The Miami Herald reports from Florida. "The story of housing in South Florida in 2006 was one of waiting. Now the question is: Will 2007 be the year the market turns around? The answer lies in the mountain of homes across South Florida with 'For Sale' signs, the single biggest indicator of a market out of whack."

"For every home that sold in each month of 2006, an average of 14 did not. The number of homes on the market doubled to almost 66,000, as sales dropped to their lowest level in a decade. At the current sales pace, it's up to 16 months in Broward and 18 in Miami-Dade. For condos in both counties, it's more than two years."

"It's a quiet Sunday afternoon in West Kendall, the third quiet Sunday afternoon in a row that Olga Alvarez has opened her house to buyers. 'The house is priced well; there is just a lot of competition,' says Alvarez's broker, Leigh Fortuna. 'Within one square mile, there are 42 other homes for sale that are like us.'"

"Alvarez is already throwing in incentives. One-page fliers proclaiming in big letters: 'Seller will pay closing costs up to 3%.' That shaves off $11,700. And the asking price for the three-bedroom, two-bath house is down from $399,000 when it was listed in October to $389,000. Plus, there's a yearlong warranty. So far, it's still not enough."

"Alvarez and her husband bought their home in 2000 for $147,500. Since then, prices in the neighborhood have more than doubled. But it's also harder to sell in the first place because many people simply can't afford to buy."

"The irony is that if Alvarez sells, she, too, will be priced out of the region. If Alvarez ever buys in South Florida again, she will be hit with much higher property taxes and insurance costs. 'We'll never be able to afford to live here again,' Alvarez says matter-of-factly. 'We don't plan on coming back.'"

"It's 2:50 p.m. Ten minutes left for the open house. The phone rings. 'I thought it was the doorbell,' Fortuna says. She's only half-joking. Instead, it's Zab Alvarez calling to check on things. His wife delivers the bad news. By 3 p.m., the open house is over. Not one person came."

"The condo market is in danger of choking on its own leftovers from the housing boom. The supply of available condos has tripled over the past year. There are now almost twice as many condos as single-family homes for sale in Miami-Dade and Broward counties."

"It will get worse before it gets better. More than 11,500 new condos are expected this year and 15,000 more next year, with the bulk coming to Miami-Dade."

"The average condo asking price in Miami-Dade went down 12 percent in 2006 to $532,000. In Broward, it dropped 11 percent to $354,000. Peter Zalewski has compiled a database of properties that have seen a drop of $100,000 in asking prices or stayed on the market for 100 days. The single-spaced list now runs 27 pages."

"Key West broker Melanie Crocker sums up the past year's housing market this way: 'It's been tough.'"

"Both prices and sales fell considerably in 2006 in Monroe County, where the standoff between buyers and sellers has already given way to a down market. The median price for a single-family home went down 11 percent, settling at $625,000, according to a Miami Herald survey. Condo prices were off even more, dropping by 17 percent to $440,000."

"Things were especially bad in Key West, where prices for single-family homes dropped 37 percent to $395,000. Condo prices fell 19 percent to $440,000."

"Sales of houses in 2006 were down 38 percent from a year earlier. For condos, it was 47 percent. 'There were no buyers because they wanted to see the prices adjust,' says Crocker. 'People are still wondering if we have hit bottom or not.'"

The News Journal. "Sylvestri Investments' auction of 25 condos at Ocean Walk in New Smyrna Beach last weekend was either a desperate move or the bold setting of a new trend, but it has drawn criticism from some Realtors concerned about the area's sagging condo market."

"'I'm getting calls from Realtors. They are saying the market is really bad and you are going to show how bad it is,' said William R. Bone, president of the National Auction Group. 'They are afraid the condos will sell real cheap and hurt everybody,' Bone said. 'Everybody's property values are at stake here. But something's gotta happen. Things will move at some price.'"

"On the other hand, some developers are watching Sylvestri's experience, Bone said. 'They are telling me, 'Gosh, if you can do this, I've got others to sell.'"

"The 25 Ocean Walk condos sold at auction for an average of $290,000 each, Bone said. New condos at Ocean Walk usually range from $379,000 to $850,000 for a penthouse, said Rob Camporese, vice president of Silvestri Instruments."

"Camporese said some of the condos being auctioned had been sold, but buyers walked away from the deposits. 'Basically what has happened everywhere is people got caught up in the real estate market and some went out and purchased units. They continued to buy and roll, but they got caught in the roll,' he said."

The Palm Beach Post. "Buyers of canceled condo projects in downtown West Palm Beach are becoming increasingly angry, and frantic, over unrefunded deposits on units, and unfulfilled contracts."

"Dozens of buyers fell for sales pitches promising gleaming high-rises. Instead they wound up with fading sales brochures. Most upsetting: Some buyers are having trouble getting all their deposit money back. That's because some of their money was released to developers for construction, even though the condos weren't built."

"While some buyers are resigned to lessons learned, others are fighting back by filing lawsuits against the developers who they say failed to deliver. In the past two months alone, half a dozen lawsuits have been launched."

"One particular lawsuit, filed by buyers David Weber and Amy Lichtenstein, seeks a lien on the 3-acre Opera Place land. In a Feb. 12 court filing, Opera Place says the Weber-Lichtenstein buyers aren't entitled to share in the profits because the land was never improved."

"Will this claim, and the other lawsuits, derail the land's sale next month? 'The property continues to be a vacant lot with a trailer on it. Construction never began,' the motion says."

"A lawyer for Weber pounced on this statement. According to Florida law, deposits can be released to developers for construction only. If construction on Opera Place never started, attorney David Gorman wonders, then why did Opera Place get half his clients' deposit?"

"Behind all the numbers tossed around at the recent International Builders Show in Orlando are real people affected by the ups and downs in the housing market. Many of those people are hurting now. Badly. Either they can't pay the mortgage, with disastrous results, or they're stuck with a real estate investment that grows less profitable every day."

"Many think flippers are getting what they deserve now: They ran up home prices with their frenzied buying, this argument goes, when they had no intention of living in the houses and condos they bought. Let them reap what they sowed."

"Meanwhile, homeowners who weren't playing market games and who need to sell are caught, too. A large sign at the corner of Flagler Drive and Almeria on West Palm Beach's lakefront reads: '$1 million reduction.'"

"Another sign, this one on Olive Avenue a few blocks north of Belvedere, states simply: 'Make me an offer.' 'There's a lot of desperation out there,' a local observer says."