The Orlando Sentinel reports on ahousing bubble trend. "Last year, 29 percent of the homes sold in Orlando were by owners, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. That's more than 10,000 properties, and, while there isn't any historical data, it's surely a record. My prediction? That percentage will head south, way south."

"Last year, Orlando was one of the hottest real-estate markets in the country. And the thing with FSBOs is that they blossom in a seller's market, because there really isn't much selling you have to do. And, now? This is a buyer's market, with lots of browsing and shopping around. Realtors are having a tough time, too. Some have wondered if agencies that staffed up during the heyday will eventually shrink."

"In January alone, more than 6,000 homes were listed, about double the number of year ago. A chunk of those, I bet, were once for sale by owners. Overall, there are more than 12,000 homes in the metro inventory now. At the height last year, there were only a few thousand."

"Prices are flattening. Builders are loading new homes with all sorts of freebies. Hindsight tells us the market changed at the end of the summer. If I were one of those housing investors who was doing funky flips and interest-only loans, I'd be shaking in my Guccis right now."

"Beth Mallery bought one of those red-and-white 'for sale by owner' signs. She stuck it in the front yard. She waited. Then she went to a flat-fee listing, paying to get her College Park house in the computer database that Realtors use. She waited some more."

"But after nearly five months with no sale, Mallery broke down and hired a real-estate agent. 'It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be,' said Mallery, whose home has been listed for a few weeks."

"I can't blame Mallery for assuming she'd have a fast sale. She did her homework. She checked out what homes were selling for in her neighborhood. And she was a witness to the selling frenzy: Signs put in the yard one week were gone the next when a deal was done."

"'I was on the market for 45 days and had two people,' said Kathy Parker, recounting her FSBO experience in Casselberry."

"As for Mallery, she wishes she had put her home on the market several months earlier. And now she's working with Sutton & Sutton to help her sell. 'They tell me they see an increase in sales at the end of February,' she said. 'I'm hoping that the trend follows this year.' But for now? She's still waiting."