The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "Just as the real estate market was starting its downturn in the fall of 2005, Alan Westfall slipped into the investment game. He paid $365,700 for a six-bedroom home in Heritage Isle in north Tampa. He mortgaged the property at 100 percent, painted, installed wood flooring and quickly relisted the home for $425,500."

"After more than year of price reductions and unsuccessful attempts to sell or rent the house, Westfall is getting anxious. So he has decided to try his luck with an auction. 'The weight lifted off my shoulders would be tremendous if this home sells,' Westfall said. 'I just didn't expect the market to take a downward turn so quickly.'"

"Westfall is among 50 Florida property owners choosing to gamble big this Saturday. There are single-family homes, condos and vacant land for sale. A record 34,000 homes are listed for sale in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. Frustrated sellers are increasingly turning for help to the auction block."

"Some sellers worry they might not get a good price, so none in Jay Bailey's auction have opted to sell their property 'absolutely' to the highest bidder, Bailey said."

"In December, the developer who purchased an apartment-to-condo conversion complex in Tampa Palms hired J.P. King Auction Co. to sell 100 units at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. Forty units were designated to be sold to the highest bidder, but the developer halted the auction after some units went for less than half of the listed prices."

"Carl Carter, spokesman for the auction company, said it had hoped for better prices, but the developer was happy to shed some of its condo inventory. 'They certainly sold at a discounted price, but when nobody's been selling anything at any price point, it's good to just make a sale,' Carter said."

"One agent eager to sell her client's home, said she received three phone calls from potential buyers who wanted to preview the home. Lynn Hanratty, a real estate agent in Palm Harbor hopes to sell her client's home in Clearwater. It has been listed with her for six months."

"'I think this is a unique opportunity in this overpopulated market,' Hanratty said. If the sale is a success, she said, she will pitch auctions to more clients."

"Marty Higgenbotham of Higgenbotham Auctioneers International in Lakeland said sellers are still having a tough time in today's market. Three weeks ago, Higgenbotham auctioned 115 Cape Coral and Fort Myers properties. Nearly every property had a contract by the end of the auction. There was $24 million in contracts, Higgenbotham said, but sellers accepted just 15 bids."

"'Sellers aren't willing to accept today's property value,' he said, noting that he has seen six real estate booms and busts in his 48-year career. 'They'll get over it.'"

The Daytona Beach News Journal. "City officials and residents alike are irate about a developer's decision to halt construction on a $250 million resort project because of slow condominium sales."

"A downturn in the real estate market has affected condo sales and forced Centex to stop construction, Centex division president John Lenihan told City Council members at a meeting Tuesday. Lenihan said the local real estate market was 'hot' when the project began almost two years ago."

"'Now, we don't have the sales,' Lenihan said. 'We are barely staying above water.'"

"Lenihan's explanation left members of the council and residents fuming Tuesday. Vice Mayor Jon Netts said the golf course now resembles 'Chernobyl' because of the company's sudden decision to delay construction. 'There's a wasteland in the middle of our city,' Netts said."

"The market for such 'condotels' has also cooled in Volusia County, said Ramon Rivera, president and owner of Coldwell Banker Cornerstone Realty in Edgewater. 'It has softened and primarily because there is just so much of that inventory in the market,' Rivera said."

"Centex broke ground on its condominium hotel project in October 2005 and was expected to open it this year. Officials estimated it would bring nearly 300 jobs and generate $70 million in city and county taxes over 20 years."

"Sixteen months later, a nearly completed eight-story condo unit and parking garage sit on the site surrounded by heavy construction equipment. The golf course is brown and unkempt."

"Larry Stencel, who lives across the road from the golf course in Carlson Park Estates, said residents want city officials to resolve the matter quickly. 'This is an embarrassment to the city because they were sold a bill of goods,' he said."

The News Press. "A massive inventory of unsold homes in Lee County could bring bad times to both the residential and commercial real estate markets. But real estate agents could help soften the blow by telling sellers to ask more realistic prices for their houses. That’s what two experts told a sold-out audience Tuesday night in downtown Fort Myers."

"In 32 years in the real estate business, 'I’ve never seen the impact of residential on commercial like this. There’s a lot of fear,' said commercial broker Frank D’Alessandro."

"With 23,000 houses and condos on the market in the county and the number rising, he said, the residential construction market is likely to slow dramatically this year as builders work through a backlog of homes ordered in better times."

"With 65 percent of industrial space occupied by people such as developers, subcontractors and suppliers for the residential market, D’Alessandro said, the commercial market could be hurt. 'The bottom line is fewer tenants,' he said."

"Talking about the results of falling land prices, residential broker Denny Grimes noted dryly that 'the work force housing crisis is over' with houses in Lehigh Acres selling for less than $200,000. But generally, he said, the near future isn’t going to bring boom times for real estate in the county. 'Don’t expect the tide to start rising this year,' he said."

"He did hold out hope that if real estate agents muster the collective will to talk tough to their sellers about prices, the supply of existing homes could be reduced more rapidly. 'We all know what the solution is, don’t we? It’s called a price reduction,' he said."

"Meanwhile, he said, things are bad and getting worse. 'In spite of what you want to believe,' Grimes said, 'we’ve not hit bottom yet' and won’t until the inventory of existing homes starts to shrink."

"Grimes got the biggest laugh of the night when he used black humor to make the point that many in the industry find themselves with time on their hands. 'The good news is I won’t be long-winded, because some of us have to get to our night jobs,' he said. 'Note I didn’t say second job.'"