The News Press reports from Florida. "Scott Ayers is about to become a landlord, whether he wants to or not. Wryly referring to an 'unintended consequence of the current real estate market,' Ayers has decided to rent his Gateway home after trying to sell it for about six months."

"'If you don't have to sell your house right now, then don't sell it, and try to rent it while you wait for the market to correct itself,' says broker Larry Simons. 'Over time the rental money you get should help you keep it going until you can sell it. If you aren't in a hurry to sell or aren't in a hurry to buy is when you get the best bargain.'"

"'It really is a renter's market,' says Betsy Morgan, director of property management for Prudential Tropical Realtors in Trinity. 'Some owners have determined it's better to rent and wait out the market. Other people bought property as an investment to begin with, but that was before the market softened and they found it was hard to sell these houses.'"

"Barbara Ford, who has a new home in the San Marino section of Miromar Lakes, will try to rent it out for a year. 'The builder put lots of extras in there and it's really a nice place. We were very surprised when the market slowed. We just didn't see it coming. That's when we decided to keep it off the market for a while,' she says."

"Many Realtors are still selling homes, albeit at prices lower than a year or two ago. Would-be landlords have to make those same adjustments."

"'The first thing we tell somebody is that they have to be realistic about what they can get for the house if they lease it,' says Simons. 'You aren't going to make your mortgage on a half-million-dollar house with what you get for leasing it. Just as you have to price the house reasonably to sell it, you have to do the same then with a lease.'"

The Orlando Sentinel. "Twanda Thompson doesn't want to lose her home. Like many would-be homeowners with below-average or poor credit, the Orlando woman took out a 'subprime' mortgage during the housing boom to buy a place she really couldn't afford." Now her adjustable-rate mortgage is three months away from a boost in interest that will increase her monthly payment 30 percent. More increases lie ahead, and she already is delinquent on her loan."

"'I've been on an emotional roller coaster," said Thompson. 'I've worked so hard to get this far, to have a home and raise my children. To lose ground now is not acceptable to me.'"

"In Florida, nearly 93,000 subprime-loan homeowners were in the lurch as of February, according to First American. And during the previous year, the state's subprime-foreclosure rate tripled, while its delinquency rate shot up 72 percent."

"Local experts say turnover in homes financed with subprime loans may already be contributing to the region's housing slowdown. The inventory of homes for sale through the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, for example, has nearly doubled since January 2006."

"'You have to look at the two different sides of the coin,' said William Weaver, a real-estate professor at the University of Central Florida. 'The problem is a lot worse now than in the past, and it is likely to get even worse.'"

"Many subprime lenders have collapsed this year, making it harder for financially strapped subprime borrowers to find someone willing to refinance burdensome loans with adjustable rates. 'That part of the market has come to a screeching halt,' Weaver said. 'And when these mortgages adjust, they are going to adjust with a vengeance.'"

The News Journal. "It's a question Terry Daniell hears a lot these days. As an office manager of a nonprofit credit counseling service in Pensacola, Daniell helps people repair their credit and avoid mortgage foreclosure."

"'Primarily, more and more people are coming in, and the first thing out of their mouths is, 'How do I save my home?' Daniell said."

"In Escambia County, during the first three months of 2006, for example, there were eight residential single-family foreclosures with an owed-loan value totaling $437,500. By comparison, there were 23 residential forecloses in Escambia the first quarter of 2007. The owed-loan value was $2.95 million."

"'Both the increased number of foreclosures and the increased dollar volume are significant,' said Al Muller, president of Pensacola-based Metro Market Trends. 'In my opinion, we are at the very beginning of this surge in foreclosure activity.'"

"Muller said Metro Market Trends, which tracks housing market data throughout the state, is seeing foreclosure numbers in other Florida and Alabama counties that are more alarming than Escambia's."

"Flagler County, for example, went from one foreclosure in the first quarter of 2006 to 31 in the first quarter of this year. And neighboring Baldwin County, Ala., has seen an increase from 23 in the first three months of last year to 102 for the same period in 2007."

"At the heart of the problem is falling home prices, exacerbated by insurance and property tax issues, and a worrisome rise in the number of defaults in the 'sub-prime' lending market."

"If their property's value has declined significantly, as many have in Pensacola recently, their equity is essentially nil. 'As this housing decline continues, there are just more and more permutations that fall out of it,' Muller said."

"'What's really different here, what's being lost in all this, is that people being foreclosed on today are not in the same kind of financial crisis as 10 or 15 years ago,' he said. The combination of easy mortgage money and falling homes prices makes it much easier and less costly for someone to consider foreclosure."

"'Today, if a home is worthless, people will just walk away from it,' Muller said."

The Palm Beach Post. "It's no paradise at the Eden condo in Boca Raton. During the recent condo-conversion craze, the Eden was among the first projects to promise buyers a hip lifestyle in a downtown setting."

"But four years after sales first started, the project remains a hulking eyesore, partly gutted and nowhere near done. Work on the conversion has started, stopped, started and now stopped again."

"Now comes word that two of the complex's four buildings won't be finished anytime soon. Meanwhile, residents who have moved into the first building won't be enjoying their clubhouse in coming days. Work on the 8,000-square-foot facility has ceased, and several subcontractors have filed liens in Palm Beach County over unpaid bills."

"'It's ludicrous,' said Rick Salzman, an Eden condo-unit owner. 'What are these guys doing?'"

"Antsy buyers don't know what to do. Reports are some buyers are getting their deposits back, while others are being sued for trying to get out of closing on their units."

"Faced with a meltdown in the housing market, Lake builders have launched an aggressive campaign aimed at persuading county commissioners to say 'no' to dramatic increases in impact fees."

"Builders say they've never been so alarmed. 'Lake County used to be an affordable-housing location for families,' said Jim Bible, president of the Lake County Home Builders Association. 'Now people are being priced out of the market.'"

"The fear is that raising impact fees could further dampen a housing industry that is already in a 'depression,' according to Don Magruder, general manager of Leesburg-based Ro-Mac Lumber & Supply Inc."

"Magruder said the county has seen a downturn in the housing market since last year. But the bottom has fallen out of the housing market. There has been a nearly 50 percent drop in residential building permits in unincorporated Lake since 2004. The decline prompted the county this month to lay off 12 employees and two paid interns in its building department."

"Ro-Mac also has been hard hit. Magruder said the company was forced during the past year to lay off more than 200 of 505 employees."

"County Commissioner Jennifer Hill said affordable housing has long been an issue for Lake County. She questioned why home builders are so concerned about it now."

"'Where were they when property values were skyrocketing?' Hill asked. 'Property was being flipped all over the place. Homes were being sold and resold as much as three times a year.'"