AMS Elite, 200+ Loan Programs At Your Fingertips

AMS Elite will be online and available by the end of the week. If you have not heard, AMS Elite is a new Automated Underwriting System that will allow you to choose from over 200 loan programs.

AMS Elite is available online by logging in through www.amsbank.com and then clicking on the AMS Elite banner.

Training for AMS Elite will be held over the next few weeks.

Important Information About Logging In
When logging into www.amsbank.com you must use your complete corporate email address and password (example: johndoe@amsaz.com password: pass5598). If your current password is not at least 8 (eight) characters and does not include a combination of letters and numbers, you will be asked to change it to a password that does meet these criteria. When you change your password, this will be your new password to access all the online features as well as to access YOUR EMAIL and LOG INTO YOUR COMPUTER if you work at a corporate office.

Important Information About Viewing AMS Elite
If the center portion of the AMS Elite page is blank or says "Unable to View Page" please look on the left portion of the page where it says "Problems viewing the page" and click on the button that says "Yes" for a complete help guide. If you are still having problems you can contact Melissa at the AMS Elite help desk at melissamartin@amsaz.com or call her directly at 480-831-7777 ext. 1114.

Hasta La Vista, Randy!

Randy King cutting cake at his going away party

AMS would like to send Randy King off to a brighter future with a fond farewell. He will be attending ASU’s W.P. carey School of Business with a major in finance. He piloted the lock desk with great skill for over a year and he will be greatly missed. His wife Vanessa and 17 month old son Gerrit couldn’t be prouder of him, and neither could we. Randy leaves the lock desk in good hands with David Baez.

Brenda's Pulled Pork Tacos

Ingredients:
1 medium-size onion, coarsely chopped

1 boneless pork shoulder roast or picnic roast (about 3-1/2 pounds)

1 medium-size sweet red pepper, cut into 1/4-inch squares

1 medium-size sweet green pepper, cut into 1/4-inch squares

1 can (14.5 ounces) jalapeno-flavored diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1-1/2 teaspoons garlic salt

1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon cayenne red pepper

1 can (11 ounces) corn kernels, drained

1 jar (4 ounces) diced green chiles, drained

3 tablespoons tomato paste

16 corn tortillas (about 6 inches), warmed following package directions

Garnish (optional):

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, rinsed and patted dry

Sour cream

Directions:
1. In 5- to 5-1/2-quart slow cooker, layer the chopped onion, pork roast and sweet peppers. In a medium-size bowl, stir together the tomatoes, cumin, garlic salt, oregano and cayenne pepper. Pour evenly over the mixture in the slow cooker. Add corn and chiles.

2. Cover slow cooker; cook on high heat for 5 hours. Remove pork roast to cutting board; keep warm.

3. Remove 1-1/2 cups liquid from pot and discard. Stir the tomato paste into the vegetable mixture in the slow cooker. Cover; cook for another 30 minutes.

4. Cut the pork roast into slices. Shred the slices using 2 forks to pull the meat apart. Add the shredded pork to mixture in the slow cooker; heat through.

5. To serve, wrap the pork mixture in the warmed corn tortillas, dividing the mixture equally among the tortillas. Garnish each serving with fresh cilantro leaves and sour cream, if desired. Makes 8 servings.

Magda's Margaritas con Naranja (Margaritas with Orange)

Ingredients
2 large limes

1 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup tequila

2 to 3 tablespoons orange liqueur

1/2 cup ice cubes

Lime wedges (optional)

Coarse salt (optional)

Crushed ice

Directions
1. Finely shred the peel from the 2 limes (you should have about 1 tablespoon). Stir lime peel into water. Let stand for 30 to 60 minutes. Strain lime peel mixture through a sieve; discard peel. Meanwhile, squeeze limes to make 1/4 cup juice; set aside.

2. Stir sugar into strained lime peel mixture until dissolved. Stir in reserved 1/4 cup lime juice, tequila, and orange liqueur. Pour into a blender container; add ice cubes. Cover; blend until ice is chopped. If desired, rub glass rims with lime wedges and dip in coarse salt. Pour tequila mixture over crushed ice. Makes 3 (about 6-ounce) servings.

