The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "A year ago, Hillsborough County's housing market was hyperventilating. Now it's sighing. 'The people who are selling are very fortunate,' said Vince Arcuri, a real estate agent based in Odessa."

"Why? Because everywhere Arcuri looks, he sees overpriced houses. One's $50,000 too high here. Another's 30 percent out of whack there. 'They're all overpriced,' he said."

"'Inventory has quadrupled,' said Brad Monroe, the New president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors. 'Sales are off by 40 percent. There's downward pressure on prices.' 'It's getting very, very slow,' said Yuly Vazquez, a Tampa real estate agent who has held four-hour open houses where only two or three people strolled in."

"'They've never had as much product to choose from,' Monroe said. 'Sellers are going to have to be more aggressive.' The speculators are gone, yet the building boom they encouraged is still evident. 'There's a whole bunch of brand-new houses that have never been lived in that aren't selling,' Monroe said."

"Arcuri and Monroe advise sellers not to peg their homes' prices to sales during the past year. That was too high, they agree. 'We need to go back to about mid-2004,' Arcuri said. 'That's where the market is now.'"

"Monroe's Realtors association predicted last week that it would lose 10 percent of its members next year. His statewide association reported Monday that August home sales in the Tampa Bay area had dropped 42 percent from the prior August. 'The market was out of control,' Arcuri said. 'We needed this adjustment.'"

The Herald Tribune. "Leonard Sondheimer knows firsthand the perils of the real estate boom. The 68-year-oldm retired until he and his wife sought to diversify their investments into the Southwest Florida real estate rush, now finds himself working full time again in Bradenton."

"The Sondheimers, who bought a house from Jade Homes that now stands unfinished with 75 others, also enticed more than a dozen neighbors and friends to buy investment homes from Jade. The Sondheimers and other Jade buyers are among the thousands who, during the booming 2003-05 cycle, saw a no-lose opportunity in the region's real estate game."

"Leonard Sondheimer just flunked a credit check at a time when he thought he would be enjoying his golden years. He deeply regrets involving friends and neighbors with Jade. They are now facing the same uphill prospects for recovering their investment. 'I feel terrible,' Sondheimer said."

"Jade's single largest customer is probably Ali Alshalkmi, a Tampa-based commercial investment broker who bought 10 homes from Jade for family and as investments. He figures he is at risk for more than $3 million. 'I don't think they've actually done anything,' Alshalkmi said of Jade managers. 'They're buying time.'"

"Jade's president, Andrew Coles, has lost weight since the Jade furor surfaced. He also has had a 'lot of sleepless nights.'"

"Coles expected the real estate market to slow down, 'but not so rapidly.' Jade's failure was a by-product of the 'phenomenal growth' of the past three years, Coles said. He said he built a business to handle high volume and found it 'tough to readjust the scale' in time to avert financial collapse."

"When asked his greatest regret, Coles stared off into the distance for a full two minutes. 'It's a tough question,' he said. 'Not reacting quick enough to a change in the market. You always think next month it'll get better.'"