The Palm Beach Post reports from Florida. "The Briny Breezes sale is off. Ocean Land Developers sent certified documents this morning telling the corporate board the deal to buy the mobile home park for $510 million and convert it to a resort had fallen through, Ocean Land VP Logan Pierson said."

"Real estate experts suggest Ocean Land's demand for an extension was just a convenient way to make the deal go away because in today's real estate market this deal no longer made as much sense."

"'Financing has become so incredibly difficult for just about any size developer. Huge developers are in a world of trouble, they are not even looking at new deals,' said one expert, who didn't want to be identified."

"Joseph Good of ComNet Realty has worked with Ocean Land and saidhe believes the decision to walk away was market driven. 'It's terrifying; there seems to be an absence of buyers and to do a high-rise multi-unit project, any lender is going to require pre-sale sand right now-- it's hard to get presales,' Good said. 'It's a boom bust world.'"

The Orlando Sentinel from Florida. "Condominium hotels may go down as one of the briefest fads ever to sweep the real-estate industry as the market slumps in Central Florida, only a year after it peaked. Potential buyers are disappearing and financing commitments are falling flat, leaving condo-hotel developers with an uncertain future."

"Last week, the first such hotel to open in downtown Orlando filed for bankruptcy protection, a failure the developer blamed on a rapidly changing market."

"'Our sales were good in the beginning, but it got bad, bad, bad and then even worse,' said Barry Greer, an owner of The Lexington at Orlando CityPlace. 'The market was red-hot when we started this, but it folded up before we could close it out.'"

"'There is essentially no condo-hotel market left this year,' said Dante Alexander, CEO of the National Association of Condo Hotel Owners. 'Eighty-five percent of the buyers were relying on second mortgages to buy their units, and that is gone. The mad money is gone from the market.'"

"Mark Lunt, a senior manager with Ernst & Young Hospitality Advisory Services, said condo-hotel units are real estate, and interest in them has fallen with the unraveling of the real-estate market. 'Condominium hotels are an extremely risky asset class,' Lunt said. 'I think the market is falling apart in the condo-hotel sector in much the same way that it is falling apart in the condominium sector in general.'"

The Miami Herald. "In Florida, the number of foreclosures is up 77 percent compared to the same six months last year, RealtyTrac said. In South Florida, foreclosures have tripled in Miami-Dade County and Broward County in the first six months of the year, according to data from the counties."

"Payment shock recently hit Rene Asor, who lives in Key West. Caught unaware, his monthly payment soared from $2,400 to $3,799. Asor fell behind, then caught up. But he doesn't think he can hang on much longer."

"He said his lender, Countrywide Home Loans, has offered little help but to refinance. 'I'm going to go into foreclosure,' Asor said. 'Even to do a refinance it costs more money, the closing and all that.'"

Frtom WTVJ. "Homeowner Robert Dodds is not unlike many others in South Florida. 'I wanted to get the house on the market at a good price and see if I can be out of here before anything would progress such as foreclosure,' he said. 'I need to sell the house.'"

"Ron Sheffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, told NBC6, 'If half your neighborhood is in foreclosure, half your condominium buildings in foreclosure, that will certainly impact your value.'"

"Zip code 33160, Aventura/North Miami Beach, ranked No. 19 in the nation and highest in South Florida. In that area, 480 properties went into foreclosure this year. 'Not really what you'd expect when you look at the socio-economic picture in the North Miami Beach/Aventura area,' said Sean Donahue of lender HomeBanc."

"'You can look at all the statistics and they are pointing to more and more foreclosures coming and that will drive down prices,' said realtor Felix Tristani."

"'I think we are seeing significant deals in all zip codes now,' said Sheffield."

The Sun Sentinel. "Mounting mortgage defaults across South Florida threaten to hurt more than just those homeowners who lose their properties to lenders."

"In the Tree Tops development in Wellington, one property near the entrance is in foreclosure and has been on the market for months. The vacant house has a rickety wooden fence, missing roof tiles and, until recently, a front yard full of weeds."

"A buyer just walked away from a $190,000 contract on the home, where comparable homes go for as much has $240,000. As a result, neighbors trying to sell their wood-frame homes built in the early 1980s could have a hard time getting their asking prices, said Deanne Lee, a real estate agent who lives one street from the house in foreclosure."

