The Wall Street Journal looks at the housing bubble in resort towns. "As real-estate prices surged across most of America, some of the biggest gains swept coastal resorts. Now there are signs the tide has finally turned. In Ocean City, N.J., the median price fell 7% in March from a year before. Sellers in Ocean City, a densely populated barrier island with a long boardwalk and broad beaches, have cut prices as their properties languish."

"Bill Beible had listed his four-bedroom, two-bath condominium for $1.35 million last spring. After getting no takers, he cut the price to $1.25 million. So last week he cut again, to $1.059 million, down 28% from his initial price. 'I wish I had priced it lower from the beginning,' he says."

"Some real-estate agents have started cutting prices on their own homes. Broker John Melton listed his 10-year-old house in Bend, Ore., for $549,000 in December; now he's lowered the price to $524,000. In Naples Fl., Al Lazzaro cut the price twice on his four-bedroom lakeside house, to $699,000 from $747,000, after getting dozens of email blasts every day from fellow agents shouting, 'owner motivated.'"

"On Cape Cod, the total number of homes for sale has risen 62% since this time last year. The dearth of buyers means sellers must consider every offer, even if it gives them little profit, says agent Jim Kalweit in the Cape Cod town of Hyannis, Mass. 'Offers that would have been an insult a year ago are now being accepted,' he says."

"In Naples, inventory levels have reached a 21-month supply. That's about three times the supply at this time last year. 'We're flooded with inventory,' says Tripp Champion, a Naples real-estate agent. He represents a German buyer who's just slashed the price of his four-bedroom mansion three blocks from the beach by 15%, to $3.3 million."

"The market for Santa Barbara properties under $5 million is weakening; agent Nell Eakin says the price of one of her listings was just reduced by $315,000, to $2.5 million. Erik Eyman couldn't snag a tenant for his three-bedroom ocean-view house, which he estimates is worth about $1.7 million, until he lowered the monthly rent to $2,900 from $3,500. He says that over the last few months, both selling prices and rents (are) softening now."

"The number of single-family homes sold in Bend, Ore. last month fell 28% from a year earlier. Sellers are getting the message. On one street in Bend, a seller dropped his asking price by $40,000, to $1.359 million, after less than two months on the market; down the street, another house has gone to $998,000 from $1.033 million."

"The fact that some sellers are trimming prices has made some buyers wary. Nancy Rawls, a hospital-benefits coordinator, is looking to buy a two-bedroom vacation condo in Pensacola, Fla., but thinks prices may continue soften through the summer as inventory levels build. 'You have to sit, wait and watch,' she says."