The Housing Bubble

The Press Democrat reports from California. “Exchange Bank’s top executive, J. Barrie Graham, resigned unexpectedly as president and chief executive officer of Sonoma County’s oldest and largest commercial bank. Exchange Bank has long been a key lender for local builders. But the real estate slump hit builders hard, and Exchange Bank has felt the blows.”

“‘I always like to say we’re intelligent risk takers. That may prove to be wrong now,’ said Exchange Bank’s veteran Chairman C. William Reinking.”

“‘It tells you a higher percentage of their loans are involved in construction. The bank made a lot of money on these loans. It was probably the most dynamic area of growth in their loan portfolio,’ said Fred Ptucha, investment adviser in Santa Rosa and longtime analyst of bank stocks. ‘With hindsight you could say they did go too far.’”

“Bank officials defended their lending standards and the decision to expand into the Sacramento area. ‘The speed at which this thing fell apart was just unheard of,’ Reinking said.”

From KGO TV. “For hundreds of people in desperate shape because of the mortgage mess, San Jose was the place to be Wednesday night. Homeowners from around the Bay Area came to get immediate help to avoid foreclosure and the turnout was overwhelming.”

“People were clamoring to get in. Lines stretched around the building. As many as 400 people converged at Independence High School in San Jose, all hoping to get out of their mortgage mess.”

“People with so-called liar loans, mortgages approved without proof of income or assets, are expected to be the next wave of homeowners to default. The Silicon Valley California Association of Mortgage Brokers does however, have some words of advice.”

“‘Work with your lender, don’t wait! Be persistent, lenders are overwhelmed with the number of people out there that are in foreclosure, that are in desperate and dire situations. If they say they’re going to call you and they don’t do it. Call them, continue to follow up,’ said Cathy Warshawsky, with the Silicon Valley California Association of Mortgage Brokers.”

“This is the first foreclosure prevention fair put on by the City of San Jose, but it likely won’t be the last. The night’s high turnout has prompted city officials to think about organizing another one.”

The Manteca Bulletin. “The average price of home deals closed in Manteca has dropped $1,584 a week since July 21. What is happening now are most banks aren’t messing around with the pricing of foreclosures that they put on the market. Most are deliberately under pricing them to attract between 15 and 18 offers within a week of listing them.”

“There were 42 price reductions in the week ending Aug. 11 as the group as a whole went from an original average of $299,052 down to $255,899. In the previous week ending Aug. 4, there were also 42 price reductions. That group’s average went from $246,373 down to $201,709. That is skewed quite a bit as most of the price reductions aren’t happening below $210,000. Instead, a number of country properties have seen reductions of $100,000 plus in the past two weeks.”

“Florsheim Homes CEO Joe Anfuso has indicated such news is welcome as it is a clear sign that the market is correcting itself.”

The Plumas County News. “(On Aug. 14) Jay Sabelman, president of the Plumas Realtors Association, spoke about the state of the housing economy in the Lake Almanor Basin and told members of the Rotary Club of Chester that although ‘volume is down and sales are down, there are tremendous values out there in the real estate market today.’”

“He said there are 275 homes for sale at this time in the Lake Almanor Basin. Continuing, he said 29 homes were sold between January 2008 and now; 55 homes were sold during the same period in 2007.”

“Responding to general questions Sabelman said the median price of sales outside Chester ranged from $420,000-$520,000. When asked about local home losses he said, ‘Westwood is a very prevalent foreclosure market.’”

“‘Last winter was very tough on association members. We have 200 Realtor members in Plumas County and probably 60-70 in our area who are fighting to keep their heads above water,’ he said.”

The Monterey County Herald. “Home sales in Monterey County continue to rise, while the median price of sales continues its downward trend, according to a real estate research firm. Compared to July 2007, the number of sales for new and resale properties, including single-family detached residences and condominiums, was up 53.5 percent…according to MDA DataQuick.”

“The median sales price was down 44.1 percent year to year, dropping $242,000 in the past year from $549,000 in July 2007 to $307,000.”

“DataQuick president John Walsh said the sales increases don’t necessarily point to a sustainable rebound in the housing industry. ‘A clearer picture of the entire housing market will emerge once more of these foreclosures burn off, and more lenders, sellers and buyers get off the sidelines and back into the housing game,’ he said.”

The Grunion Gazette. “In less than a year, roughly 408,000 square feet of industrial and office buildings on about 22 acres of land at Douglas Park are expected to be completed and ready for leasing.”

“Newcastle Partners, Inc., started construction on the land next to the Long Beach Airport this June. Original plans for the Douglas Park site also included residential housing. The most recent plan proposed 1,400 residential units (town homes and condominiums). However, the Planning Commission on July 17 approved a revised plan that eliminates the residential component of the project altogether.”

The Glendale News Press. “Economic factors have created a deep funk in sales along Glendale’s Brand Boulevard of Cars, mirroring a national downturn in automobile purchases as customers continue to feel the pinch of an enduring housing slump, a pervasive credit crunch and soaring gasoline prices, officials said.”

“Sales of new cars in Los Angeles County plunged more than 18.6% from January to March as dealerships along Brand Boulevard have been feeling the pinch of sparse customers and decreased revenue.”

“New car sales at Star Ford are down 20% from last year, said Alex Tamez, director of operations. ‘It hasn’t been great. Foreclosures have affected us. The banks that had financed homes finance cars. Now, [banks] are looking deeper. It’s harder to get people approved.’”

“Business at the Ford service department has slowed because of frugal customer spending habits. ‘They used to say, ‘Do whatever needs to be done.’ Tamez said. ‘Now, people are saying, ‘Do I really need to change my air filter, do I really need to inflate my tires each time?’”

The LA Times. “Noontime shopping sprees at the mall for Pam Lewellen of San Clemente are decidedly less expensive than they used to be. These days, she says, ‘I am constantly looking for that deal.’”

“High gasoline prices and nagging uncertainty about the economy haven’t stopped her from prowling malls for fun, but she said they have pushed her away from her favorite department stores and boutiques to discounters such as Ross Dress for Less and Marshalls.”

“Particularly hard hit are owners of shopping centers and buildings that house businesses serving new homeowners such as furniture stores and electronics warehouses. Also taking a hit are upscale department stores and other shops that have traditionally drawn the middle-income consumer.”

“Times are definitely challenging for many stores and malls, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. ‘For years the market strength was in luxury,’ said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist for the council. ‘Now it’s Wal-Mart.’”

The Union Tribune. “When he took out a $206,000 home-equity line of credit in 2007, Kevin Hall thought he’d secured all the funding he’d ever need for a major remodeling project at his Carlsbad home. That’s why his heart skipped a beat when he went online in February to transfer money from his account.”

‘He discovered that his credit line had been slashed to $72,000. Formal notification wouldn’t arrive in the mail for several weeks.”

“‘I got sucker-punched on the thing,’ said Hall, who manages a ReMax real estate office in La Jolla. ‘I was at the point in construction where the drywall was going up. I was flabbergasted.’”

“Like thousands of borrowers, Hall was a victim of falling real estate values. In Washington Mutual’s judgment, the home equity used to secure the credit line had significantly declined. And under the terms of the agreement, the bank had the right to pull the plug.”

“Washington Mutual isn’t alone in reducing its exposure to risk in regions where home prices are falling, including San Diego County.”

“‘It is widespread everywhere there was a significant run-up in home values, followed by a sharp correction,’ said Dustin Hobbs, spokesman for the California Mortgage Bankers Association.”

“Mark Goldman, a real estate finance instructor at San Diego State University, said it makes no sense for banks to notify borrowers before they reduce their line of credit.”

“‘Of course they aren’t going to call you up and say we’re taking a look at your loan,’ he said. ‘The borrower, upon receiving that notice, would likely draw down the remaining available balance on the home-equity line.’”

“Hall said the experience has left him feeling bitter. ‘We had to scramble,’ he said. ‘We were definitely robbing Peter to pay Paul. We didn’t want to run up our credit card, but that was the best solution at the time.’”

“Lenders could have avoided the problem by using tighter underwriting standards when home prices soared, said Dean Baker, an economist for the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. Like many consumers, they gambled that home values would continue to rise and now they’re paying the price.”

“‘It would have been good if they had been this cautious five years ago,’ Baker said.”

The Merced Sun Star. “Five foreclosed homes at the end of El Rodebaugh Street serve as a breeding ground for wasps that zigzag over the entire neighborhood. One of those abandoned properties at 2021 Oak Grove Way has six visible nests along the fence in the backyard.”

“Randy Fagundes of Fagundes Custom Yard Care was on the scene cleaning up the abandoned home for sale. He says the source of the insect problem is simple: ‘I think this is a foreclosure problem. I’ve never seen anything like this. But then again, I’ve never seen so many foreclosures.’”

“Julia Mercado says the wasps dictate when they mow their lawns, when they can take a dip in their swimming pool and what times they let their daughter play outside.”

“‘We go through a can of wasp spray every day. It’s an epidemic,’ she shrugged.”

“At least one man who’s been proactive in dealing with the pests is Realtor Don Scorby. Scorby, who’s trying to get one of the foreclosed homes ready for sale, has gone out twice in the past week to spray the nests that litter the property.”

“‘I feel like I am representing the bank and I should take care of it,’ Scorby says. ‘You can’t show a home when there’s wasps.’”

“But will the banks or real estate agents at the other homes step up? Alan Inman, manager of the Merced County Mosquito Abatement District says the problem is the same as the mosquitoes in pools of foreclosed homes, where the county has received varying degrees of cooperation.”

The Daily Breeze. “Rep. Laura Richardson caught a break on Wednesday when code enforcement officers decided not to bill her for boarding up the garage door on her vacant Sacramento home. The city decided it would be too much trouble to determine who owned the property last month, when code enforcement officers were called out to deal with a ‘public nuisance.’”