"'It's a scary thought,' Lee said. 'I see this as just the beginning.'"

"The number of Palm Beach County homeowners behind on their mortgage payments topped 1,000 in June, almost a fourfold increase from 259 a year ago."

"In Floral Park, a foreclosed house went on the market down the street from Joe Rodriguez. It sold recently for just more than $263,000. As a result, Rodriguez is worried that he could have a hard time getting his $369,900 asking price, even though his four-bedroom corner property is bigger and includes a pool table as an incentive."

"'It's a bad sign,' Rodriguez said of foreclosures. 'If the banks turn around and sell them for less, sure, it's going to hurt [other sellers nearby.]'"

"Because lenders don't want to be in the real estate business, they'll likely sell those properties quickly and at a loss that will reduce home values. 'They'll be bought by investors who will try to rent them out at a profit,' said said Alan Hunter, a senior market analyst with Metrostudy."

"Regardless, the downward pressure on prices actually will be good in the long run for overpriced markets, including South Florida, said Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wachovia Securities."

"'It's going to help speed up the adjustment process,' Vitner said. 'More homes will get into the hands of more willing sellers, the banks or whomever. It's a necessary thing.'"

From Florida Trend. "As Florida’s housing boom rolled along, Michael Wood read investment books and went to weekend real estate seminars to learn how to cash in. At the seminars, he was approached frequently by mortgage brokers offering loans to help him build a home and flip it."

"Wood saw little risk. 'It was strongly suggested that it was going to be 20% to 30% profit and that people were putting homes on the market and selling before construction was even complete,' he said."

"In early 2005, Wood signed up to build not one, but two homes, both in North Port. He had so much confidence in his friend that he let him handle everything from choosing the lots to the building plans. He took on more than $400,000 in debt and even started convincing his friends and family to sign up. 'I’ve got seven or eight family members in this deal,' Wood says."

"But toward the end of 2005, Wood’s heavily mortgaged friends and family members began to harangue him with phone messages. They’d seen little or no construction activity on their lots, yet interest was piling up monthly on their loans."

"In 2006, Construction Compliance finally broke ground on Wood’s first home. By August, it was nearly finished. But then 'everything just stopped.'"

"Liens started pouring in on the house that was nearly complete, filed by subcontractors and suppliers who had never been paid. Then, Wood discovered that (the) firm had drawn $80,000 of his Coast Bank loan for work on his other home but had never started construction."

"'The bank allowed the builder to draw $80,000 without ever touching the lot,' Wood says. 'I am now out close to $90,000 for a lot that was never cleared — I don’t think anyone ever even walked on it.'"

The Independent Mail from South Carolina. "You’ve found the house you want but can’t seem to sell the one you have. It’s become an all-too-familiar problem for many people. As residential building and new home sales slow across the Upstate, housing is a buyer’s market, said Debbie Dorn, a Realtor in Anderson."

"One of her clients, who wanted to move from Florida to Anderson, dropped the asking price on a home from $450,000 to $375,000 after 120 days on the market."

"Ms. Dorn often hears similar stories, and local Realtors say the increasing number of people tied to their old houses is one of several reasons that a slowdown in the housing market nationally finally is reaching the Upstate."

"'There’s not too many people who can afford to buy a new house before their old house sells,' said Tom Carr, a Realtor in Anderson."

"The drop in sales could be...a sign that the baby boomers who have been driving the marketplace for lake homes, second homes and resort properties have reached the tipping point as buyers, said Dave Chamblee, owner of Anderson Area Properties."

"At some point, baby boomers’ buying will slow. Then they’ll become sellers, Mr. Chamblee said."

From WPDE in South Carolina. "The number of those who lose their homes to foreclosure is on the rise in South Carolina, up more than 50% since last year. The Homeownership Resource Center reports that there have been 224 active foreclosures in Horry County this year alone."

"Realtors said the housing market went up in 2005 and has since adjusted, but not all investors are adjusting well."

"Joni Burleson with Century 21 said, 'A lot of investors come in buying at high peak, and now they're selling for 10's of thousands of dollars less, and they're having a hard time making payments.'"