CNN Money reports on Florida. "The last time Fortune checked in with Bob Toll, founder and CEO of luxury-home builder Toll Brothers, was in April 2005, when we dubbed him the 'new king of the real estate boom.' Needless to say, much has changed since then."

"Q: Weren't you worried about speculation in Florida and elsewhere during the boom? A: There wasn't anything we could do about it. We would make people sign in triplicate swearing up and down that they weren't speculators, but we couldn't control whom the builder next door was selling to. And when the market goes south even slightly, the investor-speculator says, 'It's time to cash these things in.'"

"Q: Some analysts think new-home prices would have fallen even further if not for all the incentives that builders are offering."

"A: When you start selling homes for $400,000 that were $500,000, all the homeowners who paid $500,000 are going to be in your sales office complaining, saying, 'Why are you doing this to me? Why don't you just put a sign on my lawn saying, 'I'm a schmuck?' 'So you've got to give incentives instead of lowering prices because you don't want to be rude, crude and barbaric to your clients.'"

The Palm Beach Post in Florida. "City officials want to know how much longer the developer building the Eden condo will take to get it done. Work on the four-building, condo-conversion project began four years ago, and construction permits will expire in September."

"The silence from Eden representatives hasn't helped. Fifteen months have passed since their last promised completion date of March 2006."

"'They basically played with people,' said a condo-unit owner who asked not to be identified. 'I just want to know what's going on.'"

"BauerFinancial Inc.'s latest quarterly survey of financial institutions shows a 50 percent increase in the number of problematic banks nationwide, but the overall U.S. banking industry remains in strong shape, both locally and nationally."

"Palm Beach-based Lydian Private Bank was downgraded. The bank saw its four-star superior rating from the fourth quarter of 2006 drop to a three-star average, falling off Bauer's recommended bank list."

"Robert Reichert, Lydian's chief financial officer attributed the first-quarter dip to timing. He said Lydian had a large number of real estate loan originations in the first quarter but did not resell the assets until the just-ended second quarter."

"Harbor Federal Savings Bank and Fidelity Federal Bank & Trust, formerly two of the region's biggest banking institutions, saw their ratings drop."

The Sun Sentinel from Florida. "American Equity Mortgage Co. is shutting its West Palm Beach office and six other offices nationwide because of the slowdown in the U.S. housing market. The move should cut about 40 jobs, leaving the company with 24 offices and about 250 employees."

"Besides West Palm Beach, American Equity also is closing offices this month in Orlando, Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, San Diego and Portland, Ore."

The South Florida Business Journal. "Miami housing prices would have to drop 41.4 percent to return the city's income-to-housing cost to its historical ratio, a report by John Burns Real Estate Consulting said."

"That is further than any other major market surveyed, the report found. The consultant calculated average wages versus average costs of home ownership, including mortgage payments, property taxes and down payments, to tabulate affordability discrepancies."

From Florida Today. "More than half of Brevard County cities lost population from 2005 to 2006, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The federal numbers put Cocoa's population at 16,743 people in July 2006. That's 369 fewer people, about 2.2 percent, than the year before and 1,328 fewer, 7.3 percent, than a decade earlier."

"Cocoa Community Development Director John Titkanich Jr. said the one-year drop in population is closer to 200 people and is only temporary. The difference between the two years is more of a growing pain as Cocoa tears down dilapidated housing to make room for new units, Titkanich said. The demolition reduced the housing pool, but residents will return when the new structures are finished, he said."

"'It's a function of redevelopment. Units were demolished for the purpose of redevelopment,' he said."

The New York Times from Georgia. "Despite a vibrant local economy, Atlanta homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments and losing their homes at one of the highest rates in the nation, offering a troubling glimpse of what experts fear may be in store for other parts of the country."

"The real estate slump here and elsewhere is likely to worsen, given that most of the adjustable rate mortgages written in the last three years will be reset with higher interest rates, said Christopher F. Thornberg, an economist in Los Angeles."

"As a result, borrowers of an estimated $800 billion in loans will be forced in the next 12 months to 18 months to make bigger monthly payments, refinance or sell their homes."

"A big reason the fallout is occurring faster here is a Georgia law that permits lenders to foreclose on properties more quickly than in other states. The problems include not just people losing their homes, but also sharp declines in property values, particularly in lower-income and working-class neighborhoods."

"While wages have languished, average Atlanta families are shouldering more debt. The equity that Atlanta residents have in their homes, the value of their house minus what they owe, has dropped 14 percent since peaking in late 2005."

"At the end of March, 6 percent of all mortgages in Georgia were more than 30 days past due, the fourth-highest rate in the nation, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mississippi, Louisiana and Michigan had more loans past due."

"Rajeev Dhawan, an economics professor at Georgia State University, has started studying the characteristics of loans on homes that are in foreclosure. His preliminary analysis of data from April shows that nearly half were for adjustable rate mortgages and many were issued in the last two years."

"'Everybody thought if the home prices kept going up, the lenders will keep refinancing you,' he said."

"(At) an auction for the three-bedroom home near Turner Field...Corey Neureuther was the winning bidder. He said it was his first real estate investment and he was surprised that others did not bid the price up at the auction. Having recently moved to Atlanta from New York, he said he became interested in buying property after learning about foreclosures in the area."

"'I thought for sure it would sell for $200,000 plus,' he said. Mr. Neureuther said he thought that he could make money by renting out the house."

"Property records show the former owner of the home took out two loans to finance 100 percent of the purchase price. She borrowed the money from Ownit Mortgage Solutions, a California company that sought bankruptcy protection in December after many of its customers defaulted on their loans. Investors who bought bonds backed by Ownit loans will bear the loss on her home."

"Dean Williams, the president of the firm that conducted the auctions, said results of the sales in Atlanta and elsewhere in the country showed that real estate prices were inflated during the recent boom, especially in less affluent areas."

"'When you find out what the market price really is, it can be a joke,' said Mr. Williams."

The Montgomery Advertiser from Alabama. "As the water recedes, so have prices for real estate on the shores of Lake Martin, says one longtime Realtor. Agent Betty Litsey said the drought has put the brakes on a two-year surge in real estate values."

"'The drought has been a godsend as far as a price adjustment,' she said."

"Litsey said prices began skyrocketing in 2005 and continued through 2006. At the time, the price surge was a simple case of economics. 'There was a scarcity of product in 2005, and an overabundance of buyers,' she said. 'It was a seller's market.'"

"Litsey said the wave continued in 2006, with prices nearly doubling in some areas around the lake."

"'People paid more than they should have,' said the veteran Realtor, who has sold real estate for more than 20 years."

"Now, the supply of housing has exceeded demand. That market change, coupled with the drought, has stabilized prices, she said. Litsey estimates there is a 24- to 31-month supply of real estate on the market and fewer buyers on the hunt compared to two years ago."