“After Richardson stopped making payments on the home, it was sold to an investor at a foreclosure auction. But the property was returned to Richardson in June, after her bank rescinded the sale.”

“In a statement, Richardson disavowed any responsibility for the current upkeep of the home, because she said it still has not been transferred back to her.”

“‘Congresswoman Richardson is fully prepared, WHEN full transfer of the property is made and reinstated, to manage and maintain the Sacramento property,’ said her spokesman, William Marshall.”

“Richardson’s statement conflicts with available public records, which state that she has had the title to the property since June 2.”

“Sacramento police were called to the home on July 21 because the garage door was open, suggesting a possible break-in. The police called code enforcement officials, who brought in a contractor to board up the door.”

“Code enforcement officers also found rotting food on the ground, which might attract rodents, as well as junk and debris in the yard.”

“In another development, Washington Mutual paid Richardson’s outstanding property tax bill of $9,000 on July 31. No public records explain why the bank would do that, though it is possible that the tax bill was added to Richardson’s loan balance in a refinancing.”

The Pittsburg Tribune Review reports from Pennsylvania. “Teresa Hunt worries she’ll have to quit school if she doesn’t find ways to supplement her mortgage payments. She wants to offer discounted rent to someone who would watch her children a few days a week. Hunt, of Beechview lost her job in real estate a year ago and is taking night classes at Community College of Allegheny County to earn a paralegal degree. Hunt would convert part of her large downstairs family room into his or her living quarters.”

“‘It’s really just to help out,’ she said. ‘I need to do something to bring income into the house.’”

“A growing number of single parents and families such as Hunt are starting to take in boarders to help pay mortgages, prevent foreclosure and ease living costs, housing and financial experts say.”

“Randi Lowe, client relations manager for the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, cautions that what has happened with the real estate market — lower property values and a backlog of homes for sale — could continue ‘for another year or two,’ and she predicts, ‘A lot of people are going to get rolled over in the process.’”

The Associated Press on Pennsylvania. “During the housing boom, liar loans were especially popular among investors seeking to flip properties quickly. ‘Everybody drank the Kool-Aid’ said David Zugheri, co-founder of First Houston Mortgage. They knew if they didn’t give the borrower the loan they wanted, the borrower ‘could go down the street and get that loan somewhere else.’”

“While some borrowers were aware of their risky features and used them to gamble on their home’s value or pull out money for vacations, others like Salvatore Fucile insist they were victims of predatory lending.”

“Fucile, who is 82, and his wife, wound up in an option ARM from IndyMac after consolidating two mortgages on their suburban Philadelphia home. Fucile was attracted by the low monthly payments, but says the mortgage broker who signed him up for the loan didn’t tell him the principal balance could increase. It has risen about $24,000 to $276,000.”

“‘He put me in a bad position,’ said Fucile, who fears he will be forced into foreclosure. ‘He misled me.’”

The Pocono Record from Pennsylvania. “Current estimates show Monroe County’s population growth between 2000 and 2007, while slowing slightly, still increased by 19 percent to 164,722 residents. The median cost of a home in Monroe County in 2007 was $204,734. That was an increase of 95 percent since 2002, when the median cost was $105,125.”

“Nationally, median cost of a home in 2007 was $219,000. That’s 43 percent higher than 2002. The mortgage crisis this year hit the housing market hard. Prices in Monroe County fell by 9 percent to $186,541 through July.”

“Connie Foland’s been in the real estate business for 22 years. Foland thinks the growth over the past 20 years is partially a rebounding effect from a slowdown in 1988. ‘Our prices haven’t jumped up to the way New York and New Jersey have come up,’ she said.”

“And Foland said sellers know who their market is. ‘Every time I list a house, the seller would say, ‘Make sure you list the house in New York and New Jersey, because the people here wouldn’t buy our house.’ In 22 years, I’ve only sold one house to a local person. Everyone else is from New York and New Jersey.’”

“Foland warned that the influx has probably saved the local market. ‘Without the people here, we’d be in the crapper. There are not enough local people to buy houses,’ she said.”

The Frederick News Post from Maryland. “A new report shows 114 foreclosures in Frederick County in July, but another factor could double that number. Wayne Six, of Six and Associates, said Thursday that short sales, if accounted for in what he calls ‘desperation sales,’ could mean twice the number of homes sold under duress.”

“Six, an appraiser, said the foreclosure market affects neighborhoods differently. ‘It is the new subdivisions, those built in 2005 or since, that are being hammered,’ Six said.”

“That’s where buyers were lining up to purchase homes at soaring prices, many anticipating ‘flipping’ them in a few years — selling at a substantial profit. Now they find themselves owning homes worth less than what they owe on them.”

“Some neighborhoods are seeing as much as 80 percent of the homes facing foreclosure, Six said. ‘Right now, lenders are conservative. They want more down, higher credit scores. They realize now that they screwed up when the market was rolling. They were offering 100 percent financing, it was a feeding frenzy. If a bank didn’t offer 100 percent financing, another one would,’ Six said.”

“‘We knew it was coming. It was like watching a storm on the Weather Channel moving your way,’ he said.”

The Washington Independent. “At The Barber’s Chair, in the small, quiet community of Accokeek at the far end of Prince George’s County, Md., the talk often turns to the foreclosure crisis. With locals constantly in and out, Leo Harrington, the owner, hears it all.”

“How people who bought homes once valued at $800,000 down the the road at upscale subdivisions like The Preserves or at the one- and two-acre homesites of St. James have friends and relatives living in their basements to help pay the mortgage.”

“‘A lot of people moved out here from the District because they wanted to be in the ‘burbs and raise their kids here,” said Harrington. ‘You find you can get a bigger house that’s in pretty close, and a yard. But there were all these predatory loans. That’s all it was. They didn’t realize how the loans worked because when folks are lying to you, you don’t know any better. Then, when they find out they are in trouble, they start to panic, and they end up losing their homes.’”

The Loudon Times from Virginia. “Loudoun in July saw a 54 percent increase in foreclosure filings from the same month in 2007, according to RealtyTrac. The county had the second highest rate of foreclosure filings in Virginia last month.”

“In July, according to a report by the Virginia Association of Realtors, the number of homes sold in Loudoun rose 7 percent during the second quarter of 2008 from the same period last year. The average sale price, however, was down 20 percent.”

“‘The sheer number of foreclosures continues to put downward pressure on prices,’ authors of the study wrote, ‘but they also bring new home buyers into the market.’”

The Times Dispatch from Virginia. “About 630 people, mostly from the Richmond area, are transferring with Wachovia Securities to St. Louis. Hundreds of extra houses have been put up for sale in an already slow real estate market, adding to inventory levels and pushing prices down.”

“‘We’re spoiled a little bit, because we haven’t had many corporations move out,’ said Bill White, ormer president of the Richmond Association of Realtors.”

“Houses for sale by Wachovia employees range from the $200,000s to more than $1 million, agents said. The company is aggressive about pricing and moving houses, sending relocation specialists to meet with homeowners and requiring price reductions periodically.”

“If a house doesn’t sell within 120 days, the company will buy it back at a predetermined price and try to move it as fast as possible.”

“One house in Wachovia’s corporate inventory, at 6104 Warbler Way in Wyndham, was listed in mid-March for $725,000. ‘I thought it was a competitive price when we put it on the market,’ said Will Hamnett, an agent who listed the property.”

“The buyout — what the owner received — was $674,500. The corporate-owned house is on the market now for $595,000.”

“‘It’s an unbiased eye to the market — exactly what the market is telling us,’ said Adrienne Chappell, (who) is the agent on four corporate-owned properties, primarily in the West End. ‘You go by facts and figures, pure data on what a house would sell for.’”

The Chesterfield Observer from Virginia. “Local real estate guru Cecil Sears, was part of a panel discussion put on by the Home Building Association of Richmond last Wednesday. Compared to the other panel members, he was uplifting, though he chided builders for creating part of their problem.”

“Pointing to the hefty prices for new homes, he said, ‘The builders have left the buyers.’”

“Several on the panel referred to the national media, laying some of the blame at the feet of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, other daily newspapers and television news. The media, they indicated, reported the worst declines in Nevada, California and Florida, leaving the impression that Richmond also suffered from much lower sale prices and high foreclosure rates.”

“‘All real estate is local with national influences,’ offered Bill White, owner of Joyner Fine Properties. ‘Richmond didn’t have the run-up [in sales prices as other markets did] - particularly second home markets.’”

“But the rebound here and nationwide is likely to be held back by tightening regulatory scrutiny. ‘They want us to provide more equity in our loans [to builders] and properly assess our risk rating of our loan portfolios,’ Bonnie Agee, who handles single-family home construction loans for Fulton Bank, told the group. ‘Regulators are strictly adhering to regulation guidelines.’”

“A year ago, homebuyers with a credit score of 740 could get a 100 percent loan, but that’s not likely today, according to Steve Mills with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. ‘We all have to pay for Nevada, California and Florida.’”

“The ability to get a mortgage loan will be influenced by where you live. There have been fewer foreclosures in Chesterfield County compared to Richmond and Henrico County, so that helps. Northern Virginia and Virginia Beach are problem areas, and Fredericksburg is rated as ‘declining and depressed.’”

“‘The underwriters of loans are making few exceptions,’ said Mills.”

The Journal Now from North Carolina. “The Triad has been spared the worst of the national housing crisis. But there’s little doubt these days that a credit crunch has taken up residence in the region and that financial institutions, real-estate developers and consumers are increasingly feeling the pinch.’

