a beige stucco house selling for $210,000 in a new subdivision in southwest Phoenix. One was a blue townhouse selling for $95,000 in west Phoenix."

"'A lot of people are selling because of the uncertainty,' she said. 'They have one or more family members who are undocumented, and without that extra money, they can't make the mortgage.'"

In Business Las Vegas from Nevada. "As the credit crunch worsens and consumer demand remains soft, Las Vegas builders are cutting back on their production of new homes."

"For only the second time since January 1992, homebuilders took out fewer than 1,000 permits in a month, according to Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research, who expects new-home prices to continue to fall through 2008."

"The price decline in the new-home market is caused by soft consumer demand, an oversupply in the resale market and the increasing difficulty of getting financing, he said. In July, Smith reported a median new-home sales price of $314,551. For the year, prices are down more than $20,700, or 6.2 percent, he said."

"In the resale market, Smith said, 2,101 transactions in July brought the yearly total to 16,957, a yearly decrease of nearly 37 percent."

"The opening of Sun City Mesquite increased residential sales in Mesquite by 10 percent in the second quarter compared with April through June 2006, according to Mesquite Realtor Chris Miller."

"The average sales price fell from $291,379 to $249,659 in the second quarter as the average unit size fell about 200 square feet to 1,447, Miller said."

"New home sales followed similar trends, with the average size of homes sold declining from 2,173 to 1,834 square feet and prices per square foot falling from $194 to $184, Miller said."

The Las Vegas Business Press from Nevada. "Southern Nevada's housing market has seen better days. A total of 3,147 new foreclosures were reported in the second quarter, 792 percent more than a year ago, reports Applied Analysis and Urban Environmental Research."

"And the dramatic slide doesn't look like it will slow anytime soon, with another 4,535 foreclosures actively under way in the second quarter, 820 percent more than in 2006."

"As foreclosures occur they inevitably add to the valley's swelling home inventory. There was a record 24,087 units on the market at the end of July, reports the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. It marks an 18.8 percent increase from 12 months ago."

"There were only 1,318 homes sold in July or 34 percent less than last year. Median sale prices dipped to $295,000 last month, which is nearly 5 percent less than in 2006."

"There was also a record 6,269 units worth of condo/townhomes available in July, too. It marks a 28 percent increase from last year, yet sales are still sluggish with only 303 units sold last month for a 40 percent year-to-year drop."

"'This is more proof of what we've been telling prospective home buyers for months,' said Devin Reiss, 2007 GLVAR president. 'Now may be the optimal time to buy a home.'"

The Spectrum from Utah. "The current home mortgage situation in the U.S. is extending its unforgiving, toxic fingers into small-town America. And Southern Utah, regardless of its reputation as one of the nation's most economically promising and fastest growing regions, is no exception."

"To put it bluntly, some experts say the bottom is simply falling out when it comes to the mortgage industry. 'I think this is a whole new realm,' said Chris McCormick, a loan officer in Cedar City."

"'We're just now starting to feel the impact of people who couldn't pay their mortgages once their rates went up,' said Winnie Warner, principal lending manager for Desert Valley Mortgage."

"'It's been very difficult for people to get qualified,' said Kam Ouellette, a former loan officer with First Colony Mortgage, one of the lenders that have gone belly up. 'They've changed the guidelines so that they're so unbelievably strict.'"

"Ouellette believes part of the problem stems from shady lending practices where agents were more concerned about their commission as opposed to their clients. Understandably, her opinion of the mortgage industry has changed significantly since everything started tail-spinning out of control."

"'They allow people to get into these situations, but they won't allow them a way out,' Ouellette said. 'And that's what really bothers me.'"

"In Cedar City, Jim Watson, president of the Iron County Board of Realtors, said there are currently 182 homes for sale priced under $200,000, 190 homes for sale in the $200,000 to $400,000 range, and 67 homes priced over $400,000."

"Watson said the amount of homes on the market locally is definitely unusual. And because the credit crisis is a national problem, and most of Southern Utah's buyers come from other markets, no one is buying here."

"'Our market is driven by sales in the Las Vegas, Arizona and California markets,' Watson said. 'Since those houses are not selling as quickly in those markets, our potential clients aren't moving as quickly here as they have in the past.'"

"Also, like always, when a market is overly saturated, the overall value of the product naturally decreases. Value also declines when homeowners are forced to sell at a lower price than what they paid."

"But even when the value of a home goes down, sellers want to avoid taking losses at all costs, especially when they have to pay off their high-interest, subprime or Alt-A loans to avoid foreclosure, or if they've dipped into their equity funds."

"Watson said this phenomenon has left some realtors struggling to make ends meet, but he is optimistic that the housing market will rebound quickly. 'We're hoping for an upspring by spring of 2008,' Watson said."