MyFox Tampa Bay reports from Florida. "In the 18 years Roz Fenton's worked at the Pasco Clerk of Courts Office, she's never seen this. 'At least 60 foreclosure sales a week,' she said. The files and files just seem to keep growing. 'We've had more overtime in the office. We've had to pull in additional sources to help with the overload in the area,' she explained."

"'You had a lot of investors that speculated and came in and bought properties thinking property values were going to keep escalating,' said real estate investor Scott Wheeler. 'Adjustable rates adjust, and they are consistently adjusting up at this point in time, and those homeowners would never have been qualified under the existing rates,' he said."

"Back at the Pasco clerk's office, two weeks worth of foreclosure files are set to be sold at auction on the courthouse steps. 'We conduct sales twice a week frequently. We'll have as many as 10 to 15 sales each time,' said Fenton."

The Orlando Sentinel. "Consolidation within the home-building business has slowed dramatically, but the pace should pick up again in about a year, and some markets, including Florida, could see a 'feeding frenzy,' industry experts said Friday at the International Builders' Show in Orlando."

"'Land is an issue,' said Gopal Ahluwalia, VP of research for the National Association of Home Builders, as many builders have been canceling options on property or selling off tracts as demand for new homes has slackened."

"Many large builders are willing to walk away from undeveloped property now because they are betting they will be able to purchase 'better land at better prices' a year or so from now, said Michael Kahn, president of a Ponte Vedra Beach brokerage and consulting firm."

The News Journal. "Trying to determine where home sales will be the hottest this year depends on whom you ask. 'It's a little early to tell, but indications are it will be in the West Volusia area,' said Tim Durkin, president of Mercedes Homes' Volusia-Flagler division. 'It's pretty stagnant over there on the east side.'"

"Greg Antonich, a broker in Daytona Beach, said real estate agents lately have been dealing with 'real buyers' of existing homes, or people who plan to live in the homes rather than use them as investments."

"'Buyers are buying what they can afford,' Antonich said. 'Homes in the $175,000 to $225,000 range are what's moving, primarily in nice, existing subdivisions in good areas where prices have receded to where they were a few years ago.'"

"'Flagler is different. What's moving is existing inventory of new products built before the fall in the market,' Antonich said. 'All that has to be absorbed before other things will sell, and then they have to be at attractive pricing.'"

"Builders in Flagler County each have 30 to 40 'spec' houses, with no buyers lined up before construction, in the pipeline, he said. 'Hundreds of spec homes are moving, once incentives are added on,' he said."

"Sales at the Plaza Resort and Spa were in condominium-hotels, the units of which are rented like hotel rooms when the owners aren't using them. As reported in The News-Journal last month, more than 25 area properties with about 3,200 rooms are condo-hotels, and more are planned."

"The Plaza Resort and Spa, bought by Ocean Waters Development partners Charles Bray and Joseph Gillespie in the late 1990s, was converted into a condo-hotel as the two poured $70 million in renovations into it."

"The partners own 69 properties so far, with two huge condo-hotels on the drawing board: the 33-story Blu and the 42-story Grand will replace about a half-dozen Ocean Waters properties on the beachside."

An editorial at the Palm Beach Post. "Gov. Crist is making good on his campaign promises to save the Florida homeowner. Yet, one crucial ingredient of a comprehensive plan to save the state's real-estate industry still is missing and not being discussed. Foreclosures in Florida are at their highest rates in years."

"Many homeowners and investors are victims of 'exotic' mortgages, which allowed them to purchase properties with little money down."

"Since it takes much longer to sell a home in a depressed market, and most of these people have lost the equity in their homes due to recent depreciation of values and negative amortizations, many people in foreclosure have no alternative but to go into bankruptcy. High pre-payment penalties make it hard to refinance."

"In this crisis, the governor and the Legislature need to slow down the foreclosure process, eliminate or limit prepayment penalties and protect the consumer by slowing down the real-estate closing process."

The Sun Sentinel. "Florida budget writers were handed grim news Friday, with a new report showing state tax collections falling far short of expectations. The report showed that January general revenue collections fell $108 million short of estimates. The plunge in sales tax receipts was especially dramatic, falling almost $71 million."

"For the past three months, general revenue collections are nearly $160 million below projections. Amy Baker, the coordinator for the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, attributed the drop in sales taxes to a 'spillover effect' from a slumping housing market."

"With fewer new homes being built and sold, sales of everything from shingles and sheet metal to washers and dryers are suffering, she said. '[That] is having some feedback into sales taxes,' Baker said."

The Tampa Tribune. "Seventy-eight days. That's the average length of time Hillsborough County real estate agents report it's taking to sell their clients' homes. That may not be accurate, however."

"A flaw in the computer system that tracks listing data allowed agents to shield from buyers a clear picture of how long a property has been on the market, according to the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors."

"'Some agents were somewhat deceptive and massaged the numbers so it would look like they sold the property in two days,' said Brad Monroe who sits on the board of the Mid-Florida Regional MLS. 'This is false advertising.'"

"Consider the recent listing of this home in the Cheval neighborhood: The home originally was on the market for 161 days priced at $899,950. The listing was withdrawn, and then the home relisted for $799,950. It sold 34 days later for $793,500."

"The MLS showed 34 days as the total number of days on the market, instead of the accurate 195 days. This kind of relisting skews the data two ways, said Tom Scaglione, president of the regional MLS. First, an inaccurate figure for days on the market was recorded. Plus, the data shows the home sold at 99 percent of the list price, when it actually sold for 88 percent of the starting list price."

"Brenda Wade, an agent in Brandon, said she understands why agents want their listings to look new and has re-entered listings in the MLS herself in the past. Wade said she would wait until a listing expired and enter it back into the system, resetting the 'days on market' field, instead of extending the listing."

"'It can be to the advantage of your seller,' Wade said. 'But it's not good for statistical purposes.'"

"The Mid-Florida Regional MLS, changed the system in December to add a new field including the 'cumulative days on market' in information sent to buyers and sellers. Now, relisting a home won't reset this counter. The only way to reset it is to wait at least 60 days before putting the home listing back in the MLS system."

"In another change, it is now a professional violation for agents and brokers working for the same company to relist a property, unless it's been off the market for 60 days."

"With a record number of existing homes on the market for sale, 17,154 in Hillsborough County alone, accurate information is important for buying or selling a home, Scaglione said."