The Arizona Daily Star. "A consumer-rights group is warning people obtaining mortgages to read and understand the documents so that they don't lose their homes. Sophia Tesch of East Valley ACORN said...lenders and brokers have ignored borrowers' ability to pay and put them into loan agreements that are bound to go into default."

"The call for more consumer education is getting the backing of Stan Lund, the incoming president of the Arizona Association of Mortgage Brokers. Lund said he has seen more fraud committed this year in Arizona than ever before. He said a loan officer who commits some misdeed might be fired by the broker or the bank."

"'But they go right down the street and get a new job,' Lund said, because they have no license that can be revoked. He said licensing won't stop all fraud. 'But it would stop it the second time,' Lund said."

"State Rep. Steve Gallardo even went so far as to suggest at a Tuesday press conference that the Legislature should outlaw certain types of mortgages. But Gallardo said the simpler, and potentially more politically acceptable, option may be better education of would-be borrowers."

"'They're not aware that in three years or two years that rate is going to fluctuate,' Gallardo said. 'So they're going from a $500-a-month house payment all the way up to a $1,000-a-month house payment.'"

From USA Today. "Buying real estate seemed a no-brainer five years ago. Cheap loans were easy to get. Home prices were soaring. How things have changed."

"Financial adviser Dave Yeske was featured in (a) 2002 story because he was being barraged with people selling stocks to buy homes."

"'The pendulum has swung in the opposite direction, he says now. 'The clients that sold stocks to buy spec houses in Arizona are telling me they're under water, can't rent them and they wish they left all the money in the stock market.'"

"Some real estate investors are sticking with housing, in the belief that the bottom has been formed. Scott Hibner sold his investment properties in Las Vegas and used the proceeds to buy rental properties in Austin, where he thinks the prospects are brighter. He's planning on holding the properties for five to 10 years and not going 'for a quick flip.'"

"Others, like Nigel Swaby, a mortgage broker in Salt Lake City, are reluctant stock investors. Fearing the prices on two investment properties he owned in Salt Lake City could decline, he sold them in 2005."

"Swaby wants to get back into real estate and has been hunting for homes to buy, but feels prices are still too inflated. 'There aren't a ton of deals out there,' he says."

The Transcript Bulletin from Utah. "It could be a long, dry summer for home sellers at the top end of the local housing market. About 111 houses in the price range of $300,000 to $1.4 million are on the market in Tooele Valley, according to the Wasatch Front Regional Listing Service."

"But real estate agents believe those houses could be up for sale for several more months because finding buyers for such pricey real estate is particularly difficult at a time when the market is cooling off."

"Sales of homes in Tooele Valley jumped dramatically from 2004 to 2006, but have leveled off in 2007. During first quarter 2007, 32 houses sold in the Grantsville area at a median price of $259,547 & up 58 percent in price from this time last year."

"'We've had a lot of spec homes pop up in Grantsville,' said Tooele County Board of Realtors President Michelle Warner. 'There are between 20 and 22 houses built and standing without a buyer. Most of these are not built by local builders, but builders outside the area. I think these outside builders are anticipating a big influx of people moving into Grantsville.'"

"Broker Brad Sutton said builders speculating they will find a buyer once a house is built is a new trend in Tooele Valley."

"'Builders have been more willing to build spec homes the past two years,' Sutton said. 'Before they would do just the opposite & they would make sure they had a buyer. In fact, prices were rising so fast that some builders did not want to have a buyer early on. Because most of these spec homes were in the $300,000 range, it would take them up to six months to build. By the time they had it built, a $300,00 house would be worth an additional $27,000.'"

"Tooele Prudential Real Estate owner Vickie Griffith said there are still several mid-range-priced houses on the market in Tooele Valley."

"'It is good for a buyer right now because there is a wide selection of houses and properties,' she said. 'The only problem is that it is hard to find anything under $130,000. We don't have affordable new houses.'"