The Mail Tribune reports from Oregon. "It sounded like the perfect home loan. When times were tight, Lola could pay as little as 1 percent interest on her Ashland home, postponing a payment or two until the end of the loan. And it was an adjustable-rate mortgage, which typically starts out lower than a fixed-rate mortgage."

"Now Lola, who did not want to give her last name, must sell her beloved house. Rising interest rates have increased her payments, and she can't make them anymore on a Social Security income. She owes more on the house now than when she bought it."

"Lola's not alone. Defaults on home loans in Jackson County have skyrocketed in the last year, increasing by 82 percent since 2005. According to the Jackson County Clerk's Office, 400 defaults were filed in 2006, compared with some 220 the year before. In December, 71 were filed last year, compared to 25 in 2005."

"This year promises no better: 46 defaults were filed in January, 40 in February and 57 in March."

"Once the real estate market slowed, interest rates climbed, and so did the payments. A year ago, only a couple of defaults were filed every week. Now it's two, three or four a day, said Jackson County Deputy Clerk Chris Walker."

"Calls to defaulting buyers were not returned or the buyers declined to comment. A summary of the 'default with election to sell' statements in the clerk's office, however, listed many with high interest, payments and balance."

"A home on Myers Court in Medford showed a $147,000 balance, 9.6 percent interest and delinquency of five, $1,255 monthly payments. Another, on Midway Road in Medford, had $135,000 owing at 8.25 percent, with four payments of $1,015 delinquent."

"'The foreclosure rate here is fairly high. I get a list every week and it's an inch-and-a-half thick,' said retail loan officer Chris Jacobsen in Medford. He estimates that 80 to 90 percent of foreclosures here are subprime."

"Said Judi Robinson of People's Bank in Medford, 'I call them 'slime-prime' loans. I saw 16 foreclosures filed in the last two weeks. Most are nonconforming, subprime loans. People were not qualified and got loans with a 'stated income' program. The way they were qualified was pretty sad. The subprime market was developed for people who don't pay their bills.'"

"'Now they owe more than they have,' Robinson said. 'They're unable to sell because they owe more than it's worth. (Buyers) waited too long to sell. They panic and they do a short sale.'"

"In short sales, sometimes the lender has to 'eat' the loss and sometimes the borrower carries it as a debt, she said."

"'It's pathetic, sad, throwing caution to the wind like that,' Robinson said. 'The subprime market had no strict guidelines and allowed buyers to extend their debt-to-income ratio out to 55 percent, when it should be under 44 or 45 percent to be safe. If they haven't paid their bills now, what makes you think they're going to pay their mortgage in the future?'"

"Referring to the loose standards for qualifying borrowers, and the steep adjustments and harsh prepayment penalties, Robinson said, 'It makes me vibrate with anger.'"

"The subprime lending industry in 2003 became 'extremely aggressive' in getting money lent out, said Jacobsen. Before that time, borrowers couldn't get a loan with a credit score under 650, but lenders began giving 100 percent loans with a 550 score, he said. 'The price of property was going up and the quality of buyers was going down.'"

The News Tribune from Washington. "Olympia foreclosures. So last week the state’s capital landed on a top 10 list for foreclosures, as ranked by RealtyTrac."

"Why all the foreclosures? Perhaps Olympians are being hit harder than others in the Northwest by the subprime mess."

The Daily News from Washington. "Cowlitz County's house price are getting more overvalued, according to a new report. The typical house in the county was 35.1 percent overvalued in the last three months of 2006, according to Global Insight."

"'It shows you how inexpensive things had been in recent years in regards to affordability,' said (broker) Jerry Flaskerud in Longview. 'Cowlitz County is going down the path of catching up with the rest of the west.'"

"For March, the county housing market continued to cool slightly with fewer homes sold and more up for sale. The median price of houses sold in March was $175,500, down for the second straight month."

"One important number continues to increase. The 602 homes on the market last month was up nearly 63 percent from a year ago. 'We've got quite a bit of inventory,' Flaskerud said."

"In a sign of how rapidly the region is growing, the number of construction permits issued by the Cowlitz County Building and Planning Department has increased by 46 percent between 2003 and 2006."

"The department granted 362 new construction permits in 2003 and 529 last year."