A pair of reports from the northeastern US. Rhode Island, "As the prime season for selling houses belatedly gets under way, more sellers are accepting market realities, and price cuts on properties that have been sitting on the market for months are now common, agents report."

"'You can start to see it all of a sudden, the price changes and the new listings,' said realtor Lynn Corey in East Greenwich. 'I don't think sales are up much. People are basically lowering their prices, and a ton of new stuff is coming on the market.' On Wednesday, there were 5,990 single-family houses listed with the statewide MLS in Rhode Island, Corey said."

"Phil Tirrell said pricing houses correctly is crucial, and he makes a point of educating sellers who may still have unrealistic expectations. Tirrell said he recently showed one seller a video presentation of the competition, houses in the local market in the same price range, and the seller immediately lowered the asking price by $10,000."

"(Realtor) Gayle Flaherty also says that in helping sellers price their homes, she points out the prices of very recent sales, because some clients are still fixed on 'what their neighbor got' a year or two ago. 'When they're listing they just have to be more realistic. You list them close to the price they're selling at.'"

"'For sale by owner' signs are less common now than they were when the housing market was hot and selling a house was an easier proposition. Steven and Jennifer Shaker, of Greenville, have been trying to sell their four-bedroom Cape-style house on their own since mid-April. Jennifer Shaker said they have dropped their asking price, initially $359,900, to $349,900."

"'There's just so much out there right now,' Jennifer Shaker said. 'The buyers have a lot to choose from'"

From Massachusetts. "Massachusetts' housing market has been scorching hot for years, but now experts say it's cooling off, which could be a benefit for buyers. Barry Cunningham, the president of the North Central Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said the slowdown was inevitable."

"'What's happened is, prices had increased rapidly over the last 10 years,' he said. 'That type of increase of price could not continue forever. We're at a point where the market's taking a breather. It's healthy.'"

"A year ago, there were 1,270 properties for sale in North Central Massachusetts, according to Richard Healey. Today, that figure has increased almost 50 percent to 1,808. 'The general trend is more homes on the market,' said (realtor) Mark Cavanagh. 'In Fitchburg, right now, there are 522 properties on the market,' he said."

"In April 2006, 47 properties sold in Fitchburg, with an average price of $206,000. In the same month last year, 63 properties sold, with an average price of $231,000, according to Cavanagh."

"David Wluka, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said the current market cooldown is not the same as the bubble burst of the 1980s."

"'That happened for a whole bunch of different reasons that are not going on in the market today,' he said, citing less speculation and more stringent banking standards. 'It was a very, very different situation. The fundamentals of real estate are very different today.'"

"The question for buyers now is whether to wait and see if prices drop, or to make their move now. Experts say interest rates are a huge factor. 'The rise in interest rates is going to change the landscape some over the next few months to a year,' Cunningham said. '(Buyers) might be better making (the move) sooner rather than later.'"

"Wluka said sellers need a more realistic view on what their houses can sell for. 'When there are four or five homes in a neighborhood that are similarly priced, you have to make it stand out,' he said. 'There's resistance. Everyone knows what their neighbors sold their house for three months ago.'"