The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "Condos For Sale. Developers advertise slashed prices and promise flat-screen TVs and computers. All the hype hasn't worked. The white-hot trend to change apartments into condominiums has long passed, and developers that overestimated the demand have found themselves with half-empty complexes."

"Some that tried converting them back into apartments aregrappling with foreclosure. Others are turning in their keys, leaving the lenders with unwanted residential properties they're trying to sell themselves."

"'It's the oldest thing in the American economy,' said Eddie Flom, of Flom Equities LLC. 'Greed, greed, greed overcomes wisdom.'"

"Developers aren't the only ones feeling the pain. In some cases, lenders are on the hook for loans on complexes where sales have been slim. At CrossWynde Condominiums, an apartment conversion near Brandon, 60 percent of the 453 units are owned by the lender, according to county property records."

"Arthur Nevid, managing director for Mountain Funding, said the lender plans to hold the complex until the real estate market turns around. 'The market was real hot, and then it hit a wall very quickly,' Nevid said. 'Two years ago you'd sell 10 units in a day. Now if you sell 10 in a month you've had a good month.'"

"Although the trend squeezed some renters out of apartments a few years ago, it's helping them now. Converted condos for rent are plentiful, leaving renters in a good position to negotiate a deal."

"Amanda Gates, for example, knew her landlord bought three condos at CrossWynde and needed tenants fast. He wanted $850 a month for the one-bedroom condo. Gates and her husband talked him down to $700. 'We knew he didn't have anyone else,' Gates said."

The Palm Beach Post. "St. Lucie County home builders face 'one of the most troublesome inventory problems in the nation,' research firm Metrostudy said. The county has a 16.6-month supply of homes for sale, even after builders slashed construction from 777 starts in the third quarter of 2006 to 387 starts in the first quarter of 2007."

"'The county attracted an enormous amount of speculators,' director Brad Hunter said. 'The speculators put down deposits on houses and the builders started construction. But by late 2005, a lot of those speculators said, 'Ahh, I don't want the house anymore.'"

"'Everyone is being super cautious,' said Bruce Malasky, past president of the Gold Coast Builders Association. 'There's no urgency for buyers to make offers.'"

"Builders have had little choice but to pull back on construction and dangle incentives such as low closing costs and temporary waivers of homeowner association fees."

"'Builders are slowing down on their production,' said Gail Kavanagh, executive VP of the Treasure Coast Builders Association. 'It's going to affect the economy of the area tremendously.'"

"Martin County builders likewise pulled back on housing starts. There were only 95 starts in the county in the first quarter, well off the all-time high of 345 starts in the third quarter of 2005."

The Orlando Sentinel. "This comes from an insider in the downtown condo market: 'The downtown market is 'immature' and is only receptive to products in the mid to high $200K. Past that threshold, there are very few buyers. This is not Manhattan after all.'"

"I couldn’t get a breakdown of just downtown condos, but I did go to the Orlando Regional Realtors Association site and added up all the listed condos in the Orange-Seminole area on the market for more than $300,000. I counted 758 of them."

"Then I added up March sales of condos costing more than $300,000. I counted 20 of them. Ouch."

"In the Orlando area, vacation homes are typically investment homes as well, and sales in Central Florida have been held down by a number of factors, according to local agents who specialize in vacation properties."

"'The rocket ran out of gas,' said Steve Schaffer, a partner in an Orlando real estate company that specializes in vacation-home and second-home sales. 'After Hurricane Katrina [in 2005], sales started to drop,' and they continued falling throughout 2006, Schaffer said."

From TC Palm. "Although there are nearly 1,000 unoccupied new homes in Indian River County, move-ins are happening at a record-breaking pace, according to data on new home construction released Monday."

"While the overall number of move-ins is up, Metrostudys Brad Hunter said that much of that could be fueled by renters. With investors unable to dump their properties, many are 'surviving by renting it out.' Those homes may end up as 'deferred supply' and will return to the market in a few years."

"Hunter added that the county is similar to St. Lucie County, in that both are overbuilt, leaving builders to create incentives to attract buyers. In Martin County, there is a six-month supply of vacant finished homes."

The Herald Tribune. "Real estate appraisers were under tremendous pressure during the boom to provide appraisals that would allow bankers to make mortgage loans. Now that the boom is over, appraisers find themselves being blamed for loans that went bad. Bill Temple, an appraiser with 25 years of experience, recently discussed this issue with staff writer Michael Braga."

"Q: How did the boom from 2002 to 2006 alter conditions under which appraisers operated? A: 'Any appraiser will tell you that there was incredible pressure on values on either vacant land or homes. Pressure on completing appraisals within a 'quick' turnaround time resulted in hastily completed reports. Major lenders and banks are just as responsible as mortgage brokers for pressuring appraisers.'"

"Q: Do you think appraisers pushed back enough against bankers and borrowers during the boom? A: 'It is no secret that there are some appraisers who will appraise anything for any number. But the majority of appraisers only want to do a good job. When 'pushing back' to a lender or originator, they did not care. They could just pick up the phone and find somebody to fulfill their demands.'"

The News Press. "A Lehigh Acres couple alleges in a fraud lawsuit that the value of eight properties they bought was falsely inflated by three real estate appraisers in Lee County to support a construction loan."

"The suit, filed March 9 in circuit court by Robert and Judy Schmidt, says they bought four Cape lots and four in Lehigh Acres from First Home Builders in 2005. The couple obtained financing to build houses on the property through a program offered by D'Alessandro & Woodyard Commercial Realtors."

"The Schmidts want out of their contracts to buy the houses, claiming that they stand to lose at least $250,000 because the value of the properties was exaggerated by the appraisers; Gary Neese, William Meador and Gulf Coast Appraisal and Associates."

"But Miami-based attorney William Strop, who represents Neese, said there was nothing improper about his appraisals. 'Certainly Mr. Neese did nothing wrong,' Strop said."

"Besides, he said, the complaint filed by the Schmidts didn't name specific flaws in the appraisals. 'The allegations are so vague and confusing we really can't tell what they're saying.'"

"William Thompson, the Schmidts' attorney, said he'll be revising the complaint to be more specific, but it's clear the couple was defrauded with the help of bad appraisals. 'We're alleging fraud and conspiracy by all of the players to bilk these people.' he said."

"Strop questioned whether the Schmidts, Judy Schmidt is a real estate agent, were simply bad businesspeople. 'It seems to me they made an educated guess, and then it didn't pan out,' he said. 'Why is that anybody's fault? If they'd gambled and won, nobody would ever have heard from them.'"