The LA Times reports from California. "Monica Wilson loves her vacation home, an ocean-view condo within walking distance of the beach in Carlsbad, Calif. She paid $620,000 for the place 13 months ago. But since then, the California vacation-home market has gone soft. 'If I sold my second home right now, it wouldn't do very well,' the Pasadena-based real estate agent said."

"Sales of second homes in California's top vacation markets dropped 37% in 2006 from the year before, another consequence of the state's overall housing slowdown, according to data released by DataQuick."

"Second-home sales in California peaked in 2004, when 24,916 transactions were made. That also happened to be the peak year for all home sales in the state. Vacation-market sales started to slow in 2005."

"Even popular, out-of-state markets are getting less interest from Californians. In 2006, Phoenix home sales to Californians fell 50%, and Las Vegas sales dropped 32%, DataQuick said."

The Press Enterprise. "The state's three major second-home markets all saw a similar drop-off: In the Palm Springs area, sales fell 38.4 percent; in the Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear region, they declined 37.3 percent; and in the Sierra mountains and foothill communities, sales plunged 34.7 percent, DataQuick said."

"The slowdown means there are more homes on the market for buyers, said (realtor) Debby Williams in Palm Springs. 'They are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of inventory on the market today, and it's causing them to take longer to make decisions on what to buy,' said Williams."

"'That has changed since 2004 and 2005, when it was almost like a knee-jerk reaction. You saw it, you bought it, because you knew it wouldn't last long,' she added."

From KSBY 6. "The median home price on Santa Barbara County's South Coast is more than $1.1 million. But the 'for sale' signs are staying up a bit longer than they used to. 'We are seeing fewer sales and higher sales, but just a gradual price adjustment,' says realtor Bruce Fisher."

"Some sellers are dropping their asking price, but not dramatically. 'It's in recession,' says economist Mark Schniepp. 'There is not a lot of sales going on and buyers are on the sidelines waiting for further corrections. And sellers do not want to drop their prices. So, there's a stalemate occurring.'"

The Sacramento Bee. "The dive in new-home construction around Lincoln has created a monster for a small school district, as developers' fees slow to a trickle and the interest mounts daily on $189 million that the district borrowed to build new schools."

"The result of the downturn is a 'staggering' amount of debt for Western Placer Unified School District, and the day of reckoning has arrived, according to a report presented to the school board Tuesday night."

"So far this year, only $370,000 in developers' fees have materialized of the $2 million anticipated. 'Something that popped out and hit me right between the eyes is the huge debt,' said private consultant Curt Pollock, the report's author."

"At the heart of the crisis, Pollock said, is the district's dependence on certificates of participation. With their adjustable interest rates, these 30-year certificates typically are used for short-term cash flow rather than long-term solutions."

"They use the schools themselves as collateral. 'I have to say that we issued more COP debt than we should have. We should have looked for other revenues or slowed down the growth. Of course, that's easy to say in hindsight,' said Carrie Carlson, the school district's assistant superintendent for business services."

"'The projections were that we were going to continue with this nice growth, and our projections were wrong,' said Former Superintendent Roger Yohe. 'Had the housing market not dropped off so fast and so dramatically, I don't think we'd be in the situation we're in,' Yohe said."

The Modesto Bee. "Last year was tough for new home builders in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. New single-family home sales in 2006 declined 44.9 percent in Stanislaus County, 50.5 percent in Merced County and 27.4 percent in San Joaquin County compared with 2005."

"'For us, 2006 was the slowest year since at least 1995,' said Mark Wilbur, co-owner of McRoy-Wilbur Communities Inc. in Modesto, which has been building homes since 1983. 'It wasn't a fun year.'"

"Sales swings are part of the cyclical nature of the new home market, said Bill Zoslocki, president of the Building Industry Association of Central California. After nearly six years of robust sales, the 2006 downturn was a predictable market correction, Zoslocki said."

"Buyers are reluctant to purchase homes if they think prices are going to fall, Zoslocki said. 'For those who are courageous, now is the time to buy because sellers are making deals,' Zoslocki. said."

"New home building permits dropped 49.2 percent in 2006 for Stanislaus compared with 2005. Permits dropped 41.2 percent in Merced, 42.5 percent in San Joaquin and 31.1 percent statewide. Because fewer homes are being built and fewer are proposed for development in the near future, construction jobs are declining."

The Examiner. "Geoffrey Craighead has been a Realtor for 26 years, and was recently elected 2007 president of the San Mateo County Association of Realtors trade group."

"One of the first challenges Craighead will face is the sheer number of real estate licensees in the Bay Area. In 2006, California Association of Realtors VP and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young noted that all of the real estate work done in the previous year could have been done by 70,000 Realtors. There are 514,000 people who hold real estate licenses in the Bay Area."

"Craighead expects to face a drop in membership. 'We’ve got about 3,300 members now,' he said, 'but we’re anticipating about a 12 percent drop this year.' Fifty percent of Samcar members haven’t sold a house in the past year; and the next 25 percent have sold four or fewer houses. To meet expenses, a Realtor needs to sell about five houses a year."

"There is also the older generation of Realtors, many of whom Craighead expects to retire. According to Craighead, older Realtors have been through enough near-disasters in the market not to want to push it any further. According to Craighead, a lot of the old-timers aren’t willing to go through a recession again."