“The most visible sign can be found in most communities — new residential neighborhoods stuck in neutral or worse for months, with empty lots outnumbering newly built homes.”

“Most banks serving the Triad raised their provision for loan losses during the second quarter, reflecting that late payments and delinquencies are chipping away at their profits. At some banks, the higher provision contributed to a quarterly loss.”

“‘There are challenges that our company and our industry are facing which are new to us all,’ said Swope Montgomery Jr., CEO of BNC Bancorp, the holding company for Bank of North Carolina.”

“‘My fear is that the entire economy is broken, particularly at the national level, but it’s affecting us in the Carolinas, too,’ said Tony Plath, a finance professor at UNC Charlotte. ‘We’re seeing a more significant impact on commercial-loan quality and local real-estate values than I’d originally hoped we’d see.’”

“Real-estate developers are having trouble selling homes they’ve already built, and some have fallen significantly behind on loan payments.”

“Pierce Homes of Carolina Inc. is the biggest example to date. The company announced earlier this month that it was shutting down ‘as a direct result of the ongoing crisis in the housing and financial industries.’ The company had been a major land developer and home builder in the Triad.”

“Among those affected by Pierce’s decision is BNC Bancorp. The bank said in its second-quarter earnings report that it had to place ‘one large residential construction and development relationship of $4.5 million’ as a nonperforming asset.”

“‘They took out a considerable amount of loans, not just with us, to buy a lot of land in recent years at what they thought was a good price. They put in sewer and utilities and prepared the lots to develop for themselves or sell to other developers,’ Montgomery said. ‘When the slowdown hit, they had little maneuvering room left.’”

“Bank of the Carolinas said that its nonperforming assets reached $14.4 million on June 30 — representing about 3.6 percent of its outstanding loans, or what the bank called ‘a historically high level.’”

“A decision by Southern Community to raise its provision for loan losses to $3.5 million from $600,000 represented 7 cents of the 8-cent decline in diluted earnings to 3 cents. Its nonperforming assets were at $14.2 million, compared with $2.2 million a year ago.”

“‘In the majority of these cases, these real-estate loans were good loans when they were written,’ said Scott Bauer, CEO of Southern Community. ‘They became negative loans because good home builders are having a rough time in the economic slowdown.’”

“‘There’s no question that we had too much residential expansion from 2002 to 2006, with mortgages being given to homeowners who didn’t have the financial resources to maintain the loan when their adjustable-rate mortgage rose,’ said Michael Clapp, a local commercial real-estate analyst. ‘The local housing market is paying the price for that lending binge that’s likely to carry into 2010, and likely lead to more home builders going out of business.’”

“Plath, the UNC Charlotte finance professor, cautioned that the local banking market is likely to get worse before it gets better. ‘I hope it’s idiosyncratic (one or two loans) rather than systemic — a slowing economy that diminishes overall credit quality,’ Plath said. ‘It is a lot easier to fix a few problem loans than it is to fix the entire economy.’”

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The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. “The percentage of households able to buy an entry-level residence in the state reached 48 percent during the second quarter, double the level from a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors. The Bay Area remains the least affordable part of the state, but 32 percent of its households can now afford a first home, up from 18 percent during the second quarter of 2007, the report said.”

“The minimum income required to purchase an entry-level home, estimated at $582,130, is $111,210.”

“Andrew LePage, an MDA DataQuick analyst, said he thinks the bottom is not imminent - and is unlikely to usher in a quick turnaround. ‘Recent history suggests you could be looking at at least two or three years of price stagnation,’ he said. ‘It’s looking like the bottom will feel more like a bog than something you just bounce off of.’”

“‘People are off the sidelines, stepping in, trying to gauge the bottom of the market and feeling that, even if this isn’t quite the bottom, it’s looking great,’ said the group’s chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young. ‘They’re able to get into something they never thought was possible a year or two ago.’”

“Cut-rate foreclosed homes being unloaded by banks wreaked havoc on the Bay Area’s median price in July, sending it down nearly 30 percent to a level not seen in more than four years.”

“A third of all existing homes sold in the nine-county region in July were foreclosed properties, DataQuick of San Diego reported Tuesday. A year earlier, just 4.2 percent of existing-home sales were foreclosed properties.”

“Beth Huizenga and Rich Murillo have been trying to sell their Alameda house since early April. They want to move to Marin County to be closer to Murillo’s job.”

“They started listing the house at $599,000 and after two price drops it’s now at $575,000. ‘Everyone thought it would go quickly; it’s so cute and it’s a starter home,’ Huizenga said. ‘We’re not trying to be greedy (on the price); we’re relying on our Realtor’s expertise.’”

The Marin Independent Journal. “Marin home sales continued to decline last month as discounted foreclosure properties propped up sales elsewhere in the Bay Area. The median price of a single-family home in Marin last month was $875,000, down from $950,000 a year earlier, DataQuick reported. In June, the median single-family home price in Marin was $1 million.”

“In Marin, foreclosure resales were 11 percent of total sales. Valerie Castellana, an agent in Greenbrae and past president of the Marin Association of Realtors, said sellers need to be ‘really astute in their pricing strategy these days.’”

“Buyers remain anxious. ‘They want to make sure they’re not overpaying,’ she said. ‘Many of them are holding off because of that anxiety level.’”

“‘A lot of people are out looking for a bargain right now,’ said Paul Hickman, president of California Land Title of Marin in San Rafael. Buyers ‘are looking at foreclosure properties and those are the ones we need to get past for the market to turn around again.’”

“He said such buyers are facing a more restricted market for home loans. ‘We’re in a knee-jerk reaction from where we were before,’ Hickman said. ‘The pendulum has gone back 180 degrees. It’s extremely difficult to get money right now.’”

The Contra Costa Times. “Jeff Jaye, a mortgage broker in Northern California, used to rely on homeowners looking to refinance their loans for more than two-thirds of his business. Today, he rarely bothers with those applications because he knows most homeowners can’t qualify for a new loan.”

“‘The lenders are making it so difficult to qualify,’ said Jaye, who now mainly works with homebuyers snapping up foreclosed properties and homes selling for deep discounts. ‘I know everybody’s scared right now, but It’s just so over-the top.’”

“Cathi Parson is facing the prospect of asking her mother for help with a down payment. She plans to sell her home in Texas and move back to her native California later this year. She wants to buy a house for up to $400,000 and expects to bring a down payment of around $50,000, or about 12 percent.”

“‘Probably about a year ago, that would have been fine,’ Parson said.”

The Mercury News. “A drastic change in ‘market mix’ has exacerbated the plunge. ‘All the cheap stuff out there is getting scooped up by people,’ said John Karevoll of DataQuick. Generally speaking, ‘the expensive stuff is on hold.’”

“In July 2007, the opposite was true. Easy financing for no-money-down buyers had already dried up, so most sales that occurred were of more expensive homes, which drove the median price up.”

“Software architect Yang Tang, a Santa Clara County resident who is relocating to San Francisco for a new job, just bought a one-bedroom condo in the Mission District after four months of looking with his agent, Hsin Feng in Cupertino.”

“He’s paying about $450,000 for the 700-square-foot home, which was previously foreclosed upon. As recently as April, ‘I think the same kind of places would have been right around $600,000 for one-bedroom, one-bath loft condos,’ he said. ‘It was a waiting game for those to come down to my price range.’”

The Modesto Bee. “Northern San Joaquin Valley home sales prices plunged to a six-year low in July. Buyers are thrilled. The downside is that home prices keep declining: July’s median sales price plummeted to $190,000 in Stanislaus County. That’s less than half what houses were selling for in December 2005, when prices peaked at $396,000.”

“The last time Stanislaus homes were this cheap was in June 2002, according to DataQuick. San Joaquin’s median sales price fell to $220,500 in July. Merced’s median fell to $155,000.”

“Paying a mortgage now can be cheaper than renting. That’s what Christen and Phillip Sterling discovered two months ago when they bought a two-bedroom Modesto condo. They paid about $97,500 for the place, which had sold for $220,000 in 2005.”

“‘We were paying more in rent than we’re paying now for both our mortgage and our homeowners association dues,’ said Christen Sterling, 25. She’s taking college courses and plans to become a nurse. When that happens, the Sterlings may try to buy a larger home.”

“‘Then we’ll be able to rent out this place for more than the cost of our payments,’ she said. ‘So it’s a good investment.’”

“Marlissa and Nick Martell bid on five homes before they were able to buy their Manteca house this month.”

“‘We’re ecstatic!” said Marlissa Martell. The 31-year-old mother of three and her husband have been renting for more than a decade. Home prices were beyond their reach until recently. She said they’re so happy finally to be paying down a mortgage rather than paying rent. ‘It’s like we’re paying ourselves,’ she said.”

The Fresno Bee. “With the price of food, gasoline, medical care and almost everything else on the rise, seniors are getting serious about finding ways to save. Seniors who own their own homes have another worry, said Jack Christy, public policy director for the nonprofit Aging Services of California.”

“Falling home prices have left many of them without the ability to cash in the home equity that is often their primary asset. ‘We’re finding that the rate of people coming into continuing care retirement communities has slowed dramatically, mainly because of their inability to sell their houses,’ he said.”

The Union Tribune. “The National Association of Home Builders yesterday ranked San Diego County as the nation’s 20th least affordable metro area, a major improvement from four years ago, when the region was ranked the most unaffordable market in the nation.”

“‘This is very positive news for people that have been unable to afford housing,’ said Kelly Cunningham, economist at the San Diego Institute for Policy Research. ‘It’s certainly hard for the people who got in over their heads over the past couple years, but the fact is that these prices had to come back to reality so that people could afford them based on their incomes and not on risky financing.’”

“Some local experts say the rise in affordability may be temporary because it’s being driven by low-priced foreclosure sales.”

