The Boston Globe reports from Massachusetts. "After more than a year of plunging sales, lonely open houses, and proliferating for-sale signs, realtors said many sellers are finally willing to lower prices. As a result, houses sell. 'The mantra for sellers is price, price, price,' said Linda O'Koniewski , a broker in Melrose. 'You have to be better priced than the competition. This market is unforgiving if you overprice.'"

"'It's pretty clear the market hasn't found a bottom yet,' said Terry Egan , editor at the Warren Group, which publishes real estate data. 'The pace of sales has been pretty steady, but inventories are still only slightly lower than a year ago.'"

"'This is how corrections work,' said Alan Clayton-Matthews , a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. 'When there's excess supply, prices will adjust to clear it. And they're not going to adjust upward.'"

"Sellers who aren't flexible learn buyers won't stick around. Katrina and Ross Fujita had negotiated a $370,000 purchase price for a Hyde Park home that was listed at $389,000. When the owner balked at making repairs identified by the home inspection, the Fujitas rescinded the contract and walked away."

"They found another home in better condition in nearby Dedham for the same price."

"Kris and John Cain spent some $7,000 on new landscaping and kitchen renovations that included new counter tops, fixtures, and appliances. They priced the home at $425,000, about $50,000 less than similar homes were going for two years ago."

"They received two offers, accepting one that was $11,000 over asking price. The home sold in five days. 'When you're seeing houses that are on the market for a long, long time, you worry about selling your house,' Kris Cain said."

"Roseland Property Co. and Lennar Corp. stopped work on Portside at Pier One because of cost increases and softness in local real estate, according to Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns the property."

"Roseland spokeswoman Nancy Sterling said the project was delayed because the developers recently switched general contractors and, to cut costs, are requiring subcontractors to submit new bids for parts of the project. 'That is taking longer than we thought,' Sterling said."

"Developers were about to enter the construction and sale phase at a time when building costs have increased sharply and the once-hot condo market has cooled. Downtown condominium sales decreased 8 percent in the second quarter, compared with a year earlier."

"Last fall, Roseland took the unusual step of replacing its primary contractor on the project, Skanska USA Building Inc. with Suffolk Construction Co."

"Kerim Evans, vice president of operations for Skanska USA, said...he was told by Roseland that Suffolk's estimate for the project was 'less than 1 percent different than where it was when Skanska priced it,' he said. 'It's no mystery that the project is over budget.'"

The Eagle Tribune. "Foreclosure auctions in (Lawrence) nearly quadrupled over the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year."

"In addition, the 87 auctions held during the first quarter of 2007 are more than half of the 145 auctions that resulted from failed mortgages during all of 2006. The 148 foreclosure petitions filed over the first three months of this year more than doubled last year's first quarter totals."

"'When you're seeing a dramatic jump of about 300 percent in the first quarter over the same time last year, it doesn't bode well what's going to happen this year,' said Andrea Ryan, housing manager of the city's Department of Community Development."

"Rafael Delarosa of Lawrence testified yesterday that he could wind up losing his three-decker house on Stearns Avenue because of some false and misleading advice he got two years ago. 'She told us the minimum we'd be paying (a month) would be $2,500, including taxes and insurance,' Delarosa said of his mortgage broker."

"But Delarosa wound up with mortgage payments of $3,700, with the insurance and taxes included. And the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage he expected turned out to be two loans, one for two years and the other for 15 years."

"He and his wife earn a combined $2,400-a-month in Medford. They were counting on rent money from the triple-decker to help pay off the mortgage. But one of the apartments is vacant and new tenants are unlikely after he put a 'for sale' sign in his yard three months ago."

"The mortgage brokers with the most Lawrence homeowners winding up in foreclosure last year don't have strong ties to the city, according to A. Michael Ruderman, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell."

"'Five of them are far away from Massachusetts,' he said, noting they were from California."

The Sentinel Standard. "Delinquent property taxes in Ionia County are producing record-level foreclosures and could lead the county into a financial crisis, according to county officials."

"Commission Chairman Jim Banks thinks he knows part of the reason. 'When you can borrow 110 percent of the value of the house if you can't keep it you let it go back,' he said. 'We need to take this seriously on how we are to proceed. There is a financial crisis.'"

"The 2007 forfeitures, which are based on 2005 unpaid taxes jumped to 506, a 34 percent increase from the previous year's 375. 'Thirty-four percent tells me something is wrong,' said Ionia County Treasurer Nancy Hickey."

"She added, 'When I started around 20 years ago if we had a dozen in a year that would be a lot.'"

The Cape Cod Times. "The starter home is back. An increase in the number of homes selling for less than $300,000 is among the real estate trends reported yesterday by Barnstable County Register of Deeds John Meade."

"'Today, there are starter homes to be had in the $200,000 range that weren't there three or four years ago,' Meade said."

"The median sales price for individual commercial and residential properties last month was $325,000, down nearly 11 percent from May 2006. Total sales volume, however, was up 13.8 percent, from the same month this year. The sales growth marks the second consecutive month of increases, following more than a year of almost constant drops in volume."

"In a less positive trend, foreclosure numbers continued to surge in May, when 22 foreclosure deeds were filed with the registry, the highest single-month total in 10 years. The filings bring the year's total to 73 foreclosures."

"The annual foreclosure total for each of the years from 2000 to 2005 never exceeded 46 foreclosures. In 2006, Barnstable County had 87 foreclosures."

"Meade attributed the rapid increase in foreclosures to the decline in sales value. When prices drop, homeowners can owe more on their mortgage than they are able to get for their house on the market."

"'In a declining market, it is going to be more difficult for anyone who runs into financial difficulty,' Meade said. 'You're going to have foreclosures resulting because they are not able to move their property on the open market.'"