Some housing bubble reports from Florida. "Today's tough housing market is pitting neighbor against neighbor in the selling wars. Ken and Wilaiwan Koch have had their home on the market for five weeks and already lowered the price $10,000. Their neighbors to the right have dropped their price from $345,000 to $269,900 since November. Their neighbor to their left reduced his home from $344,500 to $309,900."

"Competition is stiff. Inventory is at an all-time high, 50,000 homes for sale in Lee County, according to (realtor) John McWilliams."

"'There are no stinking buyers around here and these people are panic-stricken, everyone can smell the fear,' (realtor) Debbie Elentrio said. 'If you don't have to sell, now is not the time.' But her client's panic impacts the homes around her. Her neighbors, who live six houses away, dropped their price from $549,000 to $499,900."

"But homeowner Christopher Jacob, who also is a realtor', doesn't blame that on his neighbor. 'I think people who are mad at each other want to make the most money and that's not going to happen right now,' said homeowner Christopher Jacob, who also is a realtor."

"'The market got out of whack,' he said 'Now it's coming back into reality. Your house is only worth what someone will pay for it.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "Joe Passarelli wakes up anxious and sweaty some nights, wondering how much longer it will take to sell his never-lived-in townhouse south of Stuart. Despite slashing his asking price by $55,000 to $285,000 and keeping vigil at sparsely attended open houses for six months, he still has no takers."

"'They come, they look, they give a low-ball offer and they leave,' said Passarelli, a New York native."

"If he doesn't sell the four-bedroom home, he'll have to walk away from contracts on two other investment homes, one in the new Port St. Lucie community where he lives and another in West Palm Beach. If he pulls out of those deals, he's down $80,000. 'I was never much of an investor before this wild craze began, and somehow I backed into it,' Passarelli said."

"Meanwhile, the communities' builders, Centex Homes Inc. and Lennar Homes Inc., also are continuing to jockey for buyers. Passarelli said the builders are undercutting him and other sellers as they try to unload their inventory."

"Passarelli made out well last year, grossing about $100,000 on a home he flipped in St. Lucie West and an additional $50,000 from his mortgage and real estate business. But this year is emerging quite differently. 'The end result is it may have to all be given back,' he said."

"'For Sale' signs peer from curtainless windows, and real estate agents' lockboxes are affixed to doorknobs. For full-time residents, the result is downright depressing. Lou and Marie Cucci have few neighbors. Across the street and on both sides of them, homes sit empty. 'There are more places for sale than occupied right now,' Lou Cucci said."

"In Newport Isles, Passarelli said he and his wife take walks after dinner to count the lockboxes. As an investor who's also living in an investor-laden community, he sees all sides of the fallout."

"We thought we were going to meet new neighbors and new friends, and it's been like a terrible ghost town,' Passarelli said. 'This is not family living as they advertised it.'"

"Fearing they'll lose more if they hang on to homes in the community, some investors are walking away from deposits of $30,000 to $50,000, said Stuart-based real estate broker Mike Morgan. 'What happened there is no different than what happened in the condo market and everywhere else: greed, greed, greed,' Morgan said."

"Elizabeth Weed and her cousins got sucked into the craze. 'The exact words that were told to us were, 'Oh, you're going to make money. It's just a matter of how much you want to make,' said Weed. Within days, each of the four women plunked down a $25,000 deposit on a Lennar townhouse in Martin's Crossing, locking in the $249,000 price."

"Now, three of them are considering a lawsuit against Lennar and Centex, claiming the developers misrepresented how visible a nearby trailer park would be from their homes, and the fourth lost money on the home she finally managed to resell. 'It's not as if we were these great big investors. The four of us said, 'Let's get together and do this.' Never, ever, ever again,' said Weed."