“‘This is never going to be a truly affordable place to live,’ said Sylvia Starbird, co-owner of Century 21 Carole Realty in Mission Valley, noting that San Diego’s affordability level is still far below the national average. ‘Here we are, in the midst of one of the worst price drop-offs I’ve known, and it is still not an affordable place to live.’”

“Gary London, a San Diego real estate consultant, said as many as 90 percent of the homes on the market are in distress. ‘Why would someone sell their house today if they didn’t have to?’ London asked.”

From CNBC. “Kim and Scott Fisher have been trying to sell their home in LA’s San Fernando Valley since March, after Scott’s textile industry job was transferred to Alabama. Like a lot of homeowners, they were having trouble making mortgage payments, and then had trouble selling the house. But, they say, they were working with lenders to resolve the situation.”

“The Fishers owed $1,050,000 in mortgages, with a $568,000 first mortgage to Washington Mutual, and a $500,000 second mortgage to Wells Fargo. They originally asked $1,399,000 for the home in March, then reduced it to $1,299,000, then to $1,175,000 million, and finally to $1,139,000.”

“They got seven offers on the home, all in the $1,050,000 range…They were even discussing the possibility of a short sale, where you sell the home for less than the mortgage(s) owed. This, as the Fishers started falling behind on payments.”

“But then things suddenly looked up. They got an offer for $1,130,000, and went into escrow the beginning of July. Escrow is set to close tomorrow. Success! Not quite.”

“This week, they say they received notice from Washington Mutual that the bank is foreclosing on the home. What’s more, closing costs are going to leave them $35,000 out of pocket — money they say they don’t have.”

“Kim Fisher says when her husband called both banks, he was told, ‘We cannot help you.’”

“We’ve called both banks. Stay tuned. Sure, it looks like the Fishers bit off more than they could chew, but with a decent resolution so close, why play hardball now?”

“In Los Angeles County, for the first time, the number of homes in trouble over a 12-month period topped 100,000. San Francisco has weathered the storm pretty well — although Default Research says that ‘even in San Francisco…median home prices have declined.’”

“These figures don’t include the short sales.”

“‘Many areas (in Southern California) have seen home values fall over 30 percent since the middle of 2006 during the housing boom.’ says Default Research founder Serdar Bankaci. ‘Without a short sale or a few other options, it is nearly impossible to sell a home that was overly leveraged.’”

The Sacramento Bee. “The cosmetic surgery industry is in need of a lift. Soaring unemployment, high gas prices and the mortgage crisis have left consumers with less discretionary income. For plastic surgeons, that means fewer patients are coming in for elective procedures.”

“‘I think that people are scared. Everything’s going up. Costs are going up. People are watching their pennies,’ says Dr. William Rassman, a surgeon for the New Hair Institute in San Jose and Los Angeles. Business is down 30 percent to 40 percent, Rassman says.”

“This year, many plastic surgeons say they are booking fewer surgical procedures, such as face-lifts and breast augmentations. At the same time, nonsurgical procedures - which are less expensive - are gaining in popularity, including microdermabrasion and injectable toxins such as Botox.”

“While a face-lift can cost $6,000 to $15,000, a single shot of Botox costs $125 to $400 and doesn’t require the patient to take time off from work to recover.”

“‘You see it in the number of patients scheduled in advance. It’s the difference between being scheduled one month instead of three months in advance,’ said Dr. Shahriar Mabourakh of the Folsom Plastic Surgery & Laser Center.”

“The Aesthetic Facial Plastic Surgery Medical Clinic in Oakland began offering financing to its patients for the first time in May. The clinic says surgeries have decreased 20 percent compared with this time last year.”

“‘It’s the economy. The number of patients who had scheduled for a while ago say they can’t afford it now and want to defer for the future,’ said the clinic’s Dr. Sheldon Kabaker.”

“Although most plastic surgeons offer financing options, the housing bust has meant that patients often no longer have the equity to justify a loan. ‘Now financing (companies) are becoming more difficult in who they approve,’ said Mabourakh.”

The Columbus Dispatch reports from Ohio. “Last week, Patricia Ryan told the Franklin County Board of Revision that her house near Canal Winchester is worth less than the auditor’s $139,800 value. The county should cut the property taxes on the Pompano Street house she bought new for $112,643 two years ago, she said. Ryan pointed out a neighboring house also built by Dominion Homes that has been vacant for a year. ‘Can’t sell it. Can’t rent it,’ she said.”

“‘And they’re still building more new homes?’ asked Kimbol B. Stroud, a board member who represents Auditor Joseph W. Testa. Ryan nodded: ‘Doesn’t make sense, does it?’”

“‘The market being as slow as it is, that’s cash builders are holding onto to get through,’ said James B. Hilz, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio. Asked how widespread the problem is, Hilz replied: ‘I could just send you our roster.’”

“‘I can’t afford to pay any more than I should be paying,” Ryan said. ‘When I bought, I thought ‘I live in it a couple of years, then dump it.’ But then they built these other, less- expensive homes, and the economy has done what it’s done. Oh, I am stuck.’”

“The Franklin County auditor’s office recorded only 780 ‘valid’ condo sales — the regular, nonforeclosure-related transactions — in the first half of this year, the lowest sales volume since 1991, records show. The median sales price of those condos fell 9.3 percent, to $117,000. Add in the foreclosures and auctions, and the picture worsens for condos as it did for single-family houses.”

“A three-bedroom condo near Reynoldsburg is still on the market after nearly a year, despite dropping its asking price from $133,900 to $119,900, said Sandra Boden, the realtor trying to sell the unit . Another condo in the area that was purchased for $127,900 in August 2007 just sold for $99,000, she said.”

“‘This is the worst I’ve ever seen it in Columbus,’ said Boden, who has been in the business 29 years. ‘It’s become such a ridiculous buyers’ market that people are almost demanding a fantastic deal.’”

“During the peak of the real-estate boom, Boden would sell 20 to 25 homes a year. This year she has sold one and is about to close on her second, she said. ‘Buyers are looking for the right deal,’ she said, adding that if they don’t get it, they’re walking away.”

The Dayton Daily News from Ohio. “Every day, free advertising leaflets are dropped off on the driveway of the vacant house next to Bob Johnson’s home. The realtor rarely comes by so trash duty has fallen into the hands of the neighbors.”

“‘The place has been empty for a year,’ Johnson said. ‘It was originally worth $170,000 plus and now it’s selling for $139,000.’”

The Lansing State Journal from Michigan. “While sales are up, the average sales price this year through July was $112,319, a 22 percent drop from the $145,081 average sales price for the same period in 2007. And foreclosures remain a problem. There were 496 properties in Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties with foreclosure-related filings last month, according to RealtyTrac.”

“‘On houses that are not foreclosures, people are not getting the price that they want,’ said Kathy Birchen, an associate broker in Okemos.”

“That’s creating opportunities for bargain hunters and investors, agents say. The deal was so good on the house Natalie and Larry Sachs bought last week near Owosso that the couple were willing to deal with having two mortgages until their Eaton Rapids-area home sells.”

“The Sachses bought the 3,500-square-foot house on 27 acres for $285,000. ‘It was more land than we ever thought we’d be able to get, and the house was almost 100 percent of what we really wanted in a house,’ Natalie Sachs said.”

The Detroit Free Press from Michigan. “It’s a sign of the times when real estate offices have For Sale signs posted out front. Many real estate agents who left the business say they don’t want to talk about it.”

“Flo Abke, owner-broker of Realty Executives in St. Clair Shores, said she knows a talented agent who had to leave for a job at Starbucks. Abke, who was with Century 21 in Eastpointe for 20 years before the office closed in 2006, opened her own office two years ago and has found it to be a challenge.”

“‘I go home every night thinking of how I can get my houses sold and make sure everyone in my office is OK,’ she said.”

The Post Tribune from Indiana. “A decade-long housing boom in Northwest Indiana has been reduced to a thud. ‘For a while there, it was a total zoo,’ said Crown Point Building Administrator Bill Kozlowski, who had contractors standing two- and three-deep in front of his office in 2004, when his department issued a record 479 permits for new homes.”

“‘Right now, builders are telling me the money is available, but it’s hard to qualify for a mortgage anymore,’ he said.”

“‘This is no surprise at all, given the trends nationally and in the Chicago marketplace,’ said Carol Rogers of the Indiana Business Research Institute, noting Census data showed a 20 percent drop in permit requests nationally and a 50 percent decline in the Chicago area.”

The Chicago Sun Times from Illinois. “Just how goofy is the Chicago condo market? Some would say it has been goofy for years, but now that credit is constricted and speculators have left the market, consider this statistic from the Appraisal Research Counselors Ltd. report on downtown condos.”

“It said that in the second quarter, 466 condo sales contracts were signed downtown, but 358 were attributed to the 150-story Chicago Spire. The spire developers reported their initial sales in the 1,200-unit building in one swoop, so they skewed the results. Without the Spire, the downtown market had only 108 sales in the second quarter, an extremely low figure.”

“Appraisal Research said buyers are on the sidelines and developers are resorting to incentives, many of which are not advertised and are offered only when the sales center has a live prospect. Appraisal Research found that the market still has an unsold inventory of about 7,300 units.”

The Forest Park Review from Illinois. “Through mid-August, 26 homes have been sold in Forest Park in 2008, according to listings information provided by Gary Mancuso, president of the Oak Park Area Association of Realtors. In 2007, 59 single-family homes changed hands.”

“Forest Park, however, remains saturated with available properties. Sixty-nine single-family homes in this small community are being actively marketed. In neighboring Oak Park and River Forest, home values have declined much more sharply in the last year than in Forest Park. The average single-family home in Oak Park is selling for $41,000 less. In River Forest, properties are fetching $91,000 less, a drop of about 10.5 percent.”

