The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "More and more sellers in Southwest Florida are coming to the conclusion that the only way to attract buyers in a sagging real estate market is by slashing prices. Serial condo converter Matt Kihnke is now offering one-bedroom Bradenton apartments for $99,900."

"And price is everything right now, said Ross Bryans, who is helping Kihnke sell the converted units. What a change from the frothy exuberance of early 2005."

"Kihnke started selling the units in the late summer of 2005. Eighteen months later, about 30 percent of the units remain unsold. 'Some of them are the best units, the ones with water views,' Kihnke said. 'We kept them because they were set at the highest prices, but we have had to come down in price.'"

"Units that were listed at $169,900 are now on the market for $129,900."

"Bryans said the reason Garden Walk apartments sold so much faster than units at The Sanctuary is that most of Garden Walk's buyers were investors looking to cash in on the rapid appreciation of Southwest Florida real estate."

"By late summer 2005, those investors had vanished, and Bryans and Petitti had to begin the slow, arduous process of marketing dwellings to first-time home buyers. 'We're now selling four a month, compared to 40 a month at the peak,' Bryans said."

"Even with these incentives, however, Bryans and and his partner, John Petitti say it is difficult to get people to check out their product. That's why they have been raffling off flat-screen televisions and laptop computers to get people to tour the property, and why Kihnke has upped broker commissions from 2 percent to 5 percent."

"'Everyone in the market is offering incentives. We have to do it too,' Kihnke said."

The St Petersburg Times. "Prospective new home buyers are learning they don't have to settle for low-dough incentives like granite countertops. Now available in the Tampa Bay area: college tuition with a new home purchase and a condo/yacht deal."

"'I've never seen incentives like this,' said Carlos A. Fuentes, president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors."

"Elsewhere, home builder Taylor Woodrow will contribute $11,000 to the Florida Prepaid College Plan on that buyer's behalf for each new home buyer in the company's six Tampa Bay area developments."

"Lonnie Herman, VP for the company's Central Florida division, said it used to be that having Taylor Woodrow as your builder was enough incentive to buy. But with inventories bulging, there were more than 17,000 condos, townhomes and single-family homes on the market in Hillsborough County in December, compared with 7,800 a year earlier, things have changed."

The Palm Beach Post. "Remember when snagging a pre-construction deal was prize enough for hungry home buyers? Now developers are offering free plasma televisions and hosting elaborate soirées - just to get prospective buyers and agents in the door."

"Verano, a 6,300-home development planned for western Port St. Lucie, is marketing its Sunday grand opening as a 'Venetian-style street festival,' with hopes of drawing traffic to its model homes."

"'This is the best way to do it: Have a little party,' said Craig Perna, president of the West Palm Beach developer behind Verano. Is he worried about the more than 1,200 completed new homes already sitting vacant in the county?"

"Just after reporting a record loss on Monday, Coast Bank of Florida announced that it had hired a longtime Sarasota banker as a 'special adviser.' Tramm Hudson will work with Coast's board and senior management in dealing with the loan fiasco that has shaken Coast's financial condition and threatened its future."

"Coast funded $110 million in loans to nearly 500 borrowers, many of them speculators, who were building homes with CCI, a St. Petersburg company that has suspended operations."

"'The regulators are concerned about the situation, but they have, in my estimation, been very supportive of the bank's effort to address the loan issue,' he said. 'They've recognized that this is symptomatic of the overall depression in the real estate market.'"

"A key question is, why did the bank's management and directors allow 20 percent of Coast's loans to go to borrowers doing business with CCI?"

"'Sometimes bankers can get lulled to sleep with their residential portfolios,' Hudson said. 'Everyone feels a residential loan is the safest loan they can make because it is secured by someone's home.'"

The Bradenton Herald. "Coast Bank officials must prepare a year-end financial statement by mid-March. The bank must meet a Securities and Exchange Commission filing deadline giving its earnings results for the 2006 fiscal year. Chances are, the report won't be pretty."

"Coast Bank will likely have to add to its reserves to cover potential loan defaults as a result of the CCI deals. Increasing the reserves could seriously erode the bank's bottom line even further, said banking analyst James Schutz. 'It will be a bigger loss than they would have normally had,' Schutz said."

"On Sept. 30, Coast Bank's provision for loan losses was $3.7 million, according to SEC filings. Schutz said there is no rule of thumb governing how much of an increase in the reserve account would be needed to cover any potential losses from the $110 million worth of loans. Roughly $66 million has been disbursed so far."

"'In my career, I've seen a number of banks get into trouble and work their way out,' Hudson said. 'I've also seen banks that have been very orderly transferred with the FDIC's assistance to other banks. I think it's a reflection of the tough economic time we have right now in the residential real estate market.'"

The Orlando Sentinel. "The pace of new-home construction continued to slow in Central Florida during the fourth quarter, with housing starts falling 37 percent from the same period a year ago, a new survey found."

"Metrostudy said work started on 5,281 single-family homes in the final three months of last year, down from 8,443 in the same period a year earlier and 6,853 in the third quarter of last year."

"The region's inventory of new homes declined nearly 10 percent at the end of last year, to 19,808 units, or a 7.7-month supply. The 'finished, vacant' category doubled, to 8,867 units, while the number of homes under construction dropped 40 percent to 10,129."

"The industry has plenty of challenges, said Anthony Crocco, director of Metrostudy's Central Florida and Northeast divisions. 'Contract cancellations are still high,' he said, and competition from the huge inventory of used homes for sale remains a barrier to any rebound for builders."

The Sun Sentinel. "Las Olas Riverfront may be dying, but it ain't dead yet. 'People think the place is being torn down or is torn down,' said Laura Richards, owner of shoe boutique Beach Soles."

"Riverfront's owner wants to add towers of hotel, condo and office space, even though the current condo market is down. According to the Florida Association of Realtors, local condo sales declined by 36 percent in 2006. The 28 retailers left in the half-occupied real estate wait. Meanwhile, they deal with shrinking clientele and short-term leases as they consider their options."

"Planners blame markets and structural design. Visitors blame too little parking and too many shuttered stores. Business owners blame lack of advertising and negative publicity. They all agree there aren't enough upscale clients. Bring back the high-end stores and the shoppers who 'come here in boats with money,' Merv Brody said."

"But store owners won't come if scared away by short-term leases, he said. Landlords offer only six-month leases because they want to have the freedom to quickly begin converting the property if the city approves the new plans, Brody said."

"Jason Kamerer, the owner of Atmosphere Coffee Bar, said his last lease for an outlet in Philadelphia was signed for three years. 'I was surprised by the six-months thing. I mean, it's a lot of money to put into a place to get furniture and the equipment, you know?' he said."

"Kamerer's coffee shop is probably the third or fourth incarnation in the same location, said customer Linda Pearson from Lauderhill. 'The whole area has fizzled out,' she said. Pearson said she wishes more people would show up so the owners wouldn't have to close the hangout she and her husband visit monthly."