The Journal Sentinel reports from Wisconsin. "Suspense marks home-selling these days. Would-be buyers delight at house layout and location, only to disappear at the first whiff of musty basement. Sellers cling stubbornly to dreams of yesteryear's heady prices, dooming their properties to long, lonely days unsold."

"'Buyers are taking chances, and so are sellers. It's like they're playing a poker hand, waiting for the other to blink,' said Jay Krickeberg, an agent in West Allis."

"Low-ball offers, way below asking price, are increasingly common, said Ron Nelson in Brookfield. 'They offer you $20,000 below asking. You're insulted, (but) deal with the offer you have, because you don't know when the next one's coming along,' said Nelson, a founding member of the Wisconsin-based Discount Real Estate Brokers of America."

"Metro MLS in Wauwatosa reported last week that in this year's first quarter: Sales volume dropped 6.1% from a year ago; 3,596 sales, compared with 3,830. New listings rose 5% from a year ago; 10,246, compared with 9,762."

"Time on the market was three to six weeks longer than a year ago; to 136 days in Delafield, 143 days in Port Washington and Glendale, 157 in Jackson, 174 in Erin and 372 in Lac La Belle. Prices dropped in many places below 2006 levels and, in some places, below 2005 levels."

"Shoppers like Milwaukeeans Natalie and Melvin Finkley, buying their first house, are wielding new market power. Two years ago, they were overwhelmed by the fast pace of sales and aggressive pricing. Now, shopping is a leisurely pursuit."

"The couple recently found a place and negotiated the seller's $189,000 asking price down to $173,000 only to learn from their home inspector that the roof needs to be replaced soon. The parties clashed over who'd pay for it."

"'I'm not going to pay any more,' Natalie Finkley said. 'If the sellers are set in their price, we'll just keep looking.'"

"Their agent was rueful, as the deal fell apart a day later. 'What happened here is common,' Krickeberg said. 'Buyers are looking for a deal and sellers are holding their ground. It's frustrating to be the agent in the middle.'"

"'Buyers have so much to choose from that they're driving prices down, I'd say, to a little below 2006 levels,' said Nelson."

"'The thought of getting beat out on a property isn't in a lot of buyers' minds,' said Dave Schmidt Jr., chairman of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors."

The Kane County Chronicle from Illinois. "Housing market predictions are generally best left to the experts, but these days even the experts aren’t weighing in. 'If I had a crystal ball, it would be cloudy,' said Donald Parisi, president of the Realtor Association of the Fox Valley."

"Although the number of homes sold through the end of March is up 17 percent over the same period last year, the average sale price is down 6.1 percent, and the average home spent 125 days on the market, or about a month longer than the comparable period last year, according to MLS data."

"McHenry County home sales were down 26.8 percent for the first three months of 2007, compared with the same period of 2006, but values have remained fairly stable."

"The average sale price, January through March, for a McHenry County home was $253,103, compared with $256,834 in the first months of 2006, the MLS reported. 'I was frankly surprised to see it dip even a little bit,' said Jim Haisler, association executive for the McHenry County Association of Realtors."

"'There’s no panic selling,' Haisler said, noting that local sellers are willing to wait for a higher bid, even for a year or two."

"Brian Wesbury, chief economist at First Trust Portfolios in Lisle, said that current weakness in housing likely would not precede overall economic instability. 'Housing is not weak because interest rates are too high,' Wesbury said. 'Housing is weak because the sector is no longer being artificially boosted by excessively low interest rates.'"

"Subprime lenders, who generally make low- or no-down payment loans to individuals with low credit scores, are seeing a dramatic rise in the number of borrowers defaulting on mortgages as low introductory interest rates head upward."

"Foreclosure rates in both Kane and McHenry Counties were more than double the national average last year and are staying high. The year-to-date McHenry County numbers show there were 193 foreclosures in February, up 28.7 percent from the previous February."

"Kane County had 707 foreclosures in the first two months of 2007, already more than 75 percent higher than the total for the full first quarter of 2006."

"Parisi said he believes 'doom and gloom' media coverage has hurt the market. 'We’ve seen some very ridiculous offers,' Parisi said. 'People shouldn’t be desperate ... The problem is some buyers are out there just to take advantage of the marketplace.'"