The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "The summertime blues came early for Florida home sellers this year. The season, ordinarily among the state's weakest for realty transactions, had not even begun in May before the market dropped more than a third in existing home sales. Sarasota-Bradenton median prices fell 9 percent, from $322,600 to $294,700."

"Statistics further south in Charlotte County-North Port painted a darker picture for that market. Home sales fell 39 percent, and the median price slid 12 percent, from $213,400 to $186,900."

"The slump in sales has left investors scrambling to get any kind of cash flow they can. A condo at Grand Preserve looked like a hot deal when Dave Weam picked up the contract in 2005. 'I paid $650,000 for it and I owe less than $300,000 and it is costing me $3,000 a month, with the maintenance fee and property tax and payment (principal and interest),' he said. 'I would rent it for $2,200. That is where we are at.'"

"Weam set the Grand Preserve condo up as a short-term rental, complete with furniture, but has been unable to rent it at all. He has the condo listed for $629,000."

"'If I lowered the price to $525,000 or $550,000, I still don't think I'd be able to sell it,' Weam said. 'And if I am willing to rent it for $2,200 a month, why would somebody want to buy it? It is a lose-lose for me.'"

The Miami Herald. "Home sales in South Florida were sluggish in May and are expected to lag into the summer. The number of single-family homes sold in May plunged 44 percent in Miami-Dade from a year ago, according to figures released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors. In Broward, sales dropped 34 percent from a year ago."

"Condo sales also were down. In Miami-Dade, they were off 46 percent from last May. In Broward, they were down 29 percent from a year ago."

"Last month, Jack Fredericks put his three-bedroom ranch house in Fort Lauderdale up for sale. He started at $335,000 and in three weeks dropped to $300,000. He found a buyer who couldn't quite get a mortgage for his asking price and lowered it $5,000 more."

"'I had watched the neighborhood and saw what was going on with slow sales,' said Fredericks, who is moving to North Florida. 'If I could have afforded to wait around, I might have done that. But the way I look at it, I need to get any deal I can.'"

The Sun Sentinel. "Prospective home buyers let the spring selling season pass last month with a yawn and maybe a lowball offer. Palm Beach County had its slowest May since the Florida Association of Realtors started keeping track in 1994. There were 741 existing home sales compared with 982 a year ago, a 25 percent slide."

"The median price fell $3,200, to $387,800 from $391,000 a year ago. It was the 12th consecutive month of year-over-year price declines."

"At the end of May, Palm Beach County had nearly 37,000 homes and condominiums for sale, according to the Miami-based Keyes Co., up 29 percent from a year ago. At the current sales pace, it would take more than four years to sell all those properties."

"Real estate agents and consumers in Palm Beach and Broward counties were hoping a new property-tax plan in Florida would boost sales. But many are disappointed, insisting the plan won't provide enough long-term relief."

"Josh Laddin owns a three-bedroom house, and he and his family want to buy a bigger place. Laddin is angry and frustrated at the tax changes. 'Everything is against the home buyer,' he said."

The Palm Beach Post. "'Buyers are waiting for prices to drop, and sellers are not reducing their sales prices to more realistic levels,' said William Cozart, chief executive of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches."

"Indeed, the median price of an existing single-family home in Palm Beach County fell only 1 percent in May, to $387,800 from $391,000 a year ago."

"In the Treasure Coast, single-family home sales fell 39 percent in May 2006. New-home builders in the Treasure Coast, which saw an explosion of new development during the housing boom, have been slashing prices and offering buyer incentives, which have cut into the sales market for existing homes."

"'If you could buy a new home or an existing home for the same price, which would you buy?' said Mike Morgan of Morgan Florida Real Estate Group."

From TC Palm. "Existing home sales and prices continued to show a decline in Martin County in a year-to-year comparison, the Martin County Association of Realtors said Monday. 'May was indicative of the amount of inventory on the market for single-family homes,' said Jennifer Atkisson-Lovett, president of the Realtors Association of Martin County."