Community Affairs Update

Hello Everybody! We have been busy these last two weekends.

15th- AZ Nitro Softball Carwash
These girls worked hard and managed to raise over $2,200!! Way to go team! Yvette, Schellene Konicke (Payroll Manager), and I handed out our sports bottles-filled with powerade, goodie bags, and licorice. McDonalds also donated coupons for free hamburgers and fries. Thank you to all who supported the girls and purchased tickets. Here is their website so you can check out what else is going on with our team. http://eteamz.active.com/aznitro/

22nd-MADD
What a great day! The weather was perfect for this run. We handed out our power bars, sports bottles, and goodie bags. Yvette also had her drawing for a gift basket. They had a memorial corner which was terribly sad, but also reminded us of why we were there- to support MADD in this never ending battle of getting drunk drivers off the road. We met a lot of people who had lost their family members to a drunk driver. I myself have been down this terrible road. I want to thank our awesome team of volunteers who came out and helped with this event- Yvette, Magda and Dion, Ana and Isabela, Chelsie (my daughter), and our new comer to AMS-John Sharp. We had a blast!!!

April 29th
Care For Life-Kiwanis Park

May 4th, 5th, and 6th
Special Olympics-Summer Games

May 5th, 6th, and 7th
Maricopa County Home Show

May 11th
AMS Charity Golf Tournament

PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS

Sheila Pearson
sheilapearson@usprefrealty.com

New Home Construction Declines As Does Homebuilders Optimism

Two reports on new residential construction came out on Tuesday - one of which showed a slowing in new home construction and the other revealing a growing unease among home builders about the near term future of their industry.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its monthly joint report with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on March numbers of both building permits issued and actual housing starts. These were substantially below revised figures for February although still running higher than March 2005 numbers.

On a seasonally adjusted annual basis there were 2,059,000 privately-owned housing units permitted during March compared to the revised February total of 2,179,000, a drop of 5.5 percent but still 1.9 percent above the March 2005 estimate of 2,021,000. Single family authorizations were at a rate of 1,542,000, 6.9 percent lower than last month while permits for units in buildings containing five units or more totaled 436,000 (annualized) compared with 432,000 the previous month. The report does not include two-to-four family units as available statistics do not meet the agencies' reliability standards.

Housing starts in March were down 7.8 percent from the revised February estimate at 1,960,000 units. This figure was still 6.9 percent above the same month in 2005. Multiple family units were started at an annualized rate of 334,000 compared to 283,000 in February and 249,000 one year ago.

Housing completions which reflect a market view that is several months old were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2,218,000, 7.8 percent higher than in February and a whopping 23.4 percent higher than in March 2005.

The number of housing units permitted but not started increased from 215,100 in February to 235,600 in March. The March figure in 2005 was 221,200. The agencies do not offer an opinion as to whether this reflects growing builder caution, problems with construction financing, or just a normal timing thing.

Also on Tuesday the National Association of Home Builders released their Housing Market Index for April. The Index, a joint effort of NAHB and Wells Fargo measures the perceptions of home builders about both current single-family home sales and their expectations for the following six months as either "good," "fair," or "poor" and the traffic of potential buyers on a scale of "high to very high," "average" or "low to very low." Responses in each of these categories are used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index. Any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good rather than poor. The index was at 67 one year ago.

The most recent HMI declined four points to 50 from a downwardly revised combination score in March. The index for current single-family sales slipped five points while still remaining in the positive at 54 for April. Sales expectations for the next six months were also down four points to 58 and the measurement for traffic of prospective homebuyers (the number of people looking) slipped to 39 from 40 the previous month.

Home builders in the West were more optimistic about market conditions this month than they were in March, scoring a four-point gain in confidence to 70 after a significant decline in March. Builders in the Northeast were most pessimistic about the short-term future of the market; their HMI score dropped seven points to 49.

NAHB posts a strong disclaimer on its website about the index stating that it "is strictly the product of NAHB Economics and is not seen or influenced by any outside party" prior to its publication. It will be interesting to see how or if April's index of homebuilder attitudes correlates with housing and permit starts over the next few months.