The subtitle of this message should be the paraphrase of Mark Twain: Bank Liquidity-"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."  

The media coverage of the financial and Real Estate news has created a lot of confusion amongst the general public.  I have had Realtors tell me that some clients think that all financing for homes has dried up. I have had others shocked when I tell them their client can still get zero down 30 year fixed financing on a home.

I can only speak of what is happening in Washington State and specifically my market area which includes Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Chelan, and Winthrop and the surrounding counties.   First a note on bank liquidity; smaller banks which are not publicly traded have not had their stock pummeled, and consequently still have plenty of money to lend.  Please remember, banks have to lend money- that is where we get our revenues to pay interest on your CDs and keep the lights on, so we are still moving ahead.  Fortunately, we didn't write a bunch of bad loans, so we aren't saddled with a bunch of foreclosures either.

As far as 100% financing or zero down, whatever you want to call it, that still exists for first time homebuyers and Veterans.  The program is called HouseKey and is administered by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. They have done tens of thousands of these loans, and we in our office have done dozens of these every year for at least the last five years.

Now that housing prices have come back down to the affordable range, all we need to remove is the negative news that keeps potential homeowners on the sidelines.