The Chicago Tribune reports from Ilinois. "In the Chicago area the housing market continues to suffer from an overhang of unsold homes and from price discounting, said Bill Gronow, a partner with Kennedy Builders in South Barrington. 'We were overheated and the market isn't bad, but it has returned to normal,' said Gronow."

"Chicago-area home builders 'were caught off guard by the slowness of the spring selling season, which was a total fizzle, said housing consultant Steve Hovany."

"Normally, by this time, half the new-home sales for a year have occurred, he said. 'But this year, if the current total number of sales in the Chicago area were to double, the situation still would be quite gloomy,' Hovany said."

From Chicago Business. "Chicago-area foreclosures, which set a record last year, are projected to reach full-blown crisis levels in 2007. Cook County is on pace to record at least 30,000 and as many as 36,000 foreclosure filings this year, according to Cook County Circuit Court Judge Dorothy Kinnaird."

"That would mean a 35% to 62% increase from 2006, when 22,248 filings were easily the highest in county history after having risen 36% from the previous year."

"The data show foreclosures up in nearly every part of the city and suburbs, from the middle-class South Shore neighborhood (up 55%, to 331 foreclosures, last year) to the well-heeled suburb of Wilmette (up 192%, to 38)."

"'It's not just unsophisticated borrowers who got into trouble,' says David Rose, the analyst who authored the report. 'It just shows you how risky these (adjustable-rate mortgages) really are.'"

The Times Reporter from Ohio. "For Realtors, property buyers and sellers in Tuscarawas County it’s a matter of whether the glass is half empty or half full. Although the average number of Days on the Market for real estate is at record highs for most areas of the county, others view it as a great opportunity to purchase a home."

"Realtor Holly Waldenmyer said there always will be sellers who think their home is worth more than what the market shows it’s worth. 'Sometimes it takes time to convince them that it’s lower than what they recognize. You see some of them on the market for a long time because it takes them time to be realistic.'"

"Real estate broker Craig Barnett added that the average sale price is being hurt by the record number of foreclosures. 'The houses that are foreclosed on are stigmatized, they sell for less than they’re worth for the most part,' he said."

The Columbus Dispatch from Ohio. "Take your pick, home buyers: You have plenty to choose from. There are 18,571 homes listed for sale in central Ohio, according to the Columbus Board of Realtors. That's about 300 short of the record, set last July, and it doesn't include many new builds, homes for sale by owners, repossessions or homes that have fallen off the listings without selling."

"Ken Danter, (who) analyzes the central Ohio real-estate market, offers (an) explanation: So many people bought homes during the area's housing boom a few years ago that the pool of available buyers has dwindled."

"'It's not a function of this being a bad market,' Danter said. 'It's a function of having such a good market five years ago.'"

"Central Ohio has become so crowded with homes that one major builder, Centex Homes, announced last week that it is pulling out of Columbus to focus on more-successful markets."

"'A lot of people are getting closing costs paid for; a lot of the issues are being taken care of by the sellers,' said Powell agent Chris Anderson. 'We need these people to pull the trigger. They see no urgency, because it's a buyer's market right now.'"

The Detroit Free Press from Michigan. "Danielle Merriweather hasn't made a mortgage payment since December. But instead of joining the 16,351 Detroiters whose properties were foreclosed on during the first quarter of the year, Merriweather began to work with her lender and agreed to sell her property in what's called a short sale."

"She paid $140,000 for the house and owes roughly $127,000. The house is on the market for $125,000 and probably will sell for even less."

"The ranks of financially strapped homeowners also likely will increase as those with adjustable-rate mortgages find themselves unable to handle the higher monthly payments. 'I'm getting calls every day,' said real estate agent Venesha Harris in Royal Oak. Homeowners 'ask, 'What can I do?' It's desperate times out there.'"

"Even when lenders agree to a short sale, some may not be willing to take much below what they are owned, said Mandy Melone, a Realtor in Livonia. But in some cases, lenders 'are taking 50 cents on the dollar of what's owed them,' said Melone."

The Cadillac News from Michigan. "In his 23 years as the owner of Johnson and Associates, Keith Johnson has seen the highs, lows and in-betweens that are associated with the real estate market."

"'The one cardinal rule is all real estate is local. When you look at southeast Michigan things are completely different. Prices are falling (in southeast Michigan) but they also had a boom year,' he said. 'For better or for worse, we just haven’t had a boom year. We’ve had growth, just not a boom year. Now we are just not seeing the normal price growth we have seen.'"

"'We would love to have more sales going but the market adjusts,' said Realtor Rick Lantz. 'This area felt the boom that there was nationally but not to the extent of the East Coast and West Coast or even the Sun Belt.'"

From Minnesota Public Radio. "Real estate statistics show a continued slump in home sales in the Twin Cities. And industry experts say no one should expect a turnaround anytime soon."

"After years of a housing boom in Minnesota, Zola Thompson wasn't expecting a soft real estate market when it came time for her to sell."

"'I kept seeing this thing going lower and lower, and I really would like to get as much as we can out of it because we're going to be living on some of this in our old age, and I just wanted to get as much as we could,' says Thompson."

"Glen Dorfman of the Minnesota Association of Realtors recommends that sellers accept the market for what it is, and not hold out for a recovery."

"'Right now we're in a frightening time of flat and declining market values, so why not cut losses?' says Dorfman."

"Dorfman says market conditions are more likely to get worse than better if, as expected, the rate of foreclosures continues to climb. That would dump even more homes on an already saturated market, pushing prices down further."

"'I've been saying to everybody who will listen, if you have your house on the market and your realtor tells you to update the living room carpeting, or stage it...then you should do that,' says Dorfman. 'And if you need to reduce the price today $10,000 to $20,000, it's far better to reduce it 10 or 20 than in six months having to reduce it 70 [thousand] or 80 [thousand].'"

"Tom Musil, head of the real estate program at the University of St. Thomas, predicts the market won't stabilize until late next year. But even then, he cautions not to expect a return to boom times."

"'You have to realize the feeding frenzy that we were in from '98 to about 2006 is going to be hard to repeat,' says Musil. 'We saw tremendous increases in values and in a short period, maybe eight or seven-year period, and when you see houses increase 250 or 300 percent, that's pretty tough to match.'"