The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "Roughly one-third of investors who committed to downtown condo towers during Florida's post-2000 real estate boom appear to be having buyers' remorse. Buyers are bailing from a handful of high-profile Sarasota towers. Their movement is likely mirrored across the region and the state."

"'It certainly isn't surprising in this market,' said Lisa Rooks Morris, who, until last autumn, sold condominiums at one of downtown's most talked-about addresses. 'The market couldn't be more different now than two years ago. It went from one extreme to the other.'"

"At 1350 Main, buyers are expected to begin closing today and Friday on units they snapped up during a 90-minute buying frenzy in May 2004. But not all 1350 Main St. buyers are likely to finalize their deal and move in. Of the 134 units in 1350 Main, nearly three dozen are being offered for sale, again, primarily by investors who planned to resell their residences for easy cash."

"For one penthouse buyer in Rivo, a North Carolina investor who decided to walk away when the market turned, forfeiting a deposit meant losing $340,000. He isn't alone. Sarasota real estate broker Marc Citrin is trying to get his sister out of a $148,000 deposit she placed on an Alinari unit."

"'As more condos come on line, I think you'll see more and more developer take-backs,' said (broker) Louise Guido. 'A lot of condos were built without any real demand. There was investor demand, but no demand from buyers.'"

"In all, Guido estimates that there are nearly 500 condo units on the market downtown. The number of condos in the broader market has risen in recent months: from 4,155 to 4,797 since the beginning of the year."

"Developer Piero Rivolta believes no other new condo project will start in Sarasota until late 2008. Guido isn't even sure about that. 'We've never had this kind of inventory on the market before. Is it two years' worth? Four years? How do you project it forward?'"

The News Journal. "Doug Gooch, Pensacola Association of Realtors president, conceded that home sales for the first two months of 2007 in Escambia and Santa Rosa are 18 percent below the same sales in 2006."

"While Pensacola-area Realtor Cheryl Young acknowledges it's a buyer's market, she is also adamant that it's not a market in free fall. 'People think they can come in with some wild offer on a property and the seller will take it,' Young said. 'Well, the sellers are not taking it.'"

"Florida's once-booming housing market, now the most troubled in the nation, likely will bottom out this summer and slowly rebound in 2008, predicts Mark Vitner of Wachovia Corp."

"'Historically, Florida has been an inexpensive place for people to move to,' Vitner said. 'But Florida's housing prices are now about 20 percent above the national average.'"

"The state's continuing population decline, coupled with the ongoing insurance and property tax crisis, presents some worrisome issues for the state's economy."

"Vitner cited a recent Florida Department of Education report anticipating the state would add 47,000 additional students to its public schools in 2006. In reality, the state's public school population grew by 470 new pupils last year."

From WESH 2. "A surplus of houses for sale in Central Florida has made it difficult for buyers to get a loan, officials said. A growing number of homeowners cannot pay their mortgages."

"According to foreclosures.com, 65 new foreclosures were posted in Orange County on Tuesday alone. 'There was a level in the marketplace that opened the doors to allow people that probably should not have purchased homes in the last couple of years. Those doors are going to be shut now,' Tawn Kelley, President of Mortgage Funding Direct, said."

"Jeff Perdue of All Florida Mortgages said his loan officers have homeowners looking for fixed rate loans to refinance their adjustable rate mortgage. But because of the increase in foreclosures, the credit ratings they used to qualify for a loan then may not get them qualified now."

"'Those customers are going into default at that rate, then you're going to be a little more hesitant to lend money to those same kinds of customers in that same qualification arena,' Purdue said."

The St Petersburg Times. "Threatened with lawsuits from scores of disgruntled customers, Coast Financial Holdings is deflecting anger towards the alleged source of its troubles: St. Petersburg builder Construction Compliance Inc."

"Customers have asked their lawyers to try to relieve construction loan debts totaling $70-million. But on Wednesday, bank spokesman and adviser Tramm Hudson said he considers the legal moves displaced. It's the builder, not the bank, that failed its end of the bargain."

"'They have other options,' Hudson said of customers considering suing Coast. 'They had a contract with a builder who defaulted on them. We were the lender; we were not the originator of the deal.'"

"CCI customers, some sitting on vacant lots on which they owe $85,000, have approached such offers warily. They include investor Mike Wood, with contracts on two CCI houses."

"'My attorney told me don't start construction, don't sign anything, don't move forward until we get though the first round of negotiating with the bank,' Wood said."

The Daily Record. "Fifteen minutes. That’s all the time it took to transfer title to 10 pieces of real estate property from the homeowner to the lender Tuesday morning in the lobby of the County Courthouse."

"It’s the foreclosure auction and it has become an almost-daily event."

"According to Foreclosure Clerk Lynea Parrella, Duval County ranks seventh in the nation in number of foreclosures with one out of 133 properties currently making its way through the court system."

"About three dozen people showed up Tuesday morning. In all 10 cases, the lenders were the successful bidders, which is usually the case, according to John Kearn who was there looking for investment property."

"'Another wasted day,' he said. 'As soon as the auction opens on a property, the plaintiffs show the rest of us bidders how high they’re willing to go. Unless we really want the property, out of courtesy we don’t raise the bid above the $100 minimum.'"

"Real estate attorney William Nussbaum was also at the auction Tuesday representing a lender. He said he thinks there are so many properties going on the block in Duval County because for the past several years, a lot of people obtained balloon payment and adjustable-rate mortgages."