A trio of reports on housing markets that don't get much attention. In Texas, "There was a time when multimillion-dollar oil transactions were as routine as burgers and fries. Then the boom went bust. The wheeling and dealing went away, as did the Midland Savings cafeteria and everything else in the 14-story building, and several others."

"Now the boxy blue eyesore has a date with the wrecking ball. Midland is counting on tax dollars, creative investors and the desire of residents to live, eat and shop downtown."

"'No one wanted to be first. That's what held them back for the last five years,' said Colleen Fuglaar, a Midland High School graduate who now works for California-based RTI Properties. She and developer Robert Abbasi successfully bid $1 million for the vacant Vaughn Building, which they plan to convert to loft-style condominium units with retail space on the ground floor."

From the Billings Gazette. "Amid talk of a plunge in real estate prices after several years of steep appreciation, a real estate agent and a local economist say that's not likely to happen here. 'There are probably areas of the country that have had some changes, but we certainly don't have any busting bubbles in Cheyenne,' said the Realtor, George Short."

"Short, president of the Cheyenne Board of Realtors, said the local housing market has been cooling but isn't likely to sink."

"Dick O'Gara, director for the Wyoming Center for Business and Economic Analysis, said Cheyenne went through escalation and depreciation in housing prices in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But there is little talk of a real estate bubble in the Midwest."

"Short said more homes are on the market now than at any time since he went to work in real estate in 1992. He said, it's a buyer's market. 'When someone has 20 houses to look at versus the two or three that they've had in the last couple years, they're going to look for the one that is the best deal,' he said."

"'For Cheyenne and Laramie County, we're not looking for the bubble burst to where prices will suddenly plummet 10, 15 or 20 percent in a matter of months,' he said. 'We're apt to see some price declines, but they're not going to be severe.'"

"He said sellers aren't panicking. 'It's a matter of being realistic and realizing that if you have 1,200 houses for sale versus 600 houses for sale, it's probably going to take you twice as long to sell your house,' he said."

The Birmingham Business Journal. "A pair of high-end residential projects are about to see whether Birmingham residents are ready to live on the southeast edge of downtown. Seaboard Yard townhouses, with units priced at more than $317,000, is beginning to market itself to buyers. And across the street, The Carroll & Green Group Inc. is about to break ground on a $5 million live-work building that will house luxury condos."

"Developers are banking on the prediction that the area will become a residential hotspot and that property values will rise. They already are. Land prices have gone up three or four times in the three years since the developers bought their property. Land that sold for $2 to $3 per square foot in 2003 fetches $10 to $20 per square foot today."

"The Seaboard Yard marketing team hopes potential residents will soon see the value of a $300,000-plus investment. They plan to market the property by handing out fliers and holding a cookout for Realtors to show off the just-completed model unit."

"And the price for one of the units has been lowered to $299,000 in order to grab the attention of people searching listings in the $300,000 and less range. So far, three townhouses have sold, two to investors."'

"'We're just not getting the response we thought we'd get," says Lauriello, blaming the sluggish response in part on the project's being nearly a year behind schedule."

"Developer John Lauriello says it's a good sign that investors have purchased two of the units. 'These are pretty prudent real estate people who feel like once that project and some other projects in the area are completed, that a year or two from now there could be a substantial amount of appreciation,' he says."