“As for the overall stability in the local real estate market, local Realtor Jerry Jacknow said buyers’ fears are only being spurred by media reports. ‘To be honest, it seems the media is scaring people because they print a lot more negative than they do positive,’ Jacknow said.”

The News Democrat from Illinois. “Tari Jacobs, who is president of the Realtors Association of Southwestern Illinois and leads agents in St. Clair, Monroe, Randolph and Clinton counties, said she has seen more foreclosures filed at her agency, Concept Real Estate in Columbia.”

“‘I can only speak for my office, but (foreclosures) are up,’ Jacobs said. ‘I have a couple of agents who specialize in foreclosures, and primarily that’s all they do. They are all very busy.’”

“Krista Barron almost lost her Granite City house. Last November, Barron and her husband decided to sell their house, which they had bought four years before. It sat on the market for three months. Fortunately, the couple’s tax refund helped them fend off the bank, and a relative helped pay the mortgage. Barron said she was one day late with her June mortgage, which she paid on July 2. Two weeks later, she faced foreclosure.’

“Between June 12 and July 25, Barron said she paid up on her mortgage and car payments. But two weeks ago, she learned that legal fees for her potential foreclosure had accrued. She owes $1,600.”

“‘I was just shocked,’ Barron said. ‘Now I’m worried about paying the mortgage and making the next car payment. Will there ever be any relief here?’”

The St Joe News from Missouri. “When Kathy Felton bought a duplex 20 years ago, she dreamed it would be a home for life for her and her son. But 20 years later, the bank foreclosed on that dream. And last week, a horse trailer, three sheriff’s cars and a flatbed truck came to carry away her belongings.”

“The St. Joseph woman got evicted. ‘The guy said, ‘We’re taking your stuff. Are you going to cooperate?’ Ms. Felton said. ‘Am I going to cooperate while you’re taking my stuff?’”

“Doug Tschauder, an attorney for Legal Aid of Western Missouri who specializes in foreclosures, said he’s seen a definite increase in people needing help with mortgage problems. ‘Unfortunately, I don’t have any hard numbers, but there’s definitely been an increase here in this office, and from everything I can tell, the number of foreclosures in the area is picking up,’ he said.”

“Marilyn Rajca of Re/Max of St. Joseph is a real-estate agent dealing in foreclosures. She said the number of local foreclosures has increased.”

”Foreclosures over the last three years have been pretty steady here, but I’ve seen it pick up in the last month or so,’ she said. ‘We got five pending orders, and they’re coming in pretty heavy now. These bad loans are finally catching up with everybody.’”

The Star Tribune from Minnesota. “Sheriff’s sales — counties use them as a key indicator of the mortgage crisis — have ballooned more than sixfold since 2003 in 10 metro counties. An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis this spring predicted that several suburban cities were bound for a flood of foreclosures because tens of thousands of subprime borrowers will face higher payments on their adjustable-rate mortgages.”

“Cities as geographically diverse as Ham Lake, Apple Valley, Shakopee, Oakdale, Forest Lake, Elk River, Albertville and Plymouth will experience problems, the analysis said, because of concentrations of these types of mortgages.”

“Also projected as a trouble spot is Woodbury, where concern over an 82 percent increase in foreclosures since last year led city leaders to create a task force to ease the pain. ‘We saw the writing on the wall and it didn’t look pretty,’ said city analyst Matt Stemwedel.”

“Hennepin County, for example, has seen a record numbers of sheriff’s sales, with 3,826 in the first six months of 2008. Ramsey County’s sales soared nearly 800 percent, from 393 in all of 2003 to 1,648 through June of this year. Washington County now is averaging about 100 foreclosures a month, up from a total of 147 in 2003.”

“‘It’s ultimately a correction to a market that went crazy too long,’ said Rick Ketterling, who sells houses for Coldwell Banker Burnet in the south metro. ‘During the hot housing market people sold junk for top dollar and people paid top dollar for junk.’”

“‘What’s going on is that a lot of these people are upside down, where what they owe on their mortgages is more than the value of their homes,’ said Mark Ulfers of the Dakota County Community Development Agency.”

“For example, a condo in Burnsville that sold for $405,000 in March 2007 went through foreclosure and now is selling for $182,900, even though the county’s market value is $366,900, said Dan Rogness, an agency analyst. And a single-family house in West St. Paul, purchased in November 2005 for $155,000, now is on the market for $100,000 less.”

“‘Clearly the problem has escalated,’ Ulfers said.”

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The Press Democrat reports from California. “Sonoma County’s summer home sales surge continued in July as buyers snapped up discounted properties shed by lenders and financially strapped homeowners. The countywide median price fell to $399,000 in July, down 30.6 from a year ago. Prices were last under $400,000 in March 2003. ‘People are out looking for bargains. I think you’re going to see continued softening of prices into next year,’ said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors.”

The Sacramento Bee. “Sacramento-area home sales surged past last year’s levels for a fourth straight month in July as 4,126 buyers embraced falling prices and deals on foreclosed homes. It’s not surprising, experts said Monday. Prices have fallen steeply, 30 percent or more in the past year.”

“Median sales prices of existing and new homes combined in Sacramento County…have now fallen 45.7 percent from their August 2005 highs.”

“Banks in July continued their reign as the capital region’s top sellers. Their foreclosed properties accounted for 70 percent of closings in Sacramento County alone, according to the Sacramento Association of Realtors. ‘Banks have been extremely aggressive in their pricing,’ said Bob Bronswick, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s Sacramento-Tahoe region.”

The San Francisco Chronicle. “Bay Area home prices plunged to a 53-month low in July as a brisk business in foreclosed properties depressed prices and buoyed sales volume. The median price for both new and resale homes and condos stood at $470,000, down 29.3 percent from a year ago, according to MDA DataQuick. The last time the median was lower was in March 2005, when it was $469,500. For resale homes, the median was $485,000, a 34.3 percent drop from last July.”

“A full 33 percent of all resale homes were foreclosed properties. In July 2007, just 4.2 percent of existing home sales were foreclosed properties. ‘So much of today’s market is driven by distress,’ said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president. ‘Unless interpreted in that context, the stats give a rather distorted view of the overall market. We know one-third of the Bay Area’s resales in July were homes fresh off foreclosure. Who knows how many more involved a desperate seller and a lender who accepted a short sale?’”

Bay Area Newsgroup. “As the mortgage meltdown forces more homes into foreclosure in the Bay Area, some of these properties are being picked up by investors who are putting them back into the rental market.”

“The upshot of this activity is that more single-family houses are starting to show up as rentals in parts of the East Bay - such as Antioch - and in San Joaquin County. In addition, some condo for-sale properties in downtown Oakland - such as the Broadway Grand - are being rented out as apartments because developers are having a hard time finding buyers in today’s tough housing market.”

“Joy Diricco, a Realtor in the Antioch office of Prudential California Realty, has 20 listings for various short-sale properties in Antioch and Brentwood. Such sales help people who are having problems paying their mortgage avoid going into foreclosure.”

“Diricco attempts to find rental houses for her short-sale clients to move into after their properties are sold.”

“‘I’ve been very lucky getting my clients into rentals. It has not been easy,’ she said. ‘All of these short-sellers - when they sell - they have been displaced from their homes. Now they need a place to live, so they have increased that renters market.’”

The Ventura County Star. “The median price paid for a Southern California home was $348,000 last month, down 2 percent from $355,000 in June and 36 percent from $505,000 a year ago. Foreclosed properties accounted for 43.6 percent of the existing homes sold in the six-county region last month.”

“Though…Mark Schniepp, executive director of the California Economic Forecast Project in Goleta…does not believe prices will drop much more, he predicts more year-over-year price declines for as long as foreclosures continue to rise.”

“‘Much of the declines we’re seeing right now is influenced heavily by distressed sales,’ he said. ‘Those are the things that are beating down prices.’”

“About 36 percent of the county’s existing homes and condominiums sold in July had been foreclosed on at some point in the past year, compared to 7.7 percent a year ago.”

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “July’s median price for a Southland home was $348,000, down 2 percent from $355,000 in June and down 31.1 percent from $505,000 for July 2007. Broken out separately, Los Angeles County home sales fell 3.2 percent in July compared with a year ago, while prices dropped 26.9 percent.”

“The county’s median price last month was $400,000, down from $547,500 during the same period a year earlier.”

“Marty Rodriguez, owner of Century 21 Marty Rodriguez in Glendora, said foreclosure properties make up about 30 percent of the buying and selling activity at her realty office.”

“‘That includes short sales,’ she said. ‘With short sales, you have about a 70 percent chance of the deal going through. The banks are so overwhelmed right now. They don’t have enough people to handle this.’”

“Many foreclosed properties are in need of work, but for those willing to take on the challenge, the savings can be substantial, according to Rodriguez. ‘One home sold for $100,000 to $150,000 less than what we’re selling them for now,’ she said. ‘In some cases you can get 25 to 30 percent off in pricing.’”

The LA Daily News. “Buyers in July committed to an average mortgage payment of $1,632, compared with $1,671 the previous month, and $2,447 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, the current payment is at its lowest level in five years. The payment is also 24.2 percent lower than spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle.”

“Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the residential real estate market remains cause for concern. ‘I think you have a ways to go before you can say things are starting to turn. We just don’t know how much trash is out there in the market,’ he said.”

The Union Tribune. “More San Diego County homes were sold last month than at any time in more than a year, MDA DataQuick reported yesterday. The overall median price was $364,000, down $6,000 from June and off $125,000 from July 2007. The 25.6 percent year-over-year decline was the highest for any month in the 20 years of DataQuick record-keeping.”

