What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Are prices falling? "Tucson home sales and prices fell during December, while days on the market rose, all evidence of a continuing slowdown in the local housing market. That means the market is improving for buyers, they have more negotiating leverage, and sellers may not make as much as expected on the sale of their homes."

"Median home price fell $3,000 from November to $215,000, an indication that sellers are dropping their prices, according to a report issued today by the Tucson Association of Realtors."

From North Carolina. "Sales of existing homes fell for a third consecutive month in December as the Triangle's housing market continued to weaken. Compared with a year ago, buyers closed on 13 percent fewer homes, the inventory of unsold homes rose 6 percent and the number of sellers cutting their listing price to lure buyers jumped 7.5 percent, according to the Triangle MLS."

"'Now we can say the Triangle has joined the rest of the country with a declining housing market,' said Michael Helmar, an economist for Moody's Economy.com. 'Sales are actually lower, not just growing slower than they were.'"

The latest legal action? "Despite a flurry of convictions that have included 15 local mortgage brokers, nine loan officers and six appraisers, fraudulent home loan deals continue to fuel Indianapolis' high foreclosure rate."

"Michael Smith is the 58th person convicted of fraud since a federal task force convened to look into real estate fraud in central Indiana, U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks' office reported. Those schemes have depressed property values for nearby homeowners, cost lenders more than $40 million and riddled neighborhoods with abandoned houses, aggravating problems in older, deteriorating neighborhoods."

"'There are so many of these foreclosures. But they're in small quantities. No one is watching,' said Indianapolis real estate agent Margaret Huddleson."

"Phillip Hill and 11 co-defendants were crowded with their attorneys in the large ceremonial courtroom at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building, making the start of the trial look more like a business seminar. That courtroom was the only one that could accommodate the overstocked defendant pool in a trial that is expected to take three months."

"Hill, a real estate developer, is charged with overseeing an enterprise where he used 'straw' buyers to lend their names to purchase properties that he then resold for much higher, and artificially large, amounts, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Nelan told jurors."

"Hill would then pocket the money and the properties would usually go into foreclosure, prosecutors alleged. To pull off the scam, Hill, who has pleaded not guilty, needed a team of appraisers, attorneys, brokers, recruiters and straw buyers working in concert, Nelan said."

"Prosecutors told the jurors that Hill's enterprise 'flipped' more than 50 houses and 250 condominiums in the metro Atlanta area."