The Baltimore Examiner reports from Maryland. "You face foreclosure. You quickly move to refinance but qualify only for a double-digit subprime rate. You take it, pay for an appraisal and learn your house is worth $425,000. Then the lender reduces your appraisal by $100,000. That’s the situation Mark Allen, of Gwynn Oak."

"'When I finally got a full-time job, I was so far behind I couldn’t catch up. I had to refinance to save my home, but when they dropped my appraisal by $100,000, I was floored,' said Allen."

"Allen accepted that his monthly mortgage payments would go up by $1,000 and that he would only receive 70 percent loan to value, but he questions whether dropping his appraisal was legal."

"Real estate lawyer Stephen Greenwood said he thought lenders are 'being oversensitive' to avoid financial problems such as those that affected New Century Financial, which went bankrupt."

"'I don’t know if it is actually legal to decide to reduce somebody’s appraisal,' he said. 'Then again, the lenders are the ones loaning the money, and they want to make sure their risks aren’t worse than what they already are.'"

The Times Community from Virginia. "Misery loves company. In this case, the company is Loudoun County, which is still sharing in the continued housing slump that has enveloped much of the nation."

"The number of homes in Loudoun that sold in March 2007 nosedived 20 percent from 12 months earlier, according to the most recent data kept by the Dulles Area Association of Realtors. The average sale price also dropped from $543,515 in March 2006 to $513,066 this year."

"Nearby, Prince William County saw a more drastic decline in the number of homes that sold in March at 41 percent. 'You don't want to know my prediction. I'm not optimistic,' said Leesburg agent Jay Thomas."

"Local agent P.J. Riner has a subdued enthusiasm about the market picking up. She tells her selling clients that when they put their home on the market it is no longer theirs. Pricing, staging and holding weekly open houses are all keys, she contends, to selling a home. 'It can be done.'"

"'Not just clean, but sparkling, toothbrush clean,' explained Sterling agent and home stager Nicole Richards, who has seen a recent spike in the number of sellers looking to stage their homes. 'It has to look good, because there is so much out there. If they can smell it, you can't sell it.'"

"In Loudoun, 3,254 homes were on the market in March, and those that sold were taking about 130 days to do so, eight weeks longer than last year."

"Jeanette Newton, CEO of the Dulles Area Association of Realtor's advice? 'Sellers, be realistic at what you price at,' adding that the days of free-wheeling house-flipping two and three years ago are nothing but a distant memory."

"'I don't think that is coming back anytime soon,' she said. 'I'm not even sure what that was.'"

The News Sun from Ohio. "The impact of foreclosures seeps far beyond the homeowner and is beginning to take its toll on local real estate and lending markets."

"Sue Smedley, owner of Real Estate II, said one of the area's biggest problems is the 'upside-down' house, meaning owners owe more than the house is worth. She said this happens with almost one out of two homes her agents are called to list."

"Andy Irick, senior VP at Security National Bank, said lenders, too, are seeing upside down properties, which cost them money. He has seen homes worth $60,000 with loans for as much as $110,000."

"Smedley and Irick are concerned that buyers from all economic backgrounds need more consumer education to ensure financing they can live with. 'Foreclosures can be found in every neighborhood in this community,' Smedley said. 'It's my 39th year in the business and I've never seen anything like it.'"

The Enquirer. "As thousands of hopeful sellers already know, prospective home buyers these days are scarce, selective and not easily seduced."

"New home sales figures depict a deep slump in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky real estate market: Sales of existing single-family homes and condos reached a four-year low in the first three months of this year. The number of homes for sale is at an all-time high."

"Sale prices are down. From 2005 to 2006, average prices dropped in 103 of 184 Southwest Ohio neighborhoods and in 35 of 76 Northern Kentucky neighborhoods."

"'When you've got an oversupply...buyers don't feel a sense of urgency in buying a home,' said Lee Robinson of Robinson Realtors. 'So they shop a lot. They can afford to be picky, and if a home isn't perfect in every imagined way in the buyer's mind, there are a lot of other homes to consider on the market.'"

"Robinson's clients, Jim and Bette Ramsey of Hyde Park, know all about the slump. They listed their home of 28 years last August and still don't have a buyer. They dropped the price from $489,900 to $449,900. Any other year, the house, on a cul-de-sac near the Cincinnati Observatory Center, would have sold itself."

"'In the past, we even had people coming to the door and asking if we were interested in selling,' Jim Ramsey said. 'And there had never been a house on the street that even had the 'For sale' sign posted before it was sold.'"

"The supply of homes for buyers to browse is definitely up: As of March 31, the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors had 15,455 listings, up 39 percent in two years. In Northern Kentucky, listings were up 30 percent during that span, to 3,629."

"The downturn extends to the west side of Cincinnati as well, said Karen Rachford, an agent in Bridgetown. She's listing a three-bedroom slab house in Northgate where the price has dropped to $79,000, below the amount of the owners' loan."

"'A year-and-a-half ago that same house would have sold for $99,000,' she said."

"Fueling the glut of homes for sale are those repossessed by banks and landing on the market as distress sales. Rachford expects that trend to gain further momentum as holders of two-year adjustable-rate mortgages face their first interest-rate increases."

"'The sellers' payments are going up because rates have climbed some,' she said. 'Their income didn't go up to match what the market has done, and they're not able to make the payment.'"

"Mark and Kimberly Kohus are among buyers taking their time to find the right house. They say they've been 'frustrated' by the quality of houses in their price range. Mark Kohus said sellers don't seem to realize that market forces are working against them."

"'They are still asking premium prices, but several of them are not in premium condition,' he said."