“Experts…pointed to the record 40.8 percent of the sales involving homes foreclosed in the previous 12 months and the fact that new foreclosures are outnumbering the sales of foreclosed properties. July’s 1,259 foreclosure sales compared to June’s 1,838 foreclosures.”

“Peter Dennehy, senior VP of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors of San Diego, said, ‘The percentage of foreclosures and the mix of housing needs to be quite a bit smaller,’ closer to the traditional level of 1 percent to 3 percent of sales.”

“Prices will stop falling, he said, when foreclosures stop increasing, existing home sales are strong and the unsold inventory gets far below its current level of 19,058.”

“While agents report overbidding on some foreclosure properties, Christopher Thornberg, a principal at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, said that interest is coming from ‘vulture funds’ with millions of dollars to spend on distress sales.”

“‘That process is not in any way, shape or form an indication of a return to stability, a healthier housing market,’ he said.”

The Press Enterprise. “While the number of resale homes sold rose almost 50 percent in Riverside County and 25 percent in San Bernardino County, median prices in both counties dropped 35 percent from a year ago.”

“While foreclosure sales accounted for 43.6 percent of all of July’s Southland sales, DataQuick analyst John Karevoll said they were an even more dominant factor in the Inland region. They accounted for 64.2 percent of sales in Riverside County and 58 percent in San Bernardino County, and that trend could continue for several months.”

“Karevoll said the Inland communities where foreclosures play the biggest role in sales are those with large amounts of housing stock less than 5 years old. They include such cities as Perris, San Jacinto, Rialto and Fontana.”

“Downward pricing pressures on the resale side are prompting builders to continue offering discounts of as much as 30 percent as they seek to sell off recently completed homes, said Steve Johnson, a director with Riverside real estate consulting firm MetroStudy.”

“‘The entire market has softened in respect to pricing. There are some real bargains out there, obviously,’ he said Monday.”

The San Bernardino County Sun. “The nation’s vicious real-estate meltdown that keeps chewing up and spitting out banks has a new victim: Wescom Credit Union. The not-for-profit Pasadena-based financial entity is closing 11 of its 55 branches in Southern California because of $40 million in losses over the last four quarters.”

“Wescom, a $3.7 billion entity, never made loans to subprime borrowers, according to Jane Wood, executive vice president. Instead, many customers can’t pay off Wescom credit card and auto loan balances because of their financially troubling subprime mortgages serviced by other institutions, she said.”

“So how did customers qualify for risky subprime loans from other financial companies and stringent credit union loans at the same time?”

“‘We made good loans to good members who (passed) the criteria at the time,’ Wood said.”

“‘Credit unions didn’t relax lending standards, but that didn’t stop an individual from getting a car loan (from a credit union) and then getting a low-documentation loan from another source down the road,’ said Daniel Penrod, industry analyst for Rancho Cucamonga-based California Credit Union League.”

The Bakersfield Californian. “Construction at two neighborhoods in northeast Bakersfield’s City in the Hills development has been halted by one of the builders there, K. Hovnanian Homes, a company official said.”

“Some homeowners in Lantana’s Edge are upset. ‘This is what we look at … a barren landscape on a daily basis,’ said Bob Jones, motioning toward the dry dirt.”

“Jones and his wife, Donna Wyatt, moved from New York in December after buying their house online. ‘We were psyched,’ he said, about parks, bike paths and other promised features.”

“Katie Rogers said dust from the empty lots blows in her family’s house ‘all the time.’”

“Corina Hilton, meanwhile, said on top of everything else, her home took more than a year to get built - she bought it almost two years ago, paying much more than units now go for - and has had numerous problems since she moved in at the end of last year.”

“‘I got screwed,’ Hilton said.”

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports from Georgia. “The anemic housing market should be a boost to Atlanta’s apartment market. But the emerging shift in living arrangements is creating an unusual set of challenges for the industry. Leasing agents are having to contend more with the ’shadow market,’ an industry term that refers to the glut of unsold homes, condos and townhomes that have become rental property.”

“Terry Smith recently leased her two-bedroom townhome in Vinings after she was unable to sell it. ‘Rather than give it away or lose what once was equity, I decided to rent,’ Smith said.”

The Times Herald from Georgia. “While foreclosures nationwide increased by a shocking 50 percent, Coweta County has an even higher rate. Foreclosures advertised in The Times-Herald almost doubled year-to-year, from 70 in July 2007 to 136 in July 2008. That’s an increase of 94 percent.”

“Dr. William Joey Smith, an assistant professor of economics with the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, said that prognosticators were wrong when they predicted that the housing market had ‘bottomed out’ months ago. Last summer, he said, many were saying that the housing market would rebound within nine months. That clearly hasn’t happened, he said.”

“‘It’s been 12 months, and in some areas it’s actually worse than it was 12 months ago,’ he said.”

“Local Realtor Frank Barron said he was clearly wrong when he said back in a March Times-Herald report that he hoped the market had ‘hit the bottom.’ ‘Obviously, we were wrong,’ Barron said.”

“Dr. Smith said that he doesn’t have any statistics to back it up, but he is seeing some ‘anecdotal evidence’ that things are beginning to turn around. ‘I’ve started to see some investors go into housing because they believe it’s just so undervalued right now that they can’t lose,’ he said.”

The Orlando Sentinel from Florida. “A couple of years ago, real-estate investors were so hot on Orlando that hundreds of buyers from around the world paid an average $300,000 — triple today’s prices — for old condos on a run-down corner next to a truck-driving school.”

“For Cay Club buyers, the privileges of ownership were supposed to include access to a charter jet. ‘It was the greatest thing since peanut butter,’ said Colorado resident Robert Shaeffer, who bought a two-bedroom, two-bath unit with about 1,100 square feet for $374,900 sight unseen.”

“Shaeffer, who had retired from IBM, has had to go back to work driving delivery trucks. ‘I invested everything I had in my retirement, and now I’m stuck with a big payment and an apartment that’s no good.’”

“Orlando appraiser Jack Connor reviewed several appraisals in Cay Club and said units were actually worth about one-third of the appraised value — ‘and that was during the good times,’ he added. ‘Ludicrous is a pretty tame word for it,’ Connor said.”

“Dozens of Cay Club buyers are now suing. Investors from as far away as Hungary paid an average $300,000 in the development, while similar units nearby cost less than half that amount, appraisers reported. One Cay Club unit that sold for $510,000 two years ago was appraised recently for $90,000, said Chris Cantrell, a Birmingham, Ala., attorney for several buyers who are suing.”

“Airline pilots, scientists and others who invested in Cay Club said it has been one of the biggest disappointments of their lives. Ventura, Calif., resident Yindy Chow is still reeling from paying the $4,300 property-tax bill on a unit that was supposed to supplement her retirement but has provided none of the rental income promised by sales agents.”

“‘I don’t know what to do,’ she said recently. ‘Some people want to get rich fast. We’ve been saving 20 years, and we wanted to do something wisely and plan on our retirement. It’s really sad.’”

“On Oak Ridge Road, renters who live in what was supposed to become the Cay Club said they have no hope the golf course will reopen. Parts of the walls around the complex are broken down. Neighbors from a low-income area nearby walk through the property and use the pool.”

“Meanwhile, just outside Denver, Shaeffer laments that he cannot pay his income taxes because of the financial burden of buying in Cay Club: ‘Quite frankly, right now you don’t know who to trust in Florida.’”

The Palm Beach Post. “The developer of Tesoro, arguably Port St. Lucie’s most upscale community, is weathering some high-end financial woes. Two affiliates of Celebration-based Ginn Resorts missed principal and interest payments on a $675 million credit facility from Credit Suisse earlier this summer and, so far, they haven’t been able to restructure the debt.”

“Because Ginn still owns 359 lots in Tesoro, owners of the 600 or so other home sites could see their posh clubhouse languish if the company stops paying its association fees - something executives concede is a possibility.”

‘The developer ‘may have to discontinue the payment of certain dues and (property owners association) assessments on the lots that they own, which will put stress on the operations of the Clubs at Tesoro and Quail West,’ Robert Gidel, president of the developer’s holding firm, The Ginn Cos., said in a statement.”

The St Petersburg Times. “The problem with the Tampa Bay area’s rising stock of vacant homes goes far beyond overgrown yards, piled-up phone books and fliers dangling from doorknobs. Deborah Farmer, president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, said she notices the spike in vacant homes firsthand. ‘Over half of the homes I show now are vacant,’ Farmer said, ‘and I bet that number is much the same throughout the area.’”

“Farmer and others also say that what was once an urban problem has spread to the suburbs.”

The Herald Tribune. “During the 12 months ended July 31, lenders issued 7,905 ‘lis pendens’ filings — the first step in a foreclosure — against borrowers who failed to make their mortgage payments in Sarasota County, court records show. During the same period, the 25 lenders with the most foreclosures in Sarasota resold 918 properties that they had seized from borrowers.”

“James Slocum, for example, bought a house at 2210 McTague St. in North Port for $251,9000 in December 2005 and borrowed $226,700 to finance the deal. Deutsche Bank foreclosed on the loan in June 2007 and won a $246,576 judgment the following month.”

“Deutsche Bank then sold the three-bedroom two-bath house to Matthew White in December 2007 for $138,500, or 44 percent less than the giant German bank was owed.”

“Deutsche Bank is further up the foreclosure list than local heavyweights like Bank of America, SunTrust and Wachovia because it got into the region’s housing boom late, said Ken Thomas, a Miami-based economist who specializes in analyzing the banking industry.”

“‘Local banks are usually the first ones in a market, and when they see problems building, they are the first ones out,’ Thomas said. ‘Lenders like Deutsche Bank and HSBC were the last ones in and the last ones out.’”

