The Star Banner reports from Florida. "Local Realtors are in survival mode. 'I've seen the highs and the lows and the unreal in 2004-2005 and the complete crash right now,' said 17-year Realtor Vic Rotz. 'It's really taking a turn for the worst the past three months.'"

"The Ocala metropolitan area is down 50 percent in home sales compared to May 2006. Just behind Ocala was the Tampa Bay region and Miami, with 42 percent and 44 percent declines respectively. In the greater Orlando area, sales are down 40 percent."

"'I'm all about 'we live in Florida.' Everyone wants to live here,' said Rotz, 'But facts are facts. We're over-inventoried and overpriced and until we fix that this is going to get worse.'"

"Reasons for the readjustment in the housing market are obvious: homes in many areas of the country became too pricey, affordability suffered and the home buying public lost confidence."

"'Households and investors moved to the sidelines with many waiting to get back into the real estate market when property prices retreat to more suitable levels,' wrote Paul C. Bishop, Ph.D. and Harika Bickicioglu, both housing analysts."

The Palm Beach Post. "Mortgage foreclosures in Palm Beach County tripled in June compared with the same month a year ago, and they quadrupled in St. Lucie County, painful signs that the housing market slump continues to spread throughout the region."

"In St. Lucie County, where speculators madly gobbled up properties during the five-year boom, lenders foreclosed on 355 homeowners in June, compared with 79 in June 2006, according to the St. Lucie County clerk's office."

"'Many people can tell you they can't refinance now because their property is worth less than their mortgage is, especially those who bought at the pinnacle of artificial appreciation in 2005,' said analyst Jack McCabe. 'Others do not meet the more stringent requirements needed to get a loan now.'"

The News Press. "Lee County foreclosures kept rising last month, with Cape Coral leading the way. June's foreclosures totaled 968, up from May's 867, according to the Lee County Clerk of Court."

"It was a continuation of a long runup in foreclosures as the real estate market has cooled, the rate in April 2006, before the numbers took off, was only 131."

"Many of the properties going into foreclosures were single-family homes owned by investors, Fort Myers-based mortgage broker Jeff Tumbarello said. 'Everywhere there was heavy speculator ownership.'"

"Daren Blomquist, for RealtyTrac, said the county 'has one of the higher foreclosure rates in the state,' ranked at No. 6 in May, the last month available. The No. 1 county is Osceola; No. 2, Flagler; No. 3, Dade; No. 4, Pasco and No. 5, Manatee.'"

"Jeff Lazerson of Mortgage Grader said he's hearing from a lot of Florida clients who are trying to get out of bad loans but aren't always able to."

"'They were misled about the original loan, and they get the shock of their life' when interest rates rise or a balloon payment comes due, he said. 'Part of the problem is that subprime loans are almost non-existent because of the subprime meltdown' with some big lenders in that category falling apart."

From CNN Money. "A tidal wave of foreclosures may be heading toward Florida, if you judge by the number of homeowners looking to get rid of their homes as fast as they can."

"'Orlando has blown up. There's been a 700 percent increase in traffic of people filling out our forms,' said Duane LeGate, president of House Buyer Network."

"Jonas Lee, whose company, Redbrick Partners, buys properties in distressed markets all around the country, sees similarities with Orlando. 'There are tax issues that are depressing the market,' said Lee, Property taxes jump when houses change hands. 'And insurance rates spiked after the hurricane season of a couple of years ago,' he said."

"When LeGate sees big jumps in client contacts from a single county, he concludes that the area has hit a rough patch that may not come out in price stats for months."

"'We called Phoenix, two counties in California and West Palm Beach, Florida in June of 2005,' he said, at a time when those areas were still perceived to be white-hot."

"Now, according to figures from RealtyTrac, the Phoenix metro area has 10 of the top 11 zip codes for foreclosure filings in Arizona, and all 10 are among the 500 worst hit zip codes in the nation. The other areas are also suffering a deep slump."

The Naples Daily News. "One of the nation’s largest homebuilders is abandoning plans to develop new communities in Southwest Florida, saying it expects the Naples/Fort Myers housing market to remain 'severely depressed in the foreseeable future.'"

"Meritage Homes Corp. said year-to-date home sales in the Naples-Fort Myers area have dropped 70 percent since the same time last year."

"A Meritage official told the Daily News on Friday that the homebuilder has abandoned options to purchase an estimated 2,500 lots in the Naples/Fort Myers market over the past 18 months. The company had invested approximately $25 million in the abandoned lots, Meritage Investor Relations Director Brent Anderson said Friday."

"The homebuilder, the nation’s 12th largest, announced it will write off $28 million in losses related to its investment in its Naples-Fort Myers operations as part of its second quarter 2007 financial results."

"Ross McIntosh, an area land broker and industry analyst, said Meritage isn’t the first major builder to leave the market and it likely won’t be the last. WCI abandoned an estimated $10 million investment in its Sabal Bay project in Naples, but smaller developers also are walking away from millions in deposits, McIntosh said."

"'The scope, impact and pervasiveness of this downturn continues to manifest itself in ugly ways,' McIntosh said."

"Anderson said Meritage officials have lost hope that the Southwest Florida market will turn around any time soon. 'The market is bloated with inventory and there’s no demand,' Anderson said."

The Miami Herald. "When Lily Azel and her husband forked over nearly $750,000 for a condo at Blue, a swanky new tower on 36th Street just east of Biscayne Boulevard, they weren't just sold a luxury home with turquoise-tinted windows and a gleaming stainless steel kitchen."

"They were sold a vision of a fabulous new midtown Miami. But that doesn't quite gel with what they see when they leave their home."

"'We knew there was some of that element,' Azel said, referring to the squads of vagrants and panhandlers who populate the area near the condo. She moved to Blue last year from Weston. 'But we were led to believe the whole area would be revamped into this great midtown.'"

"Peter Megler, a Realtor and vice president of the Blue's board of directors, said the condo's developers extolled the transformation expected for Edgewater when pitching to buyers."

"'I moved here from New York because I could feel the energy in this town,' said Megler, whose condo cost $396,489. 'But many of us don't feel like we're getting our money's worth.'"