The Record reports from New Jersey. "Two years ago, builder Meron Sason paid $1.5 million for a small Cape Cod on a wooded lot in Saddle River, tore down the home, and started to build a luxury stone-and-cedar house. Now, with the new six-bedroom house on the market for $3.87 million, Sason has run smack up against the reality of a new housing market."

"The supply of houses in North Jersey with an asking price of $2.5 million or more is so high that it would take about 2½ years, at the current sales pace, to sell them all, said Jeffrey Otteau, an East Brunswick real estate appraiser."

"Sason is afraid he may not be able to sell the house at a profit. 'When we started, we thought we'd be able to sell for $4.5 million,' Sason said. 'Then, the profit would have been OK.'"

The Baltimore Sun from Maryland. "Last year was a turning point, the region's first full year of deceleration after a string of double-digit annual increases that had boosted average prices 80 percent since 2001. Listings have mounted, more homes are sitting vacant and some homeowners are juggling two mortgages."

"Frances Bond got blindsided by the turn in the market when she bought a townhouse condominium last summer, never dreaming it would take months to sell her Stoneleigh home of 41 years. She listed the Baltimore County property in July, didn't get a contract until December and won't settle until Wednesday."

"'I could not believe my sense of timing was so poor,' said Bond, 'because when I bought the condo, I didn't quibble whatsoever. She was asking for a certain price, and I said, 'OK, I'll take it.'"

"Sales plummeted more than 20 percent in the county section of her ZIP code last year. For a while, she despaired. She buried not one but two statues of St. Joseph in her yard. In the end, Bond lowered her price about $68,000 to $482,000, not as much as she had expected."

"Melanie Kelleher put her family's Canton home on the market in June after buying a new house in Baltimore County. Despite the Canton home's Jacuzzi tubs, marble floors and rooftop deck, it got no offers until last month, after she had dropped the price three times, $76,000 in all. She sold it for $353,000, relieved to stop paying two mortgages."

"The average price rose 3 percent in Canton last year, but Kelleher thinks values really declined when comparing similar homes. Hers was appraised at just over $400,000 in fall 2005."

The Tribune Review from Pennsylvania. "The steady, stable Pittsburgh area housing market hasn't suffered the bumps and bruises that have battered other, higher-flying U.S. markets and the nation as a whole. 'There definitely has been no burst of the housing bubble in Pittsburgh, because we haven't had a housing boom,' said George Hackett, current board president of West Penn Multi-List Inc."

"Veteran real estate agent Lou Ryan listed a home at 132 E. Crafton Ave., Crafton for sale twice and sold three times, each time for an increased price. 'The first time, I sold it for $93,500 in 1990,' she said. 'Then, in 2003 it sold again, this time for $134,000.'"

"The next time, she listed the home in February 2004 and just over a month later had an agreement to sell it to the current owners for $175,000."

"Richard DeKaser, chief economist for National City Corp., oversees compilation of a national survey that at the end of the third quarter of 2006 found the Pittsburgh market to be 3 percent 'undervalued,' and thus at little risk for a major fall."

"'That doesn't mean prices are not soft,' he said. 'In fact, they are.'"

From WCPO 9 in Ohio. "If you own a house, you need to know that a lot of homeowners are finding it harder to hold on to that home. The foreclosure rate is so staggering in the Buckeye State, it's being called an 'epidemic,' and it's effecting even those of you who can afford your home."

"John Hamilton has made a second career out of buying foreclosed houses and fixing them up for renters. 'It was like once every three weeks an auction,' said John Hamilton with J&D Heritage Investments. 'Now, it's like every week and sometimes twice a week.'"

"The 9News investigation showed about 200 houses were foreclosed in Butler County in 1995. In 2006, the number jumped 550% to 1,300. The situation is similar in Hamilton County, where in 1995 there were 1,300 foreclosures. In 2006, there were 5,700."

The Dayton Daily News from Ohio. "Homes sale prices in the Dayton market have reached a three-year low, according to the Dayton Area Board of Realtors."

"In January, 2,460 homes were placed on the local market, for a total of 8,919 homes, up 192 units from December's listing. The Miami Valley experienced a 5-year high for inventory figures in November, when 9,656 homes remained on the market."

"'We've had a special blend of problems here with foreclosures ..., but what has been at the forefront is the very large inventory which is problematic for home prices,' said analyst Barry James. 'Locally, the problem has been that we had so much building going on for so long.'"

"Officials with the Home Builders Association of Dayton and Miami Valley have said builders have stopped building homes on speculation due to the large number of unsold homes. 'To a large extent, I think we've gone through what the rest of the country is getting ready to go through, and in our opinion, we're not in the dire straits other places will be,' James said."