What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Inventory? "The billboard along I-85 says it all: more than 110,000 homes for sale in metro Atlanta. Newly released figures indicate sales of new homes in Atlanta are down significantly. In north Atlanta, new housing sales have slumped more than 22 percent. That means there is plenty of inventory as well as competition. It’s a buyer’s market. But what do you do if you are a seller?"

"'I had a great couple that came to look at it (our house), but they have two places to sell,' said potential home seller Kevin McKelvy in north Buckhead. 'They can’t move into a new place until they sell the old one, so they are kind of stuck.'"

Industry worries? "The slumping housing market is going to hamper Chicago's economy over the next several months. 'I've been in housing for over 30 years. I've never seen it go this long and this steep at any point in my career,' says Tracy Cross, president of Schaumburg-based real estate consultancy Tracy Cross & Associates Inc."

Lending clampdowns? "State banking regulators ordered American Home Mortgage Corp. Friday to cease all new lending in Connecticut and threatened it with a $1 million fine, after the Long Island-based company abruptly laid off about 6,250 people nationwide, roughly 90 percent of its workforce."

"Between mid-February and the end of July, American and affiliates made commitments to fund hundreds of other mortgages in Connecticut that had not reached closing, Connecticut Banking Commissioner Howard F. Pitkin said. Massachusetts' Division of Banks ordered the company to cease business there on Thursday."

"New York and New Jersey have taken similar action. 'We don't want them making loans,' Pitkin said."

More foreclosures? "In the first six months this year, foreclosure filings throughout Vermont increased 24 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data collected by the state."

"'There is no question that they have popped up,' said Tom Candon, the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities & Health Care Administration's deputy commissioner of banking."

"Joshua Lobe, who represents lenders in foreclosure proceedings throughout state, said the filings have accelerated throughout Vermont much more quickly than in Chittenden County. Through July, the law firm filed 34 percent more foreclosures than last year, he said. 'Our census is a reasonable snapshot at what I think goes on statewide,' Lobe said. 'The increase is dramatic.'"