The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "As of last month, a record 30,000-plus single-family homes were listed for sale in the Tampa Bay area, and for the first time in three years, the median sale price in Pinellas County dipped below $200,000."

"Realtor Nancy Baird doesn't mince words when asked about having to hang on another six weeks or longer. 'It's a huge problem because so many people are waiting to see what happens,'" Baird, a sales agent in St. Pete Beach, said. 'They're scared they won't be able to take their Save Our Homes cap with them. I have a customer who's selling her condo and renting instead of buying because it's cheaper.'"

"Baird recently sold a home in St. Petersburg that had an assessed value of $230,000. Because the home had been on the market 18 months, it sold for the discounted price of $180,000."

"In its latest study, Metrostudy found that Pasco County's annual housing starts fell 46 percent in 2006 from the year before, the biggest drop in the Tampa Bay area."

"But, in some cases, the chilly market does not explain everything. For example, the award-winning, 4, 800-acre 'new town' of Connerton in Land O'Lakes launched its sales in late 2005."

"It's approved for 8, 700 homes. So far, it's sold about 200, said Stewart Gibbons, Connerton's president."

The Orlando Sentinel. "The number of finished-but-vacant homes 'remains troublesome,' according to a report released Thursday by Metrostudy. The number of vacant new homes in the region rose 26.3 percent from the first quarter of 2006."

"'No one is putting anything new on the ground,' said Keith Bass, Orlando division president for Ryland Homes. The Metrostudy report showed that housing starts in Orange, Lake, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia and Polk counties fell 46.7 percent during the first quarter compared with a year earlier."

The Citrus County Chronicle. "Statistics show new residential starts in Citrus County declined 29 percent from 2005 to 2006 and the total dollar value of new residential construction declined 26 percent in the same period."

"Jim Crosley, director of sales and marketing for Rusaw Homes, said the company has felt the slowdown. Rusaw Homes marketed 130 sales contracts in 2005, but only 50 in 2006 and just 3 so far this year."

"'The market has gone completely south,' he said."

"Colony Stone, a subcontractor that handles stuccowork for Rusaw Homes and Citrus Hills, has laid-off 60 employees, Crosley said. 'That’s going to be a big impact on the county,' he added."

"He said some people are paying twice as much in taxes as they were three years ago. Property values were falsely inflated when investors 'flipped' property for quick profits in 2005, he said."

"Development Services Director Gary Maidhof said more single-family housing permits were issued during the first three months of 2007 than in the first or second quarters of 2006, respectively."

"Maidhof said the trend in 2005 was for investors to sink money into real estate, which was rising in value, but the reverse is true today. 'Keep in mind, in 2005, that was an anomaly,' he said."

The Sun Sentinel. "When a mortgage broker convinced Erik Zapata he could own a home, he quickly signed on the dotted line. He and his girlfriend moved their two children out of a low-income housing project in Pompano Beach and settled into their new Coconut Creek condo."

"But as the numbers on his monthly statements soared, Zapata found himself in a sinkhole of debt. He says he did not clearly understand what he signed: a deferred-interest loan that adds thousands of dollars in unpaid interest to his mortgage."

"'The dream home becomes the nightmare,' said mortgage lender Tino Diaz,. 'If we're putting people into homes they can't afford, we're wrecking them. You have lenders out there saying, 'If you're breathing and you've got a paycheck, let me give you a home.'"

"The brother-in-law of a good friend, a Boca Raton lender, talked him into an easy deal, Zapata says. His income, at the time $22,000, didn't need verification, the lender said."

"Zapata agreed to pay $700 monthly before taxes on a $244,000 condo in Riviera Palms. He'd pay over a 40-year period at an interest rate of 1.7 percent. But he didn't know he was paying only a fraction of the total interest, 8.6 percent. He soon noticed his statements showed a debt growing by $1,000 a month."

"'I felt cheated,' said Zapata. He considered walking away and losing the condo, but is trying instead to get a refinancing loan with a different lender. He could pay more than $7,000 in refinancing penalties and has little money left over for other expenses."

"Zapata admits he had been in a hurry to sign and glossed over key details in his contract. 'We were so happy when we moved into this place,' Zapata said. 'Now I sit up at night staring at the numbers.'"

The Herald Tribune. "Coast Financial Holdings Inc. continues to hemorrhage, posting a loss of $2.4 million in the first quarter. Coast also increased its provision for loan losses by $1.4 million in the first quarter, primarily to cover a commercial real estate loan to developer Michael Tringali."

"The bank made 482 loans totaling $110 million to CCI customers, many of whom were speculators. The company drew millions of dollars from the bank, even though it did little to no work on some of those homes."

"Many of those borrowers, $31.6 million worth, have stopped making payments on their loans, and Coast will file foreclosure actions against them. 'We have begun enforcing our rights under the construction loan agreements,' said Tramm Hudson, Coast's special advisor."

"Four additional customers of a home building company that abandoned 50 home sites here went to police this week to pursue further criminal charges against the company's top executive."

"Joseph Pufta, the former head of now-defunct Avalon Homes, was charged last month with 21 felonies after seven families contacted police saying he took their money and failed to complete the work they paid for."

"'It's all the same,' said North Port Police Detective Lenny Hills, of the families' stories. Avalon got money from construction loans and failed to pay subcontractors for work, Hills said. Those subcontractors, in turn, abandoned the jobs and placed liens on the houses, he said."

"While several other local home builders faltered when Southwest Florida's real estate bubble burst last year, Pufta is the only area builder to face criminal charges. One of Pufta's charges stems from an episode where police say his company cashed a New Jersey woman's $42,180 check, yet 18 months later her lot had not even been cleared."

"'I didn't know it was a crime that you filed with police because it's a builder that just didn't finish your house,' said Alisha Buckingham, who finally contacted authorities after work on her two-story home stopped last June."

"She said that on Aug. 11 the company drew $42,000 from her account. 'I don't care if I'm in labor, I'll be sitting in that court until it's done,' Buckingham, now seven months pregnant, said about seeing Pufta held accountable."