The News Press reports from Florida. "The desperation may not be so obvious these days, but as the real estate market cools, some people are turning to auctioneers as a way to unload property they want, or need, to dispose of. As the once red-hot real estate market chills in Florida and other states, more houses are for sale, about 12,000 in Lee County, and area auctioneers are beginning to see more business."

"Neal Van De Ree, who heads Venice-based Auctions by VanDeRee, says he's added more phone lines and almost doubled his staff to 20 because of interest in the service, including from Lee and Collier counties."

"'We work with Realtors on a regular basis, because a lot of them have seen what has happened to the market in Florida with the exception of Tallahassee and Jacksonville,' says Van De Ree, who, as required by Florida law, is also a licensed Realtor. 'It's a bad market for people who bought in the last year or two and instead of making money they are looking at losing money.'"

"Van De Ree, who estimates it could take two years or more for the real estate market to stabilize, says his clients range from retirees, 'to regular people who are needing or wishing to sell and then the investors who were in the marketplace to make a profit but are now seeing losses. A lot of those are blue collar workers who saw all the money being made and thought they could get a piece of that market and are now looking at losing their retirement and everything else.'"

"Some of those customers include fellow Realtors. 'I heard from one Realtor who had three houses that were about to be completed and he called and wanted me to help sell them, to just stop the damage,' says Dan Mahaney who operates Luxury Auction Group from offices on Sanibel Island and Indianapolis. 'I think these auctions will continue, based on the amount of calls we are getting.'"

"While there are more auctions in the area, including a recent group sale in Naples that was slated to sell 45 prime properties, many local Realtors say it's not yet affecting their business."

"'I think some people get discouraged by them,' says Lynette Schwab, owner-broker in Cape Coral. 'I know of one house that was listed at $1.8 million then it was suggested they do an auction and put it up at $999,999 and that's kind of misleading because they turned down a bid of $1.2 million.'"

"Even Mahaney, who recently opened an office in the Boston area and is looking into going into California as well, says some would-be sellers still aren't aware of just how much the market has changed or how to market what they have. 'A lot of people can't afford to auction a property,' he says. 'They have to pay for the marketing and if you take a property to market that is not going to sell, it's a waste of time and money.'"

"As more owners want to make residences available to renters, condominium and homeowners' associations are having to decide whether to allow rentals."

"'What we see now in large complexes is an extremely high percentage of people who bought to flip them,' said Joe Adams, a Fort Myers-based attorney (who) represents many condominium and homeowners' associations. 'Obviously they want to get some cash flow out of it while they hold them,' said Adams."

"Some financial institutions such as Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae won't offer loans in condos with more than 50 percent renters, he said."

The Sun Sentinel. "For more than four years we've been growing and adding jobs at a pace envied by the nation. It's an expansion cycle that started in October 2002. The tourists came back and the housing market took off. But in the world of economic cycles, every beginning has an end. It's just a matter of when and a question of how."

"Perhaps the most immediate threat comes from the housing market, whose red-hot growth has generated high-paying jobs and a massive surge in personal wealth in the form of home equity. 'If there is a soft underbelly to the Central Florida economy, that's where it is,' said economist Mark Zandi."

"Investors have quit snapping up homes, removing much of the pressure that once pushed prices upward every month. Now homes are piling up, with more than 20,000 existing homes in the inventory pool, compared with less than 4,000 two years ago."

"The biggest worry is a mass exodus of investors, they may have stopped buying, but many of them are still holding onto their last purchases. 'They aren't panicking and selling at a big discount,' Zandi said. 'At least not yet.'"

"A crash of the housing market would ripple throughout the economy and its job machine, eliminating the need for some of the higher paying jobs it creates, including construction workers, real estate agents and a host of financial services workers."

"'You would see a screeching slowdown, if not a halt in the job market,' said Bruce Nissen, economist at Florida International University. 'Suddenly, we'd have all these unemployed construction workers sitting around.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "Florida-based WCI Communities reports that third-quarter orders for 'tower homes' (that means 'condos' in WCI-speak) were a negative four compared with the third quarter of last year."

"'That is, cancellations exceeded gross orders,' said analyst Thomas Lawler of Lawler Economic & Housing Consulting in Vienna, Va. 'I'm not sure I've ever seen that,' Lawler added. 'What's scary is that cancellations are occurring on orders placed in the latter part of 2004, which should give you an idea how bad that market is.'"