What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? Disputed statistics? "Home sellers beware. Despite what real estate industry data might suggest, sales prices were down by 10 to 20 percent around the state last year, according to an East Brunswick analyst who keeps day-to-day tabs on New Jersey residential transactions."

"In Bergen County the median price for a condo fell by 13 percent, according to the Otteau Group’s statistics. Analyst Jeffrey Otteau said that he is not interested in pillorying the National Association of Realtors, but only in pointing out that the trade association’s method of reporting may overstate the strength of the housing market in some locales."

Lower prices? "January’s Housing Affordability Index released Tuesday by the Maryland Association of Realtors saw an increase of 0.4 percent, indicating housing is becoming more attainable for in-state buyers. The association indicated the cost of a starter house fell about $14,000 during the last six months, down to about $286,000."

Builder adjustments?"Rebidding with subcontractors can knock 10 to 12 percent off the price of lower-end homes, said Doug Fulton of Fulton Homes. There is no doubt builders are getting tough, said Bill Washburn, VP of operations for SelectBuild in Arizona, a subcontracting company."

"'We'll receive letters or direction that you have to lower your price 10 percent or 15 percent,' he said.'They are taking a harder line.'"

"'We'll never see the heady days like in '05, when builders would load up the houses to justify the prices they would charge,' said Ben Sage of Metrostudy. 'This is a reasonable response to a slow market that will somewhat reverse itself when the market normalizes.'"

Cheaper materials? "The crisis in the subprime mortgage sector is threatening to exert more pressure on slumping Chicago Mercantile Exchange lumber futures. CME lumber futures on Friday were down nearly 30 percent from a year ago and almost 50 percent since their peak in mid-2004."

Loan problems? "Fall out in the sub-prime mortgage market is causing turmoil. It's one reason more than 2,300 listings in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area have foreclosed. The Grand Rapids Legal News publishes between 80-100 foreclosures a week."

"Janice Barnes refinanced her house with a deal she couldn't pass up. What she didn't realize, and claims she wasn't told, was the rate would change every month. 'The instructions and paper is double talk,' she told 24 Hour News 8. 'They went from $500 to $850 in two years. In two years! When we began with the low payments, it was not covering the interest,' she said, 'so they were tacking it onto the principal.'"

"More than 54,000 homeowners in the Chicago area were 60 days behind on their mortgage payments and in serious danger of going into default as of Dec. 31, 2006. That's 14.5 percent of an estimated 374,000 subprime loans in the greater Chicago standard metropolitan area, said Bob Visini, vice president-marketing, for LoanPerformance."

"'[The subprime market] is the perfect storm where you have lenders looking for business [converging with] borrowers stretching to afford a home,' Visini said."

Burned speculators? "A glut of empty houses is creating financial chaos for the investors, said Indianapolis bankruptcy lawyer Mark Zuckerberg. The investors are saddled with mortgage payments on multiple properties."

"Zuckerberg said more than 10 clients have filed or will file for bankruptcy because of the LRTB deal. Those clients own more than 30 houses among them. He expects more bankruptcies to be filed by other LRTB investors."

"'In the good old days, getting a mortgage was something to be proud of,' Zuckerberg said. 'Now you just walk in, and they hardly check any records. The mortgage lender makes a commission when they sell the mortgage. They don't care who the borrower is because they are going to sell the mortgage to a securitized trust.'"