The Boston Globe reports from Massachusetts. "When Stephanie Ward-Wilson put her Norwell home on the market for $820,000 last January, she never dreamed she'd have to go through more than one cold dark winter with a 'for sale' sign on her front lawn."

"'It was a very slow winter last year, especially the part of the winter that our house was on the market,' she said. 'We'll leave the house on the market as long as we continue to have activity. If not, we'll have to take it off. We have hit rock bottom on our price.'"

"The coming winter threatens to deliver another blow to home sellers who are struggling through a slow real estate market. Buyers for the most part seem to hibernate during this period. Just the uncertainty surrounding the status of the house, the financial worry and dread that looms over an anxious seller, risks disturbing an otherwise cheery holiday period."

"Despite well-attended open houses, Ward-Wilson has not had a single offer on her four-bedroom Colonial. She acknowledged the house was 'way overpriced' initially, but has since lowered it nearly 15 percent, to $699,000."

"'I think a lot of buyers have been sitting back and watching to see how low the prices could go. Well, this is it,' she said. 'Hopefully, they'll see that this is actually a great time to buy.'"

"Maybe so. But brokers said that sellers also have to make the most of this period, and, if they haven't already, reprice their homes to reflect the lower adjustments in the market."

"But a big obstacle in the current market is that many potential buyers are themselves also sellers, and so may be reluctant to purchase a new home if they fear they can't sell their old one."

"That did not stop Amy Green from purchasing her 'dream home' in Kingston recently. Now she is putting her current home, also in Kingston, on the market this month. She is planning to meet with her realtor and said she will 'price it to sell,' since she wants to move into her new home in January."

"'Of course there is always the risk -- even if the house is well-priced -- that it won't sell as fast as you want it to during the holiday season,' said Green. 'For me, it was such a great time to buy that I didn't want to miss out. It was a risk worth taking.'"

"Mike Spinelli has already moved out of his Windham, N.H., home, which is for sale for $899,000, but is confident the sprawling six-bedroom property will sell before the deep freeze sets in. 'First, this house is worth well over a million dollars and everyone knows it,' he said. 'Second, I'm planning on offering the buyer $10,000 cash -- more or less -- depending upon the final sale price. In a soft market, you need gimmicks.'"

The Patriot Ledger. "Fetching a seven-figure price in a housing downturn takes more than just hiring a real estate agent and scheduling an open house. Some sellers are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on renovations and hiring 'home stagers' to make their properties more attractive to potential buyers."

"'You have to go the extra mile in this market,' said (realtor) Gail Bell in Hingham. 'The home has to be priced perfectly, and it has to show perfectly.'"

"After originally listing the property at $1.6 million, developer John Nestel has shaved his asking price to $1.2 million in a nod to the local competition among luxury properties. There are 35 $1 million-plus listings on the market in Cohasset. 'Two years ago, this house would have flown off the market at $1.6 million,' Bell said."

The Eagle Tribune. "Isabel Frias thought she was buying a home. Instead, she found herself saddled with a $3,000-a-month mortgage she could not pay working for $9 an hour. Eventually, Frias was forced into foreclosure on the three-family house on Andover Street."

"'It was a dream to buy a house in the U.S.,' Frias told a group of bankers, state legislators and city and state officials."

"She is not alone. So far this year, 236 buildings, mostly homes, have gone into foreclosure in the city. That's up 20 percent from last year. As recently as 2003, only 56 foreclosures were filed in the city."

"'We've created a monster,' said Peter Milewski, director of the mortgage insurance fund for MassHousing. 'Credit is now readily available, but at what cost and what consequence?'"

"Juan Bonilla, a home ownership counselor for Lawrence Community Works, said many of the people he works with, who are unable to pay their mortgage, had no concept of what they were signing up for. 'The common theme is, 'I didn't realize that I had an adjustable-rate mortgage. I didn't even know what an adjustable-rate mortgage was. I didn't realize I had an interest-only loan,' Bonilla said."