KDKA 2 reports from Pennsylvania. "A wave of house foreclosures that has swept the nation from coast to coast is also hitting the Pittsburgh area hard. But you might be surprised to learn that it's hitting hard in our affluent suburbs. After putting an addition on her home, Renee Schopper in McCandless refinanced the debt several times to pay off other debts and then refinanced again with a so-called adjustable rate mortgage which has adjusted to rates she can't afford."

"She blames herself for not reading the fine print but says she was pressured by her lender."

"'I was sitting in the office and I was sobbing and the gentleman was saying 'you're doing the right thing, don't worry about it.' and I said okay I trust you. So I signed,' said Schopper."

The Philadelphia Inquirer from Pennsylvania. "Domeeka Lawrence never imagined spending the rest of her life in the Southwest Philadelphia house she bought in June 2003 for $66,900. Next month, she is probably going to move, but not to make room for renters. The house is scheduled for a sheriff's sale May 1."

"Lawrence, like many low-income borrowers, got something she wasn't expecting in her adjustable-rate mortgage: The monthly payment jumped in July 2005 from $387 to $514."

"'I asked at the settlement table, 'Is this going to be my payment?' Lawrence said. 'I rushed into that without really thinking. I should have done a lot more research,' said Lawrence."

Bloomberg reports from Michigan. "Todd Alford put his house in Dearborn, Michigan, on the market in February, when he left his job as a Ford Motor marketing executive. He has not received a single offer."

"Before Alford left his job, he and his wife, Paula, spent $25,000 on renovations to their brick house, sure they would recoup the investment whenever they sold it. They purchased the property for $200,000 in December 2002 and have a $1,428-per-month mortgage on it. Now the Alfords are hoping just to break even on the property."

"'The real estate market has plummeted because of auto industry layoffs and the foreclosures that go with it,' said Alford, who put a $215,000 price tag on his family's three-bedroom brick bungalow."

The Journal Sentinel from Wisconsin. "Wisconsin's mortgage-paying troubles deepened in March, and experts see no end in sight."

"'Foreclosures, I'm sorry to say, are a growth business,' said Roy Scholtka, president of HomeSale Realty Inc. in West Allis. 'Typically, they were something you saw in the lesser prices and the tougher areas. Now, we're seeing them in the suburbs and across the board.'"

"'April's going to be a real big kicker. That's when the subprimes of spring 2004 go up' as these high-priced loans' teaser interest rates expire, said Gary Zimmermann, national director of Federal Housing Administration lending for CFIC Home Mortgage."

"'Every day I get calls from people who signed for loans that weren't fully explained to them,' said Catey Doyle, chief staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee. 'Some people knew full well what the terms were but were hoping on a wing and a prayer that they'd get that raise at work, or their ship would come in somehow before the payments went up.'"

"For thousands, no ship came in. Wisconsin courts recorded 16,473 foreclosure filings last year and 4,834 in the first three months of this year, figures show."

"'On average, there were 77 foreclosures filed every business day in the first quarter,' said Robert Jansen, president of (a) Milwaukee-based data tracking firm."

The St Cloud Times from Minnesota. "Last year at this time, area real estate agents, builders and bankers knew a housing slowdown was on its way. Builders began to roll out more incentives, home staging became more important and agents expected a reversal of the real estate appreciation trend."

"A year later, the St. Cloud area is weathering its part of a national housing slowdown caused by an inflated market and overdue adjustment. The area finished the quarter with almost 13 months of home inventory in March, compared with about eight months a year ago."

"Mark Herron, a real estate agent in Waite Park, hung a sign that reads 'Priced reduced' on a home for sale in St. Cloud to motivate buyers. 'It generates more interest from drive-by traffic,' Herron said."

"'We're pricing them now at where we were selling them last year at this time,' said Scott Reinert, president of the St. Cloud association."

"'It takes awhile for the seller in the market to recognize that their asking price is too high," Reinert said. 'Now, they understand that overpricing a home is just costing them money.'"

The Star Tribune from Minnesota. "Soon, you might be able to buy a big-screen TV where Jaguars once roamed. A Seattle company has pulled the plug on plans to build a 290-unit condo building planned for the Downtown Jaguar site at Hennepin and Washington Avenues in Minneapolis."

"Instead, the company is proposing an all-retail complex. This is the second luxury high-rise downtown condo project to alter plans in response to a sluggish market, and one of several that's being redrawn for commercial or retail purposes."

"Many applaud the changes at what was once called the Two Twenty Two project, because it will take some pressure off an already soft condominium market. 'This would just be dynamite,' said sales agent Fritz Kroll. 'It says that there's enough housing already on the market.'"

"Mary Bujold, a Minneapolis multifamily consultant, said that many developers are in a holding pattern. Right now there are 1,311 units in downtown Minneapolis that are being marketed, but are not under construction (not including the aborted Two Twenty Two project or the revised Nicollet Tower). And there are 1,336 units under construction, 60 percent of which are already sold or reserved, she said."

"Last year the market absorbed 900 units, about 75 a month, not including condo resales. That's down from the peak of 2004, when the market absorbed 1,300 units, about 108 units a month. Since the beginning of the year that number has dropped further, to about 30 units per month."

"Seattle-based developer Don Milliken will present final plans to the neighborhood group later this month, and he still needs city approval. Milliken said that he scrapped the condo plans, which he announced after acquiring the site in November 2005, for several reasons."

"'It is just not economical to build high-quality condos right now, and the simple reason is that the costs are accelerating and continue to accelerate at a pace that doesn't work,' he said. 'At the same time, the prices that can be acquired in selling condos is at best stagnant and at worst declining a bit.'"