The News Press. “Lee County’s unemployment rate jumped to 8.4 percent in July, the highest mark in at least 18 years, as the county continued to lose construction jobs. The rate means that just more than 24,000 people were out of work, according to data released Friday from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.”

“The rate is the highest since 1990, when state and federal officials changed the way they measure unemployment. The figures mirror numbers usually seen in the Rust Belt.”

“Patricia Alzate, of Cape Coral, lost her job as an assistant project manager for a painting contractor in April. ‘This is the first time in my life that I have been out of work and I don’t know what to do because I have never been in this situation,’ Alzate said. ‘I’ve applied and applied and applied for jobs, but I’m not getting anything.’”

“The massive fallout from the construction sector underscores how badly Florida, and Southwest Florida in particular, needs to diversify its economy, said Ray Kest, an associate professor in the MBA program at Hodges University.”

“‘It has hit every single sector,’ Kest said. ‘There are no jobs and no jobs being created. Our economic development people sit around and talk about all of this, but they should have been doing something about it a long time ago. We are used to hearing these numbers from Ohio and Michigan, but we are right there with them.’”

“It sounds like a winner: upscale, high-rise shops and condos right on the waterfront in downtown Fort Myers. But a nationwide slump in real estate - which has hit Southwest Florida particularly hard - has forestalled a lot of development.’

“‘Fort Myers is not an island. We are affected just like anyone else’ said Jean Sanders, a high-rise specialist for Remax International in downtown Fort Myers. ‘Any new construction just doesn’t have a chance in this market.’”

“Downtown Fort Myers won’t sell yet because of simple math: too many condos on the supply side and not enough demand for them.”

“‘If you have 100 apples in a barrel and you only have to eat an apple a day. Are you going to worry about the apples near the bottom? No,’ said Sanders. ‘Some of the killer deals that are already out there need to get sold before any new sales pick up.’”

The Naples News. “More buyers are reaching into their wallets to purchase homes in the Naples area. Sales continued to rise in July. There were 361 home sales, up 31 percent from 275 a year ago, according to a monthly report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors.”

“In some communities in Southwest Florida, such as Bay Colony, Pelican Bay and Bonita Bay, there is less than a year’s worth of inventory for single-family homes, said Dottie Babcock, chief operating officer for John R. Wood Realtors Inc. in Naples. Her company’s own market report found that in the Naples, Bonita Springs and Estero markets, there is a four-year supply of homes, compared to a five-year supply a year ago.”

“‘I definitely see the market turning around,’ said Babcock.”

The Miami Herald. “A lawsuit filed by creditors in Puig Inc.’s bankruptcy blames Ocean Bank for contributing to the collapse of the Hialeah condo converter. Ocean Bank has blamed Puig’s collapse largely on the developer’s aggressive expansion and the downturn in the real estate market. The bank lost more than $20 million lending to Puig entities.”

“‘They are trying to blame Ocean Bank for market losses that they experienced because of the collapse in the condominium market in 2006,’ said Joel L. Tabas, a Miami lawyer representing Ocean Bank. ‘The creditors’ committee’s efforts to pin the responsibility for the market collapse and for other people’s bad investments on Ocean Bank is going to fail.’”

“Six defendants have pleaded guilty to participating in a $17 million mortgage fraud scheme in Miami-Dade County involving inflated property values and falsified closing statements, Florida’s attorney general announced Monday.”

“The six were among 15 people arrested in July. The arrests stemmed from an investigation of Miami-Dade County’s mortgage fraud task force. The task force was set up last year to combat the crime, which became epidemic in South Florida during the real estate boom.”

“When the money was disbursed, the defendants would take the difference and share it among themselves, funneling it through a bank account or shell company operated by a coconspirator, the attorney general’s office said.”

“Retail real estate follows residential trends, so Florida shopping center developers fear a spreading credit crunch will turn their current headache into a hangover.”

“‘It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” said Robert Smith, senior VP of a Houston developer planning to rebuild the old Crossroads Mall in Largo as a mixed-use project. ‘The days of just building a center and waiting for the market to catch up to fill it up are gone.’”

“‘There is money to borrow if you are willing pay the price and put up 10 to 35 percent,’ said Raul Valdez-Fauli, chief executive of CNL Bank in Coral Gables. ‘This credit crunch is for real.’”

“Stanley Tate, a Miami developer who left the board of Fannie Mae two years ago and chaired the Resolution Trust Corp. cleaning up the excesses of real estate lending in the 1990s, added ominously that developers face an easy-money, subprime loan crisis of their own.”

“‘The residential market has not bottomed out yet, but $1.4-trillion in distressed loans will start to hit the commercial real estate market next year,’ he said.”

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The LA Times reports from California. “Southern California home sales rose last month for the first time in nearly three years, although prices continued their downward spiral, data released today showed. In July, the region’s median price fell 31% from a year ago to $348,000, the lowest since February 2004, when the local real estate market was in the throes of an extraordinary boom, according to DataQuick.”

“There’s no question that it’s the purchase of the foreclosures that are driving local sales. Foreclosure resales in July composed 43.6% of all transactions, DataQuick reported.”

“Los Angeles County was the weak link for home sales. The region’s biggest county posted an all-time July low of 6,592 sales, down 3.2% from a year ago. The median price, meanwhile, dropped 27% to $400,000.”

The Union Tribune. “San Diego County home sales rose to their highest point in more than a year last month, but prices, depressed by growing foreclosures, continued to fall, DataQuick reported Monday. Overall median prices dropped to $364,000, down 1.6 percent from June and off 25.6 percent from year-ago levels.”

“The median price of single-family resale houses dropped to $399,000, the first time the price has dropped below the $400,000 mark since June 2003. The latest figure was $6,000 less than in June and $151,000 or 27.5 percent below July 2007’s $550,000. The all-time resale single-family peak was $574,000 in May 2006.”

“In North San Diego County coastal ZIP codes, where foreclosures and defaults have been relatively few, the overall median price on a resale home slid the most in July of any of the five subregions – down 31.1 percent from $697,000 in July 2007 to $480,000 last month.”

The North County Times. “Foreclosures ranged from 22.2 percent of resold homes in Orange County last month to 64.4 percent in Riverside County. DataQuick said foreclosures were at record highs and continue to be “the dominant factor’ driving sales.”

“‘What we’re looking at is a fire sale of properties in newer affordable neighborhoods that were bought or refinanced near the price peak with lousy mortgages,’ said John Walsh, president of MDA DataQuick.”

The Press Enterprise. “The number of homes sold in July soared nearly 50 percent in Riverside County from July 2007 and about 25 percent in San Bernardino County, DataQuick reported. But the traffic in foreclosed or defaulted properties is continuing to drive down sales prices. The median sales price in July was $260,000 in Riverside County and $230,000 in San Bernardino County. Both represent declines of about $10,000 to $15,000 in the last month.”

“Prices in the Inland Empire are down roughly $170,000 from their peaks of late 2006.”

“Real estate agents and lenders warn that the federal housing package that goes into effect October 1 is likely to cut short this year’s surge of foreclosure purchases by first-time home buyers.”

“Concerned about a setback in what may be the start of a housing industry recovery, they are lobbying to reverse a provision of the legislation that would prevent first-time buyers from obtaining down payment assistance from sellers, including the banks that own foreclosed properties.”

“Rich Cosner, president of nine Prudential California Realty offices in Southern California, said the potential loss of these down payment assistance programs should be enough to push some prospective home buyers off the fence.”

“‘If someone is thinking about buying a first house, it would behoove them to get into escrow and get it closed—now,’ he said.”

The Desert Sun. “The TV ad looked so attractive. No down payment and low fixed rates, the commercial promised. Doug Cron and Ernie Meeker called, got a $280,000 loan and moved into their first house three years ago. But within a few months, the couple’s dream in Cathedral City turned into a nightmare. ‘We figured, like the property we owned before, that the property would go up in value,’ Meeker said.”

“Then, the five-year fixed rate the couple thought they had received began to adjust as home values began to crash.”

“‘The truth is real estate goes up and down,’ said Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, Cathedral City, who has tried to address the housing crisis with a lending bill that would have eliminated pre-payment penalties that discourage refinancing on nontraditional loans.”

“‘If your pocketbook doesn’t go up that fast or life happens to you, you’re derailed,’ she said.”

“Within three months of the ink drying, the couple’s $720 mortgage started creeping up. First by about $50 a month. Then another $50. And another. When their mortgage payment jumped to more than $2,200 a month, they stopped making payments.”

“‘I wasn’t reading stuff,’ acknowledged Meeker, who at the time of the contract-signing was on dialysis because of kidney failure.”

“And Cron is legally blind and could not read the contract. They trusted the real estate agent, who earned top commission in the deal by brokering a higher loan and interest rate, documents show.”

“About a year after they moved in, the couple realized their $720 mortgage was, in actuality, a minimum payment that did not cover the mounting interest, let alone the principal. They now regret signing the contract, saying they felt pressured to do so when the loan officer told them they would lose their $75,000 down payment.”

“In June, the couple sidestepped formal foreclosure proceedings to salvage their credit by signing the home back over to the bank.”

“‘We lost our life’s savings in (that) place,’ Cron said. ‘Our savings are depleted. We’re back to (living) month-to-month again. So, there’s really no way of getting back into a home.’”

“‘Who’s to say who’s right and who’s wrong?’ said Ray Henderson, a former loan officer with a now-defunct mortgage brokerage and now executive VP of National Real Estate Solutions in Palm Springs, which sells homes headed into foreclosure.”

“‘The underwriting standard became more and more lax,’ Henderson said. ‘They made it a little too easy to get loans.’”

