The News Press reports from Florida. "Welcome to the post-boom world of Southwest Florida real estate, where builders compete for scarce customers by offering deep discounts and upgrades such as the Lees' pool. Home prices in Lee County have dropped sharply since December, when the median price of a single-family home peaked at an all-time high of $322,300."

"By August, that figure had fallen to $264,100, down 7 percent from $283,600 a year earlier. In Collier County, the median price in August was $469,100, down 6 percent from $500,800 a year earlier."

"Meanwhile, about 12,000 houses are on the market in Lee County, about three times the number from a year ago." "As a result, incentives have proliferated. 'That's the first thing builders do when the market softens,' said John McIlwain, with the Urban Land Institute. 'They don't want to reduce prices because it affects values and the market.'"

"'The prices are going to start coming down, but it's really hard for a builder to post a sign: 'Price reduced,' McIlwain said. 'That sends a bad message to the buyer. People wonder a couple of things: 'If I don't buy, will it come down next week,' or 'If I buy, now, if it comes down next week will I lose value?'"

"A builder's incentives can drastically reduce prices in a neighborhood. Real estate agent D. Michael Burke points to the Savona development in Grandezza where the average price of homes sold has dropped steadily from $668,975 in the fourth quarter of 2005 to $504,500 in the third quarter of 2006."

"'It's very difficult to compete with what they're doing,' Burke said."

"Sometimes a developer's incentives are used to compete with people who are trying to resell houses in a partially built community. Not everyone in the real-estate business thinks incentives other than price are a good idea."

"'We have a saying in our office,' said Rich Halpern, president of a Bonita Springs-based research firm. 'If your builder says he's giving you a refrigerator, go to his house and if his wife still has a refrigerator, he didn't give you a refrigerator, you're buying a refrigerator from him."

The Bradenton Herald. "The market is likely returning to where it was in 2002-03, and 'one can regard the market of 2004 and 2005 as an aberration,' said Dale Friedley of the Manatee County Property Appraiser's Office"

"Locally, home sales in September slid 37.2 percent from last year. Condo sales tumbled by 73.6 percent." "'

"It was unsustainable and I think we all knew that,' said Jan Smith, president of Jan Smith & Company."

"While 2002's real estate market was a healthy one, the market became saturated with condominiums during the past four years. 'There is not only oversaturation on the market, but condo sellers had this perception that these were solid gold and they could charge anything they wanted for them,' said Ken Miller, sales associate."

"It is not just the luxury market that has seen an influx of condos. The conversion of apartments to condos has flooded the more affordable market as well."

"There were several instances in which apartment complexes aimed to go condo only to find the market flattening before they could convert. After changing the name and doing some renovations, 210 Watermark in downtown Bradenton found the market too volatile and reverted back to a rental community."

The St Petersburg Times. "Needing millions of dollars to revive its stalled Trump Tower Tampa condominium project, developer SimDag LLC has sold off one of its chief assets: its headquarters building in downtown Tampa."

"The sales price was $280,000 less than SimDag's partners paid for the six-story office building in 2003, according to the Hillsborough County Property Appraisers office."

"Developers say they've collected nonrefundable deposits on 80 percent of the units, but construction on the building foundation has visibly slackened."

"'When they broke ground two or three months ago, there were probably 30-plus people working on the site. Now some mornings I come out and the gates are locked,' said Eric Bailey, an executive with the company for which the recently sold office building is named."

"Finding financing for what could be a landmark tower has proved elusive as lenders scurry from the slumping housing market. Construction overruns forced SimDag to hit depositors up for millions of extra dollars last winter."

"In August the Trump Organization announced it would wield its clout in the lending community to help SimDag negotiate a $200-million construction loan for the tower. Neither Tampa investment banker Robert Moreyra, president of Atlantic American Capital Advisors, nor SimDag chief executive Frank Dagostino returned calls from the St. Petersburg Times. Executives in Trump's New York offices could not be reached Wednesday for comment."