A pair of reports on Florida. "After the developer of a downtown Naples condo project suspended sales and closed the sales center, a Fiddler's Creek chef approached Naples developer Aubrey Ferrao in a panic two weeks ago. The chef told him he had just recently purchased a $450,000 home down the road from Fiddler's Creek, and thought he could lose his substantial deposit."

"'I told him, 'Don't worry about it.' But people like this are panicking, and that's not good,' Ferrao said. 'The market is nowhere near what it is made out to be.'"

The News Press. "'Stop packing.' That's the message from a south Fort Myers developer who has had a change of heart about turning apartments into condos. Experts say it's the start of the reversal of a trend to convert apartment complexes into condominiums in a softening real estate market. Condo converters around the state are changing their plans."

"Tenants of the Promenade, at Summerlin Road and Cypress Lake Drive in south Fort Myers, got fliers from managers last week saying 'Stop Packing' and urging them to renew their leases. 'We are staying a rental community,' the flier states. 'For those of you who have given notice and would like to stay, we would love to have you.'"

"Competition from converters already in the market is fierce, Jack McCabe said. 'What we're finding is that concessions are now rampant with 70 percent offering some kind of incentive,' he said. 'They range anywhere from discounts on prices of as much as $20,000 to the first year's mortgage payments made to the first year's homeowner's association dues paid.'"

"Converters are also wooing real estate agents, he said: 'They're offering broker commissions. 'Bring us a buyer please, we'll pay anything.'"

"While some Promenade tenants were relieved they could stay, for at least one couple renting there it's too late to reverse course. Teddy and Alan Hogle, who have lived there for three years, decided two months ago to move when plans to go condo were announced."

"They weren't interested in buying their apartment and had been thinking of a move to Delaware to be closer to their children. Now they've decided to move to Newark, Del., said Alan Hogle. 'Of course, by now, we've made our decision,' he said. 'Once you've decided on a course of action, then you get committed to following up.'"