The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "Eleanor Andriole likes her new house in Sterling Hill, but she's not so sure about the neighborhood. Looking down the street from her driveway, she counted half a dozen vacant homes, a couple of rentals and only two other houses occupied by their owners."

"'I wish some people would come in and live on this street,' said Andriole, who bought the house with her son last year. 'I feel very lonely here.'"

"The situation is similar in most of Hernando County's newest subdivisions. Builders and developers offered several explanations for the large number of homeowners who have not filed for homestead exemptions in subdivisions like Sterling Hill."

"But most of the houses, they acknowledged, are homes that builders or investors planned to sell but have not been able to. In some cases, they fell back into the builders' hands after buyers backed out of their contracts."

"Jeff Shubrooks, a salesman for Avatar, which currently owns 29 houses in Sterling Hill, limited investors by allowing each buyer to purchase only one home. But some buyers, Shubrooks said, probably purchased houses under the names of relatives or misled sales agents about their intention to live in Sterling Hill."

"'The market was crazy then,' he said, 'and there were so many speculators.'"

"Builders have slashed prices. Inland Homes, for example, recently advertised a 'closeout at Sterling Hill,' cutting prices as much as $55,000 and offering to pay $2,500 in closing costs. Deed restrictions prohibit individual owners from posting 'for sale' signs."

"Kathy Korson lives in South Tampa and bought a house in Sterling Hill a year ago. 'We've had it on the market since March of last year. We've had open houses and advertised everywhere. It's ridiculous,' said Korson, who said she paid a total of $24,000 in monthly payments for her mortgage, taxes and insurance since last April and is now thinking of selling the house at auction."

"'I just don't know how long I can keep making the payments,' Korson said."

"Although most large builders do not list their houses in the MLS used by real estate agents, the MLS is a common measure of demand, and the number of homes listed in Hernando briefly dropped below 800 in mid 2005. The number climbed rapidly through 2006 and in recent months has held steady at about 4,000 homes, with 4,366 last week."

"Joe Murphy, the conservation chairman for the Hernando Audubon Society, (said) the inevitability of growth is a pervasive myth. 'We're always told there's this wave of growth and there's nothing we can do about it,' Murphy said. 'Once we realize this wave is not coming, we can slow down...we don't have to rush to build subdivisions as fast as we can.'"

The Herald Tribune. "Martie Lieberman parlayed a few highly successful years as a real estate agent into a handsome real estate portfolio. A licensed Realtor for only four years, Lieberman recalls the advice of her real estate class instructor: 'If you're not doing realty investment for yourself, you may be missing opportunities, since who knows your market better than you?'"

"During the 'crazy years in real estate when everything was so good from 2003 to 2005,' Lieberman plowed all her commissions into property. Investing about $4 million, she thinks now that she probably bought 'more than I should have.'"

"Like everyone else now, Lieberman is feeling the pressure from the market slowdown, both in her recently weak realty commissions as well as in her carrying costs as a multiple property owner and landlord."

"That is what is prompting her to place the Cohen House on the market, but she said she plans to ensure that it winds up in the 'right hands.'"

The Miami Herald. "Many South Floridians are eating out less and springing for fewer big purchases like a new car or expensive vacation. Economists talk about a new cost-consciousness among consumers who had relied heavily upon their houses for their net worth and are now watching the housing market slow way down."

"And as the housing market slides, that new consumer psychology is rippling through South Florida's economy, and is already hurting South Florida's biggest companies."

"South Florida companies you wouldn't automatically associate with housing are also pointing to the real estate slowdown as a big culprit for less robust earnings, in industries as varied as car dealerships, cruise lines and shipping companies."

"'We've been expecting effects like this for some time,' said Per Berglund, an economist who tracks Floridam. 'In a sense, that is Florida's Achilles Heel, a lot of industries are very closely tied to the state of the U.S. economy.'"

"Consumer confidence among Floridians dropped last month, according to data released by the University of Florida last week. 'Housing is an increasing problem,' said survey director Chris McCarty. 'It's very clear that people were using their home equity to fuel spending, so I don't think this should be that much of a surprise,' said McCarty, who also cited the rampant speculative buying and use of exotic loans."

"Last year, 16 percent of the new car purchases in Florida were made with home equity loans, said Art Spinella, president of market research firm CNW Research. That compares to 9 percent in 2000."

"Florida and California have been hurt the most in terms of auto sales, said Spinella, stating that the No. 1 reason for the decline in auto sales in California is its housing market, and that in Florida, it's 'in large part' due to housing."

"'There is no way of really knowing, but...I do believe that some of those people who have stretched to buy homes and got very aggressive mortgage financing are people in the income levels we are dealing with,' Gerry Cahill, Carnival Cruise Lines's CFO, told analysts."

"'It's not just the subprime issue. There's a lot of other issues going on in the housing market,' he added."

The Christian Science Monitor. "When Patrick Greenish accepted a job offer in Charlotte, N.C., last July, he assumed that his house in Orlando would sell quickly. His new employer offered to let him telecommute for a month until the sale was complete."

"But when the month ended, the 'For Sale' sign remained firmly planted in his front yard. Even so, the company expected him to be working in Charlotte."

"'I had to leave everybody at home while the house was still on the market,' Mr. Greenish says, referring to his wife and two young daughters. 'It was a bit hard on everybody.'"

"Some potential employees are turning down new jobs or transfers they cannot sell their house or would have to take a heavy loss. And companies that offer relocation benefits are spending more for employees' moving expenses."

"'It's costing companies an exorbitant amount of money to cover the loss on sale to get an employee moved,' says Andrew Drescher, a relocation consultant."

"For months Greenish lived in a rented room in Charlotte, returning home every other weekend. The price on his house continued to drop."

"'The profit was just going away,' Greenish says. 'We started questioning our decision to move. It was getting harder and harder, the financial issues of living in two places, traveling back and forth, and the general strain on a marriage.' Greenish and his family took their house off the market, and he was able to return to his former position."

"For families, the current housing market raises complex questions. 'It's not as simple as, 'Hey, honey, I have a new job, we need to move,' says Jim Lanzalotto, VP of an outsourcing firm. 'Now you have to evaluate whether it's worthwhile to make the change.'"

"He calls the current slump 'unprecedented' and 'nondiscriminatory,' because it stretches across the country. Previous slumps were more regional, he says."