The Miami Herald reports that some homeowners are oblivious to the housing bubble. "This Miami-Dade neighborhood, like so many across South Florida, is a crucial piece of the giant wealth and job machine that is the real estate economy. Take Devon Rifkin, who moved his family to High Pines three years ago. Convinced of the neighborhood's value, he bought the house next door."

"He borrowed against the equity in his first home and renovated both. Then he listed them for $899,000 each, about double what he paid. And now he and his family have moved to a third home nearby, twice as big as the first. Rifkin knows that the real estate economy is slowing down, and he hasn't yet sold his houses. But he's happy he got in."

"'People have to realize this is life-changing wealth,' said Rifkin. 'This is real money.'"

"Just behind Rifkin's original home, neighbors Alison and Michael Simon are busy adding a master suite and a second story to their three-bedroom 1959 house. The Simons funded those renovations mostly by borrowing against the equity in their home. They estimate that their home's value has more than doubled since they bought it five years ago for $322,500. 'It's a good investment,' said Alison, who works from home. The new house will include an office for her. 'Once we're done, we'll have even more equity.'"

"Like the Simons, their neighbors down the street are borrowing money to pay for renovations. After a year spent looking for a bigger home, the Nyes gave up and decided to refinance about $500,000 to double the size of their home. 'Everybody in my neighborhood is doing this,' said Jamie Nye."

"In the Miami area, 82 percent of the loans from banks with assets of $1 billion or less were related to real estate. That's up from 58 percent in 2000. In the Fort Lauderdale area, that figure was even higher, 91 percent in 2005, compared with 81 percent in 2000."

"Last month, the slowdown led Countrywide Financial to shut down a loan-processing center in Sunrise, costing the area 100 jobs."

One columnist in Florida is starting to see the light. "Motivated seller. Price reduced. OBO. You see these notations more often in the real estate listings. I hate to scare you, but I actually saw a unit in Baldwin Park listed for under $200 a square foot."

"The Summer of 2005 is over and isn't coming back. This is a painful lesson for sellers trying to base their asking price on comparable sales from August. 'Our members are telling us that owners are beginning to back off prices 10 to 15 percent because they're not getting people pressing contracts into their hands,' says Belton Jennings of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association."

"The number of homes listed for sale in Orange and Seminole in January was a hefty 21 percent jump from December. There now are 12,015 listings, the highest number on the association's database, which dates back to 1995. Inventory has quadrupled in a year. That generally is one reason why values dropped 4 percent in December."

"Now we will see what our houses really are worth, based not on speculation but what traditional buyers will pay. Given rising interest rates and a skewed affordability index, I'm guessing not as much."

"Builders are offering financing deals, reduced closing costs and throwing in free upgrades. But if you paid $350,000 for a house three months ago and the builder now is selling the same house for $350,000 but offering $40,000 in incentives, your house is worth less. Try selling a used condo when the developer offers to pay association fees for two years on new units."