The Orlando Sentinel follows up on the latest inventory numbers. "The Orlando Regional Realtor Association reported Monday that the record 12,015 existing homes for sale in January in the core Orlando market was nearly four times the number available a year earlier. And most of those homes hit the market in January, when members entered 6,172 homes, compared with 2,970 in January 2005."

"When Taffie Prince placed her Apopka home on the market last fall, she figured it would be snapped up within weeks. Four months later, she's still waiting. And the asking price has been lowered by $5,000 in the past 90 days to $154,900. 'I was told the quarter-acre of land would sell the house. But it's still for sale. I don't know what else to do,' Prince said."

"'It's getting a little scary,' said Franco Ferrari, co-owner of the agency listing Prince's three-bedroom home. He said his sales staff of fewer than 10 agents is 'lean," yet the slowdown has agents working harder and seeing fewer purchase offers per home." "If the growth rate in home sales continues to slow for much longer, he said, large agencies that added significantly to their staffs in recent years will begin to shrink."

"Jerry Smith, 58, a retiree in Lake County, has had his former home in north Apopka on the market for about five months and has cut the asking price from $400,000 to $320,000. The competition for sales is heating up, he said, with two other homes on his road sporting for-sale signs. 'The signs are popping up everywhere,' Smith said."