“Despite the collective hand-wringing about the economy now, some saw the economic downturn coming. Charlie Reeds, a financial analyst and Wall Street consultant, predicted it four years ago.”

“While slow to respond to market indicators in a booming economy, Reeds believes Congressional oversight and investment fears have been and will continue to be the right economic correction.”

“‘You just cannot build the economy on the appreciation of real estate,’ said Reeds. ‘No one wanted to get in the way of what was making the economy do well.’”

The Ventura County Star. “Simi Valley could become the home of Ventura County’s largest Habitat for Humanity housing project. The nonprofit organization has been working with the Affordable Housing Subcommittee of Simi Valley with the hopes of purchasing property on Patricia Avenue to build 10 town homes.”

“Rob Bruce, deputy director of housing and special projects for the city of Simi Valley, noted the city’s housing slump has made it easier for nonprofits to buy land.”

“‘No new projects are really selling right now. Prices are still falling with the economy,’ Bruce said.”

From KFSN TV. “Merced is number two in the nation when it comes to foreclosure filings and the county’s unemployment rate is the highest in valley. Only Cape Coral/Fort Myers Florida has it worse, giving Merced the dubious distinction of second in the nation.”

“The ranking came as a shock to Ellie Wooten. She said she knew things were bad, but she didn’t realize her community was among the worst in the nation. ‘I just hate to see that,’ said Wooten.”

“Wooten now finds herself wearing two hats; one, as the city’s mayor, the other, as a realtor. She and her fellow realtors say it’s common for each of them to see 5-10 new foreclosure listings a week. White boards in several offices show dozens of REO’s, or real estate owned listings.”

“The foreclosure issue in Merced is now capturing the attention of national media. Wooten was interviewed by a New York Times reporter last week and drove him around town to show him the reality of the problem. ‘This is the real story. It’s not a fairytale, it’s not pleasant, it’s not funny, it’s serious. And people are being hurt,’ said Wooten.”

The Contra Costa Times. “Brian Riley of Martinez, a day trader, once lived for his twice-monthly boating trips to Bethel Harbor. But now, with the cost of gas, ‘I’m lucky if I get there once a month,’ Riley said.”

“And there hangs the economic fate of California’s Delta, which comprises roughly 1,000 miles of navigable waters from Pittsburg to the west, to Courtland to the north, to Stockton to the east, then on to Tracy and back to Pittsburg.”

“As of May, California had 799,918 registered pleasure boats and an estimated 36.5 million residents, or roughly one boat for every 46 people, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. In July 2007, there were 914,448 registered pleasure boats in the state. ‘It went down quite a bit, over 100,000′ said Armando Botello, a DMV spokesman.”

“‘The whole Delta economy is based around boating,’ said Jamie Bolt, harbormaster of Bethel Harbor marina. As gas prices soared, business at marinas, bait-and-tackle shops, boat dealerships, restaurants and repair shops plummeted.”

“Bolt and others point out that gas prices aren’t the only problem. The housing market crisis has combined with fuel costs to deal a one-two punch to Delta businesses.”

“For example, construction on Delta Coves, planned as Bethel Island’s largest and most upscale residential development, with 494 single-family homes and 66 condominiums, halted in mid-July because of East County’s troubled housing market. Irvine-based developer SunCal Companies put the project on hold when demand for new homes plunged, according to company spokesman Joe Aguirre.”

“Home prices have plunged in the area, according to Annie Brown, a Zip Realty agent in East County.”

“‘I’m swamped because $800,000 homes are going for $340,000, $400,000 in Antioch and Brentwood. Even in Discovery Bay, there are homes in the $300,000, $400,000 range,’ Brown said.”

“Riley is trying to sell his sports boat. ‘Nobody is interested,’ Riley said. ‘I offered it super cheap and I still haven’t heard anything. I bought it for $43,000 three years ago. Even if I sold it for $40,000, it would be a cheap price. I chose $36,000 for a quick sale and I haven’t had any calls at all.’”

A report from Crain’s New York Business. “Fueled in large part by the number of homeowners who could not keep up with monthly payments on subprime loans, 14,407 people filed for bankruptcy in the New York area during the first seven months of this year, compared with 11,026 in that period last year, according to bankruptcy court records.”

“Noel, a 28-year-old math teacher from Harlem who asked that his last name not be used, always thought it would be smart to invest in real estate. So when his cousin introduced him to a mortgage broker who promised he wouldn’t have to put a penny down on a $1 million piece of property in New Rochelle, he jumped at the chance.”

“Then, the same broker told him about a home in Yonkers. Again, he didn’t have to put any money down. Before he realized what he was getting into, Noel says, he was scammed into signing two mortgages totaling more than $1.5 million.”

“‘I make $50,000 as a schoolteacher,’ he says. ‘There’s no way I should have been approved for loans that big.’”

“Hemmed in by monthly payments totaling more than $10,000 and bills for maintaining a third property on Long Island, Noel had no choice but to file for bankruptcy, he says. He filed without the help of a lawyer-he couldn’t afford one-and he plans to walk away from the three homes and get a fresh start, this time without dreams of making it big.’

“‘I thought real estate was a good business,’ he says. ‘But I guess it’s not for me. I’m not buying property again-ever again.’”

The Philadelphia Business Journal from Pennsylvania. “Developers who had high hopes of meeting strong demand for new condominiums along the Main Line a year ago have had to lower their expectations or are waiting out the current housing downturn.”

“One of those yet-to-be-built projects, called Allaire, is on the market with permits and all if another developer wants to scoop it up for the right price. Barring that, Allaire’s would-be developer, architect Tom Hall, is ready to wait for the market to improve.”

“Recognizing how the residential market, economy and financing have changed in the past year, Hall has put the 2.3-acre, 20 North Buck Lane site on the market.”

“‘I suspect what I will do is wait out a certain period of time and sit on it because I think it’s such a good opportunity,’ he said. ‘I think there’s a market for this kind of product, and I think at some point this would be a home run.’”

The Courier Times from Pennsylvania. “Sales of existing homes in Bucks County were down 26.8 percent in the first half of the year, compared to the first half of 2007, according to data compiled by Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors. In Montgomery County, home sales were down 24.3 percent.”

“The average price of a home also fell in that time period, from $293,000 to $282,000 in Bucks County and from $270,000 to $265,000 in Montgomery.”

“In Springfield, buyers of homes in the Springtown Knoll development will get a free Toyota Prius, said Megan Reshetar, a sales associate for homebuilder Reshetar Custom Homes. Two of the 20 homes, which start at $590,000, have been sold, Reshetar said.”

“In Buckingham, the Cape Cod-style home has been on the market since May. The free car promotion began in June, said Realtor Susan Langenstein, who’s representing the seller. Langenstein said buyers could negotiate a reduction in price instead of the car.”

“‘As a Realtor, I don’t like doing things like this,’ she said. ‘I think it’s a very much a price-driven market, and people are very in tune to that. I’d much rather you take the money off the top. But what it has created is a little bit of excitement. We’re all looking for that.’”

The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey. “At the Harbour Cove North condominiums in Somers Point, the neighbors are quiet and unassuming. That’s because there aren’t any neighbors.”

“Almost a year after the 14 units went on the market, general manager Jeff Vogt said only one of the condos is occupied, with another currently under contract. The dearth in sales comes as hundreds of new residential units are planned to go up in Somers Point over the next few years.”

“The going prices for the two- and three-bedroom Harbour Cove North condos, located on Bay Avenue overlooking the Harbour Cove Marina, are listed as starting in the low $600,000s. ‘It’s a secondary market,’ Vogt said. ‘It’s a lifestyle change for a lot of people.’”

“He added that resales at some of the other condominiums on the Harbour Cove property were still strong, with some going for as high as $1.2 million. ‘It’s still above where the levels were when (prices) started to escalate five years ago,’ Vogt said.”

“The perception of a weak real estate market nationally, said Fred Fisch, a real estate agent with Vanguard Property Group of Egg Harbor Township, contributes to many buyers’ reluctance to close the deal.”

“‘I think it has its effect,’ Fisch said, ‘and perception matters a lot, unfortunately.’”

“But Fisch, who also serves as the president of the condo association at Greate Bay, said there’s been an upswing of activity there recently that bodes well for the future. ‘A lot of people are realizing that we’re never going to get prices to what they were,’ Fisch said.”

The Times from New Jersey. “Frank Wible, owner of ReMax All Pros Realty, said homebuyers who walk into his office these days are interested in just two things. ‘They all come into our office and they say, ‘I want to see foreclosures and short sales,’ said Wible, whose brokerage is in Gloucester County. ‘They’re all saying the same thing. They want the best deal coming.’”

“In New Jersey, the regional market that saw the biggest drop in home prices during the second quarter was the Newark-Union ‘metropolitan statistical area,’ or MSA, where the median price fell 6.9 percent, to $420,000. The Newark-Union MSA includes Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Sussex and Union counties. Next in line was the New York-northern New Jersey MSA, where the median home price fell 5.3 percent, to $453,400.”

“A record rise in foreclosures is only adding to the glut. Statewide, some 931 borrowers lost their homes to their lenders in July.”

“Jarrod Grasso, executive VP of the New Jersey Association of Realtors, said Trenton lawmakers need to step up and address New Jersey’s sky-high property tax rates to help bolster the state’s housing market and economy.”

“‘It’s time for Trenton to stop talking about easing the property tax burden and start implementing measures that truly reform our property tax system,’ he said.”

The Boston Globe from Massachusetts. “The average assessed value for single-family homes in Massachusetts fell for the first time in more than a decade last year, even as property tax bills continued to climb.”

“‘Values go down and tax rates go up and everyone pays a little more and they aren’t happy,’ said James C. Judge, the assistant assessor in Kingston, where the average bill