The TC Palm reports from Florida. "New vacant homes in St. Lucie County reached record levels during the fourth quarter of 2006, while the construction of new homes dropped 50 percent in Martin and Indian River counties, a quarterly housing report showed Thursday."

"The report by Metrostudy stated that at the current rate of buyer demand it would take nine months before 1,229 unoccupied homes built last year in St. Lucie County would be absorbed by the market. The supply is the highest ever recorded for the county."

"'In our analysis, we see a continuing trend of sales occurring only at the low and high ends of the price spectrum,' said (broker) Sally Daley in Vero Beach. 'In January for example, no barrier island homes were sold between $600 to $2.3 Million, yet this price bracket represents a whopping 58 percent of inventory for sale on the island.'"

"A falloff in (Port St. Lucie) property value increases has forced city officials to scramble to balance the budget. Three years of record property tax values threw off city officials' revenue projections. Officials also were surprised by a substantial drop in building fees because of the cooling housing market."

"As a result, City Hall will face departmental cutbacks and trim costs to keep the budget balanced. 'This is the first time in a decade we have seen this amount of cutbacks,' Office of Management & Budget Director David Pollard said. 'We didn't expect it (the housing market) to slow down this much.'"

The Herald Tribune. "Coast Bank is unlikely to fail, but with the potential for an FDIC-induced discount-price sale, it could become the first banking casualty of the housing bubble, says a well known Miami banking analyst."

"Independent analyst Ken Thomas believes that it was likely the federal agency that encouraged the bank's Bradenton-based parent, Coast Financial Holdings Inc., to hire investment banking firm Sandler O'Neill & Partners to explore options."

"'The FDIC does not want its first failure in years, so they likely encouraged the board to hire Sandler O'Neill who, as we speak, probably has many banks doing due diligence,' Thomas said."

"Coast may face a loss of $20 million to $30 million, a major hit on its 'already thin' capital of $51 million, Thomas said."

"Coast made 482 loans on Southwest Florida properties whose owners were building homes with CCI. Most were for less than $250,000, not the kind of loan to require board review."

"But local bankers say the fact that all the borrowers were dealing with a single builder should have raised red flags long ago. 'That's where somebody dropped the ball,' said a long-time Sarasota banker. 'Somebody didn't put two and two together.'"

"The house of cards that Neil Mohamad Husani and Michael Tringali built during the height of the real estate boom has finally been flattened. Husani left the country in March after the FBI launched an investigation into the presentation of false documents to at least two banks."

"One of the properties that changed hands is a parcel on Tamiami Trail in the heart of downtown Sarasota where Tringali, Husani and a third partner, Robert Martin, had planned to build a $125 million condo tower."

"'Mike and I lost our asses. We lost a ton of money,' said Martin. 'That's what happens.'"

The News Journal. "The Emerald Shores hotel has postponed plans to sell its 82 rooms as condominium units, hotel representatives confirmed."

"Henry Perfilio, an agent with the Condo Hotel Center in North Miami, said units at the property were removed from the condo hotel market earlier this month. A hotel manager said the owners, an investment group based in Charleston, S.C., have put their conversion plan on hold until next year."

"The hotel had announced last April that its units would be available for purchase by individuals at $170,000 each."

The Venice Gondolier. "Wednesday was the deadline for members of Venice Area Board of Realtors Inc. to pay their dues. Of 919 members, 699 renewed, according to VABR Executive VP Marlene Merkle."

"That's a 25-percent drop in membership. 'We had 143 Realtors resign, and another 76 are in limbo,' Merkle said. She estimates half the real estate salespeople in Florida don't belong to their local board of Realtors."

"Still, anecdotal evidence shows a significant number of those selling real estate are getting out of the business. One Englewood realty firm went from 10 employees down to one within six months last summer. 'I think a lot of people who were in it to sell one or two houses a year, or were trying to make a quick buck. They are the ones leaving, for the most part,' Merkle said."

The Tampa Tribune. "A Brandon mortgage broker and his longtime friend face felony charges stemming from allegations he defrauded dozens of elderly residents and corporate lenders out of more than $408,000."

"Authorities arrested Michael W. Danish on Thursday morning at his home. He remained at Orient Road Jail late Thursday with bail set at $500,000. Investigators said that between 2002 and 2004, Danish bilked more than 40 victims with the help of Donna Whitlock, a Tampa title agent."

"Investigators said Danish targeted elderly, naive borrowers. He filled out loan papers supplied by Whitlock, who notarized loan documents without the borrowers present, investigators said."

"Joseph Wilson, a financial crimes investigator with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, said Whitlock told him she knew the practice was illegal but Danish asked her for a favor. It was 'common business practice for people you know,' Wilson said she told him."

"If convicted, Danish and Whitlock each face up to 65 years in prison and $825,000 in fines."

The Sun Times. "Because this housing 'fiasco' has now begun to take the forefront as possibly the single largest factor in the future of the U.S. economy, it is time for the real estate community to take action to save themselves as well as the economy as a whole."

"Recently, we spoke with a salesperson from one of the major developments right down the road from Marco Island, on the 951 corridor. He indicated that their projected sales for 2007 were down nearly 80 percent, that's right, 80 percent!"

"Compounding this statistic is that these numbers were 'projected' sales. This reveals the lack of confidence from the developers who, with their own assets at stake, must take a more realistic approach to what really lies ahead as opposed to the 'Pollyanna' forecasts by those with no financial liabilities to go with their sometimes unrealistic projections and promises."

"Perhaps if there were more liability for 'promises made vs. promises kept' in this particular industry, we might actually see a quicker resolution to what appears to be a protracted and prolonged recovery from the 'hangover' from 'too much, too soon.'"

"Nobody has all of the answers, but sometimes simple 'horse sense' can carry a great deal of weight. One idea to help stem the flow of negative pressure on the economy could very well be as simple as (apologies to the 'sacred cow') lowering the prices as opposed to thinking that we can outlast the markets by maintaining artificial and unsustainable prices from the markets peak of over two years ago."