The Chippewa Herald reports from Wisconsin. "The housing market in Chippewa County has flipped. 'Home sales are definitely a little slow,' said real estate agent Jason Huebner. Fewer people are buying houses as investments, doing a quick remodel and sale commonly called a 'flip.' The people buying houses nowadays are buying them to live in them, said Huebner."

"There are an abundance of houses on the market. There’s 30 percent more housing inventory than last year, said Mark Fouts, president of the Realtors Association of Northwest Wisconsin. But, interestingly enough, there’s been a decline in the number of days that houses are on the market. 'The homes that are selling are selling more quickly,' Fouts said."

"Gone are the days during what was a five-year period when homesellers could make a big profit by merely putting a house on the market. 'The days of making exorbitant money on a house are done,' Huebner said. 'I think people are having to price their homes more appropriately,' he said."

"He said a good house in a good location that’s priced and marketed right will still sell in today’s market. 'Our spin on it is it’s a good time to buy,' Fouts said."

From Channel 3000 in Wisconsin. "Dane County alone had more than 5,500 homes on the market this October, which was up 49 percent from 2005 and more than doubled from 2004."

"Residents Jason and Larissa Decker said that they've had their home on the market for four months now. 'We've had 10 showings now,' said Decker. 'I understand the situation.'"

"Realtors said that the situation isn't that no one is interested, but there is more competition."

The Marietta Times from Ohio. "Home sales have fallen by about 10 percent around the state of Ohio, according to real estate market expert. Darlene Breen, president of the Ohio Association of Realtors, said the Ohio market was on an upswing for the last few years and now it is simply normalizing."

"Breen said with the upswing, many home sellers were overly optimistic about the profit they might see on their home. 'Things sort of went back to normal,' Breen said. 'But people did not make as much as they had expected.'"

"Lydia Donnelly, a broker in Marietta, said a lot of homes in the area are on the market because of foreclosures. 'One of the reasons we’re seeing a lot of houses on the market right now is because people have overextended themselves,' Donnelly said."

"She said predatory lending and especially zero down home equity loans have gotten home buyers in trouble. In 2005, almost 50,000 homes in Ohio were in foreclosure 'Some sellers owe more on the house than what they can sell it for,' Donnelly said."

"When Bobby Fitzgerald got a job transfer in September, he and his wife put their Devola house on the market. 'There were quite a few showings right at first, but lately we haven’t had as many. It’s a little slow here. The market seems dead,' Bobby Fitzgerald said of local real estate. 'We went through the entire month of November with no showings.'"

"Donnelly said right now buyers have their pick of homes in the area. 'Buyers are driving hard bargains right now,' she said. 'Bids are about 15 percent below the asking price.'"

"'Sometimes when people are enticed into home ownership with no money down, those people are really caught between a rock and a hard place,' said real estate agent Dan Jones. 'There’s an awful lot of borrowing going on.'"

"Jones also did not think the downturn in the local market was significant, although he did say there are more homes for sale this year. 'There’s a little bit of a downturn here but it’s very small,' he said. 'Marietta doesn’t go as the rest of the nation goes.'"