The Bradenton Herald reports from Florida. "Lenders have filed 573 foreclosure actions in Manatee County Circuit Court through the first four months of 2007, including a record 156 in April alone, according to the Manatee County Clerk of Court's Office. At that pace, the county's annual foreclosure-filing record, 901, set in 2002, could fall as early as mid-July."

"'We used to get, like, five (foreclosures) a day; Now it's sometimes as many as 15 a day,' court clerk Very Reyna said. 'It's set monthly records already this year, so a record year, I wouldn't be surprised if that happens.'"

"The number of Lee County homes in foreclosure as of Monday is nearly 1,900 percent higher than at the same time last year, and the numbers in six other counties, including Sarasota, have more than quadrupled. Statewide, the number of homes in foreclosure rose to more than 49,000 as of Monday."

"'It's bad, it really is, and I think it's going to get worse,' said Ryan Snyder, of Snyder Law Group, which specializes in real estate law and works with local banks and at-risk homeowners."

"'It was these specialty kinds of loans that did the most harm,' Snyder said. 'Even the experienced banks were taking loans that, in hindsight, they know they shouldn't have. The bottom line is almost everyone is partially guilty. Everybody rode the wave of real estate.'"

"'I don't know how people are surviving,' Snyder said. 'Some homeowners are finding themselves in properties that are appraised at $100,000 to $200,000 less than what they owe on it.'"

Bloomberg reports from Florida. "The glut of U.S. properties for sale is about to hit the rental market. A record number of homeowners who can't sell condominiums and houses are competing for tenants."

"Anthony De Silva said he's not happy to become a landlord. He bought a two-bedroom condominium on the ocean in Hollywood, Florida, 18 months ago expecting to sell at a $100,000 profit. Instead, he's looking for tenants at $1,700 a month."

"'I don't want to sell for less than I paid, so my only choice is to rent it,' said De Silva."

"'The market is flooded with condominiums,' said De Silva, who has yet to find a tenant for his 1,200-square-foot property in Florida. 'I didn't want to be a landlord, but I had to bite the bullet so I can afford to wait for a real estate recovery.'"

"'I'm hoping the good times for real estate will be back in next year's spring market,' he said."

The Record. "In an extensive interview last week with The Record, Hovanian CEO Ara Hovnanian talked about his company, the housing market and the home-building industry. Q. You talked about Fort Myers, Florida, and I know that really slammed your most recent earnings report. Is that market still the worst one for you?"

"A: 'That's a very tough marketplace. It just got very overheated with investors, who helped drive prices artificially high, and now they have taken their prior purchases and listed them to sell. They've cut back demand and increased supply. So prices have dropped dramatically in that marketplace.'"

The Fayetteville Observer from North Carolina. "Shirlyn Kimble wants out. It wasn’t long ago that her neighborhood in west Fayetteville thrived with homeowners."

"Kimble did everything right: She paid her mortgage, she kept up her home. Yet she’s paying the price for Cumberland County’s thousands of foreclosures."

"A Fayetteville Observer investigation found dozens of middle-class neighborhoods where high concentrations of foreclosures have diluted property values, driven off homeowners and, according to residents, invited crime."

"In three dozen neighborhoods, at least one in 10 homes fell into foreclosure over the five years, the analysis found."

"Trouble started when the original buyers moved away but hung onto their homes to rent them out, Kimble said. Subsequent tenants damaged the homes or skipped out on rent, she said. At least five houses on her street have sold at foreclosure auctions, the Observer analysis shows."

"'I know one house on this street, (the owner) just left,' she said. 'It wasn’t they couldn’t afford it. They just moved and let it go into foreclosure.'"

The Sun News from South Carolina. "Homes are staying on the market longer and real estate sales are falling more on the Grand Strand than in any other area of the state. The entire coast, however, is seeing falling sales - and Myrtle Beach is in the lead."

"Home and condo sales tumbled 31 percent on the Strand, followed by a 20 percent drop in Beaufort, a 16 percent drop in Hilton Head and a 16 percent drop in Charleston, according to the S.C. Association of Realtors."

"'This is the year that we catch our breath,' said Nick Kremydas, CEO for the state Realtors. 'By the end of the year, we'll be close to the 2006 level [of sales]. 2008 will be a better year.'"

"Local agent Martina Haire said she'd recently been dropped by Allstate for a single-family home policy she's had for at least 12 years. So far, the only quote she's received for new insurance was $400 higher from State Farm."

"And she's seeing the problems with her clients too. Some are considering selling and moving inland. Others are taking second jobs to cover the cost, she said."

"While insurance is contributing to the coastal real estate market drop, the meltdown in the subprime lending industry is also a factor."

"'It's starting to affect, particularly, first-time home buyers. In some ways the shake-out of the industry is a good thing, but in other ways it's making it harder for families to have access to other lending products,' Kremydas said."