The Review Journal reports from Nevada. "Home Builders Research reported that new home sales through May are down 43.8 percent in Las Vegas from a year ago and resales are off by 34.7 percent. Median new home prices have declined 4.4 percent to $308,874 and existing home prices slipped 3.8 percent to $278,000."

"Meanwhile, the inventory of homes for sale on the MLS climbed to a record 23,642 in June, with about 40 percent of them sitting vacant."

"'I walked into the office of the title company I use yesterday and they were down to less than half their normal staff,' Robin Camacho of Direct Access Lending said. 'People are losing jobs in this market. We'll see a lot of part-time Realtors and mortgage officers leave the business before the market turns around.'"

"Camacho said there's not much good news in her local market research. 'The number of foreclosures and short sales (homes sold for less than what's owed) continues to rise,' she said."

"Las Vegas' housing market is not yet near the bottom, despite claims from some real estate agents that the worst is behind us, Andrew Pugh of SellFastLV.com said."

"'It's pretty bad out there. Unless you're buying a low-end property, under $250,000, you're better off renting. A $350,000 house in a good neighborhood can be rented for under $1,500 a month. Right now you can't buy much house for $1,500 a month with a fixed-rate loan,' Pugh said."

"The growing percentage of houses selling for under $269,000 is an indicator that prices are dropping."

From KVBC 3 in Nevada. "The numbers don't lie and they can be sobering. Each month about 5,500 homes come on the market in Las Vegas and only 1,500 are sold."

"Jim Snyder: What's your plan? Do you want to buy a house? Vuk Dukic (home buyer): Most likely yes. I'm testing the market, I guess... see what's available and see where the prices will go."

"Vuk: Coming from San Francisco, it's way, way cheaper than over there. I did notice the prices are coming down. I guess a lot of hesitancy in the market right now."

"Lisa Eggleston is a long time Las Vegas resident and she's buying up. She's found great homes she wants to move into, but she's in a catch-22. 'I can't upgrade to my new home until I get the equity out of my house that I'm in, but then I'm having a hard time selling the house that I'm in.'"

"She's trying to get a seller to agree to a contingency: she'll buy the home as soon as her own home is sold. 'People are not accepting contingencies,' Lisa says, 'they're accepting cash or offers that are now.'"

"She's frustrated that deals keep falling through and it only reinforces that hesitancy buyers are feeling in the market."

The Arizona Republic. "Deals that help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosures are on the rise in metro Phoenix. 'Short sales' are similar to regular home sales except a deal is worked out in which the lender accepts what the house is appraised for or what it will currently sell for instead of what is owed on it."

"Travis Olsen, president of the National Short Sale Center, is tracking the market and said there are more than 700 short sales under way in the Phoenix area."

"Real estate agents say that two years ago, there were almost no short-sale properties on the market or deals closing."

The Rocky Mountain News from Colorado. "Royce Morales bought a foreclosed home for $86,000 last month, about half of its previous sales price."

"The Center Avenue home in southwest Denver sits smack in the middle of an area hardest hit by foreclosures. The latest tally for the 80219 ZIP code: 758 foreclosures in the past 18 months."

"One home in Denver, which had a $149,000 loan, is now being sold by the lender for $52,000."

"Of the 4,000 foreclosed homes actively being processed in Denver, a Rocky Mountain News analysis of the data shows: 890 of them are in the hands of whoever bought them at a public trustee auction, typically the lender."

"1,507 have gone through the foreclosure sale, but could still be redeemed by the borrower. 1,557 of them are being sold by the public trustee. The status of the remaining 46 is unknown, according to city records."

"April Crumley, president of the Concerned Citizens for Barnum, said Hispanics are especially vulnerable to losing their homes. They are talked into getting loans that they don't understand. 'I'm talking Hispanic lenders to Hispanic customers,' she said."

"Much of Barnum and Athmar Park neighborhoods are in that ZIP code. The neighborhoods are filled with empty homes with broken windows and yards covered with weeds, sometimes topping seven feet."

"It's not just lenders, but buyers who are increasingly contributing to the foreclosure crisis, said Karen Cuthbertson, president of the Athmar Park Neighborhood Association."

"'There are people like the gentleman across the street who bragged how this was the third home he bought using false documentation,' Cuthbertson said. 'He took a sledgehammer and ripped out all of the copper pipes and then left. They're predatory borrowers.'"

"She said much of the focus by legislators and politicians has been on the 'poor distraught home buyer, and clearly that is a valid market.' But she said the reality is that there are an increasing number of buyers who are just as culpable as any predatory lender."

"And as in Barnum, Athmar Park is suffering more now from foreclosed homes than it did in the 1980s, (she) said. 'A couple blocks away from me, probably seven of the 10 houses on the street are empty,' she said."