The changing loan landscape: Then vs. now, an article from the Colorado Springs Business Journal, reports that times have changed, but not as much as all the media attention would indicate.  The days of home loans without documentation of income or assets is gone.  But that puts us back to where we were 10 years ago with conventional loans available for borrowers with jobs and 3% down.  Pat Libbey, founder of Citiline Mortgage Co., said the market has corrected itself, as it should have.  According to Jon Paukovich, vice president of mortgage lending at Ent Federal Credit Union, Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, has significantly tightened credit requirements in its automated Desktop Underwriter system.  The association, which provides money for conventional home mortgages and buys and packages pools of mortgages from lenders, has added additional percentage points to loans to “compensate for risk”, especially when credit scores are below 720.  Paukovich said, “Gone are the days when a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan was a basic rate and point combination.  Now it’s subject to many variables that could dramatically alter pricing — upward.”  Keith Waggoner, regional president for Adams Bank & Trust, said that despite the tightening of credit, Adams Mortgage had its best month during May.  The good news is mortgages are still available for borrowers with good credit.
http://www.csbj.com/story.cfm?ID=20051

Investor Report: Multiple-use "Flex" Space Properties, an article from RealtyTimes.com, reports that according to Mike Cannon, executive director of Integra Realty Resources of Miami, small to moderate-scale investors should be looking hard at central-city properties that currently have traditional, relatively inefficient uses that can be transformed into creative combinations of residential, retail, even office and light industrial.  He said, "The move is back to the urban core.  All the economic and demographic forces are pushing in that direction."  Many of the high-potential properties Cannon recommends are the "live-work" modern equivalents of traditional American urban combinations, such as the retail store on the first floor, and residential units on the one or two floors above.  Cannon said some of the most attractive real estate returns in the coming decade will go to investors who can identify and acquire urban-core land or buildings that are currently underperforming, but that have multiple, adaptive-use potentials going forward.
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20080620_investorreport.htm

Additional articles that you may find of interest:

Bidders look to lure Colorado Department of Corrections
http://www.gazette.com/articles/colorado_37488___article.html/central_home.html

Ritter sets aside $10M for energy-efficiency efforts
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/06/16/daily45.html?b=1213588800^1653843

Coloradans may have to pay more for flood insurance
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/19/denver-area-counties-high-risk-flood-zone/

3 tips on buying a foreclosed home
http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/19/real_estate/foreclosure_buying.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2008062004

Paint The Perfect Sale
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20080620_paintsale.htm