"The Florida Association of Realtors said the Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Stuart, sold 315 existing single-family homes in May, down 39 percent from a year earlier. The median price for an existing single-family home in the area dropped 9 percent, to $228,500, in May compared with $252,300 during the same period last year."

"Home sales in the Melbourne-Palm Bay area decreased 26 percent from 651 to 483 units sold. The median sales price declined 16 percent to $190,400 from the $227,400 recorded during the same period last year."

The News Press. "Marquis Simms and her fiance moved to Naples from Michigan two years ago, only to find themselves aghast at the high prices of homes and the frenzied buyers who were snapping them up."

"'We felt like we were never going to be able to buy a house,' the office manager said. 'They'd be on the market one day and then gone.'"

"But that was then and this now. Sales of existing single-family homes in Lee County were down 42 percent from 993 in May 2006 to 575 last month and the median sales price was down 2 percent to $281,500."

"Now, Simms said, they're actively looking for a house and are looking forward to moving out of their tiny condominium and buying something bigger, they'll probably rent out the condo because the market is so bad right now."

"Residential real estate broker Denny Grimes in Fort Myers said the future is bleak for home values in Lee County. 'I think there's a 100 percent chance our prices are going to be lower in two years,' Grimes said."

"The inventory of unsold homes is about 15,200, he said, noting that foreclosures and dumping of houses by builders at discount prices are preventing that number from going down anytime soon."

"J. Larry Sorsby, chief financial officer of Hovnanian Enterprises, said Monday at the Reuters Real Estate Summit in New York that Lee County is 'by far the worst housing market that we're in and I wouldn't be surprised if it's the worst housing market in the country.'"

The Gainesville Sun. "Market conditions are tipping the balance toward renting instead of buying for many would-be home buyers, Gainesville housing observers say. That is especially true in the condominium market, with many struggling condo conversions going back to leasing."

"'The problem with a lot of conversions is they're not unique,' said Wayne Archer, director of the University of Florida's Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. 'All the conversions are garden apartments out in the perimeter areas. They've got more competition from the rental market.'"

The St Petersburg Times. "If you're a real estate agent, the bay area is a rough place to be right now...and it's getting rougher. In May, home sales here fell harder than almost anywhere in the country. The good news (for buyers, anyway): Prices are falling, too, though not as quickly."

"According to the Florida Association of Realtors, sales of existing single-family homes in the Tampa Bay area fell 42 percent last month, compared with May 2006. In May, the median price of an existing home in the bay area was $209,300, an 8 percent decline from the previous year."

The Orlando Sentinel. "Existing-home sales for May in the Orlando area, released earlier this month by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, were down even more than those at the state and national levels, 45 percent compared with a year earlier."

"The local inventory of homes for sale also surged to a record 25,463 in May, up more than 40 percent from a year ago. And that doesn't include for-sale-by-owner properties or unsold homes in builders' inventories."

"'When you see the inventory dropping four or five months in a row, we'll be out of the woods. Right now, we're still in the woods,' said Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans."

The News Journal. "During May, Realtors sold just 644 existing single-family homes in Volusia and Flagler counties, 29 percent fewer than the 912 that changed hands in May 2006. The median selling price in the two-county area dropped 14 percent to $196,800, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Monday."

'It was the second time in the past three months that area house prices have dipped below the $200,000 level."

"Terri Ossi tried to sell her Ormond beachside home for $349,000 but, after three months, only one person came by to take a look. So she decided to lower her asking price by $14,000 and throw in some freebies."

"Her new package deal includes not only a pool home with an in-law apartment, but also the kitchen appliances, washer, dryer, house warranty, termite bond, and a 1998 Honda CR-V valued at $5,000."

"'The furniture is negotiable, and if they want the dog, they can have him, too,' Ossi joked."

"'Pricing is everything,' added said Marge Allison, VP of the Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors. 'The buyers that we have are looking for bargains.'"

"Builders are offering the biggest incentives, Allison said. 'They're the ones offering the free appliances, free cars and the free boats,' she said."

"No one has shown any interest yet in Ossi's aging Honda, said her agent, Keith Freeman. 'But it can't hurt,' he added."