The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "Barbara Simons is furious with Murray Sherry, the outgoing board president of the south Sarasota complex, and with everybody else keeping her from holding an open house to get out from under the condominium she inherited from her mother, to her a half-million dollars on the hoof."

"Simons figures an open house or two could help the place compete for buyers. She listed her condo a year-and-a-half ago. Two price reductions, or $100,000 later, she still has no takers."

"The current price range on Pelican Cove listings is $219,000 to $599,000. The top used to be $699,000, says Pelican Cove resident and real estate agent Tony Lingrosso. 'There's only been one sold in January. Asking $285,000 and it sold for $210,000. It needed some improvement.'"

"Now, there are at least 65 units up for grabs, not counting For Sale by Owners. That works out to nearly 10 percent of the stock, a worrisome figure to sellers who are reaching out for fresh solutions."

From TC Palm. "Renters, take your pick: A two- bedroom apartment for $900 a month or a three-bedroom house with a garage and a yard for a little more."

"With investors struggling to sell off the Treasure Coast homes they had hoped to flip, many are putting them on the rental market. The influx is forcing apartment complexes to offer move-in specials to compete."

"'We lost a couple last week that found a three-bedroom house in Tradition for only $100 more,' said leasing specialist Sarah Strickland. 'It happens all the time. There is a lot of competition right now.'"

"With 40 vacancies in its luxury lot, the property management company is offering a half-a-month security deposit and last month free, Strickland said. In some cases, though, she said that more motivated owners are 'getting really creative' with incentives."

"The change in the rental market is slight and has happened over the past three to four months, said Casey Cummings, president of Ram Development. 'It has impacted us a bit,' Cummings said, adding that vacancy has dropped about 3 to 5 percentage points, but remains above 90 percent. Ram has started offering move-in specials, such as waived fees."

The Tampa Tribune. "Two buyers in the stalled Trump Tower Tampa condominium say it is impossible for developers to finish the 52-story tower by the time their contract mandates. The buyers want their money back and have sued to get out of the deal."

"The buyers' attorney, Thomas Long, said his clients don't believe the riverfront condo will be built and feel misled."

"'When you do a high-rise, particularly on land on the riverfront in a marshy area, you better make sure you can build it - before you start collecting the profits,' said Long."

"The suit says the buyers were lured into purchasing a $1.4 million condo because they believed Donald Trump owned 'a substantial stake' of the project. 'Donald Trump has boasted that his partnership with SimDag is more than a licensing or marketing arrangement,' the suit states."

"Long said his clients have since learned that the developers paid the real estate mogul for the naming rights of the building. 'If you look at the Web site, it says Trump is a partner,' Long said. 'Now, we don't know where Donald Trump fits into this deal.'"

"Trump has said that the original developer paid him an undisclosed sum in exchange for naming rights. As part of the agreement, the developers must build the tower to certain specifications and standards of the Trump brand, but no one from the Trump organization is involved in the construction process."

"Darryl C. Wilson, a professor of property law at Stetson University, said the suit sounds weak on the surface. 'You have to give them a chance to fulfill their contract,' Wilson said."

"The plaintiffs made a 20 percent deposit in August 2005. The suit says the deposit consisted of $148,200 cash and a letter of credit in the same amount. Wilson said it may be too early for others to sue, but if these plaintiffs are awarded their money back, 'it would certainly open the floodgates for other buyers to follow.'"

The Orlando Sentinel. "Spring is still more than a month away, but the for-sale signs are sprouting early this year as home sellers hope to elbow their way into an increasingly crowded field."

"For Orlando-area homeowners eager to sell now, the numbers have gotten much worse, and the wait for a sale could be much longer."

"Orlando Regional Realtor Association members recorded only 1,314 homes or condos sold in January, making it the weakest month for local agents since January 2002. The number of properties for sale in the core Orlando market rose by 1,729 to a near-record 21,266, and at January's slow sales pace, that was the equivalent of a 16.18-month supply."

"'That's a lot,' said Janice Leckart-Smith, who has sold homes in Orlando for 15 years. 'If you get an offer that's halfway decent, take it.'"

"And remember: The Realtors' listings don't include thousands of other homes on the market for sale by owner, houses such as Bobbi-Jo Borges', whose upscale Seminole County pool home has an $859,000 price tag."

"Borges said she has been running a classified ad and advertising on Web sites for about a month, after listing the Oviedo home through a Realtor last year. So far, she has had no offers she thinks reasonable. 'Lots of people are looking, but they're just not serious,' Borges said. 'I'm about to reduce it to $839,000. I'm getting a little impatient.'"

"Gary Balanoff, VP of the Orlando Realtors group, said the local resale market for homes is 'definitely challenging' for sellers but offers opportunities for buyers. 'It's about as good a time as we've ever seen in terms of availability -- across every price range,' said Balanoff."

"Balanoff said many listings hitting the market in recent weeks are condos or town homes, a category with more than an 18-month supply at the recent sales pace. Single-family homes account for about 15 months' worth of sales."

"The local Realtors' January report noted that there were 3,648 condos for sale through their MLS, up 12.7 percent from December. Duplexes, town homes and villas accounted for 1,848 units, up 12.1 percent, while single-family homes totaled 15,770, up 7.6 percent."

"Condo sales in January were off 47 percent from the same month a year ago, and association members said that's good for renters because units that remain unsold are likely to be leased to tenants."

"The competition is intense between existing-home sales and the many new-but-empty homes marketed by builders, Balanoff said, and builders generally have more incentives to entice wavering buyers. For people trying to sell a used home, he said, 'You have to compete not only with your neighborhood but [with] the new-home neighborhood down the road.'"