The Hook reports from Virginia. "'Under Assessment!' 'Bargain in the city!' 'Best deal out there!' Welcome to the new reality of moving real estate in Charlottesville. In one recent instance, desperate sellers, trying to unload a Belmont property they purchased two years ago, are asking only slightly more than they paid, and sweetening the pot with the offer of a week-long Hawaiian vacation."

"Is it panic time for sellers, or are fears of a housing collapse misplaced? 'There's an awful lot of inventory,' says real estate agent Jim Duncan. Indeed, at the end of April, more than 1,100 properties were listed on the market in Charlottesville and Albemarle. By May 29, the number had soared to over 1,400. That's about 600 more than at the same time in the hot market of 2005."

"Making the picture even darker for sellers: average days on market in April was 120, up from just 66 days in April 2005, when sales were blazing. More than twice the inventory, and nearly twice as long to sell it."

"'Sellers are still stuck back in the market of 2004 and 2005 with expectations,' says Duncan. And for some homeowners, there's another problem, they may not even get their money back."

"'There are people who paid at the height of the frenzy,' says Duncan, 'and are now negotiating from a position of what they need to make rather than what the market dictates.'"

"'It's frustrating,' Duncan says, 'to advise sellers that sometimes there's nothing they can do but wait.'"

"There are other signs that things aren't as rosy as they used to be. As the Daily Progress noted in a Saturday, May 26 article, foreclosures advertised in that paper have increased by 27 percent in the past year."

"'We have noticed that the sales are coming in below the 2007 assessments,' says Roosevelt Barber, the city's assessor. 'If this continues, then we will make adjustments downward.'"

The Morning Call from Pennsylvania. "According to statistics from the Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors, the number of homes sold has fallen for the past 11 months, while the number of homes for sale has skyrocketed, the group said. The slowdown comes on the heels of a trio of blockbuster years for home appreciation and sales."

"The slowing pace of sales in the past year has irked some homeowners who hoped to sell their houses quickly. Many suburban homes and properties that cost $250,000 or more are sitting on the market longer."

"At a conference last month at Lehigh University, area real estate agents said inventory continues to rise because some homeowners are trying to sell their houses while prices are still on the rise. At the same time, buyers are taking longer to purchase homes. With a large number of homes for sale, buyers don't need to rush."

"'The buyers don't want to purchase in a declining market so there are a lot of buyers on the fence waiting,' said Loren Keim, who owns Century 21 Keim Realty in Allentown."

The North East Reporter from Maryland. "Sharon Blough, manager of the Perry Hall office of Long and Foster Real Estate, (said) that there are more foreclosures this year than in the recent past, particularly the span from 2002 to mid -2006, a period of real estate boom with house values going up dramatically, and often doubling."

"Veteran agent Joseph Banick said he has noted more clients telling him they could no longer afford their homes and needed to sell. Banick said they were often young couples under 35 living beyond their means and discovering that the 'well has run dry.'"

"During the 2002-2006 boom years, as house values kept escalating, home owners could easily refinance, since rising appraisals gave their properties more equity than they had paid in. But in mid-2006, the merry-go-round stopped whirling."

"'Many clients assumed the boom would keep going. But we (professionals) know from history that they never do. They always end,' said Sherrie Brandquist, a housing counselor."

"Some home appraisals are going down, and those homeowners find themselves with a house worth less than the amount they owe on the mortgage. This situation is called 'negative equity.' It means there is no escape for the cash-strapped homeowner."

"Brandquist said the boom times also encouraged a few lenders to make loans that would not pass muster today."

The News Journal from Delaware. "Foreclosure filings in Delaware are soaring toward record highs and are likely to keep increasing into 2008, state banking officials say."

"Foreclosure filings in all three counties stand at 2,395 so far for fiscal year 2007, already topping last year's total of 2,228, according to Superior Court records in each county."

"'At this juncture, each county is projected to break a record this year, and Sussex has already broken' its record, said Gerry Kelly, Delaware's deputy bank commissioner for consumer affairs. 'And we still have a year to go in what we see as potential growth in this problem.'"

"Gladys B. Spikes, a housing counselor in Wilmington, said her agency is working with hundreds of families who are in the foreclosure process or have already lost their homes. Calls from clients seeking to avoid foreclosure 'have quadrupled' in the last couple of months, she said."

"'Mostly what's happening is that these exotic mortgages are coming due,' said Spikes."

"With 6.46 percent of subprime loans in Delaware showing up as 90 days late or more during the last quarter of 2006, the news on foreclosures is not likely to improve anytime soon."

"'That's your ghost of Christmas future,' said Ira Goldstein, policy director for the Reinvestment Fund. 'The 90 days or more delinquent are certainly likely to go into foreclosure. So to me, it means that there are a bunch of these things that are going to hit Delawareans. From a state perspective, you have to be concerned.'"

From CBS 3 on New Jersey. "A cooling real estate market has lead to a tremendous amount of home foreclosures at the Jersey shore. Home foreclosures at the Jersey shore are up 110-percent over last year."

"'I think it’s very similar to the dot.com boom,' Steve Brasslett, CEO of Ivy League mortgage said."

"'Every deal was a record breaker and then the market became saturated. Eventually it dropped and the door closed. Investors couldn’t sell homes for what they bought them for, so they were unable and had no intention of making mortgage payments,' said Brasslett."

"Mortgage brokers say homes of all shapes, sizes and prices are going into foreclosure. A brand new two-story home in Ocean City is up for foreclosure because more than half a million dollars was owed to the bank."

"A unit at Flagship Condos in Ocean City went back to the bank Wednesday at a Cape May County sheriff’s sale. 'The bank didn’t want to buy it back, but they have taken it back through foreclosure action,' foreclosure specialist, Adam Palmisciano said."