The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. "Lower- and more moderate-income areas continue to be hit by foreclosures, but pricier communities in Cook and Lake Counties are hardly immune, according to an analysis done for the Tribune. Record Information Services looked at foreclosures involving mortgages of $350,000 and higher and found 584 in those two counties in the first five months of 2007, more than double the 265 recorded in the same period last year and 117 in 2005."

"Weed complaints are up in Highland Park, and so are foreclosures. 'A good amount' of the gripes, said assistant city manager Patrick Brennan, 'is attributable to the increase in the number of foreclosures. Many times, when a property is in foreclosure, it's abandoned.'"

"In many cases, the owners had the mortgage for less than a year, said Patty Maier, Record Information's data management director."

"Highland Park, where the median family income, according to city estimates, is $117,000, had 15 foreclosures involving mortgages of at least $350,000 in the first five months of this year. That's on track to be triple the number the suburb recorded in all of 2005."

"Mayor Michael Belsky said some residents are insulated from economic upheaval. 'You do have some wealth, and you also have a lot of professionals that even in bad economic times are going to do OK because they're bankruptcy lawyers or something like that.'"

"Hired to sell a foreclosed property on Cavell Avenue, Tom Koikas believes it's simple: Too many people bought homes they couldn't afford."

"Consider 860 Pleasant Ave. in Highland Park. 'No one ever lived there,' said neighbor Holly Moore, after the 11/2-story bungalow was renovated and then unsuccessfully listed for about $600,000. 'It has been a nightmare,' added Jim Graue, whose wife regularly calls Highland Park officials about the tall grass and weeds; yards are in violation when weeds or grass exceed 8 inches in height."

The Beacon News from Illinois. "Developers knocked on Hank Cryder's door in Minooka for years before he finally let one in. Amidst a red-hot housing market, subdivisions were creeping toward his nearly 200-year-old farm at Ridge and Caton Farm roads, and Cryder was ready to pack."

"He signed an option clearing the way for a developer to purchase the 1,800-acre farm. Then the housing market cooled. 'In the best-case scenario, we would have been gone already,' Cryder said. 'But because of the slowdown...here we are 18 months later.'"

"In reaction to an estimated 30 percent drop in construction and sale of Chicago-area homes, developers are setting their sights on fewer Kendall County farms." "For every three farms turned into subdivisions last year, only one has been developed this year, according to an estimate by Kendall County Farm Service Agency Executive Director Les Maierhofer."

"'In previous years, (farms) would be sold and immediately built upon,' he said."

The Winona Daily News from Minnesota. "Federal investigators are probing a possible rash of mortgage fraud in the Twin Cities in response to reports of a large number of unusual real estate transactions in north Minneapolis and elsewhere."

"'The FBI has identified Minnesota as an area significantly affected by mortgage fraud,' U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose said."

"Suspicions about illegal 'property flipping' were aroused by sales that attracted the attention of North Side neighborhood leaders. Some of those properties are now in foreclosure, according to Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson, leaving the city with unpaid water bills and delinquent property taxes."

"'What they do is they buy the property at a normal price from a willing seller and they flip it within their own limited liability company and they do it at an inflated price,' Johnson said."

"The company often held onto properties for several months, according to property records. But according to Johnson, many of the properties lacked any evidence of improvements that would justify the gain in prices."

The Twin Cities Daily Planet from Minnesota. "The Columbia Heights City Council revokes rental licenses at every meeting. Fire Chief Gary Gorman, who heads the city’s housing inspections, said there are generally two reasons."

"The first is simple negligence: the landlord failed to make a repair or turn in money and paperwork on time. The second is foreclosure, a growing problem that has many residents, city, and state officials concerned."

"'Rental properties have become a real problem,' Gorman added. 'About five or six years ago, when the real estate market was so good, houses were valued very high. A lot of our old time owners said, 'I’m selling. I’m out of here.’ What we got in, then, was people buying up investment properties. Then the rental market got terrible.'"

"'Landlords couldn’t even get close to what they needed in rent to pay the mortgages; they’d bought these houses at such inflated prices. What ended up happening was that people were just walking away. They couldn’t sell them,' Gorman said."

"'We cut a lot of lawns; the majority of them are vacant buildings,' Gorman said. 'Foreclosures are a big problem. The Anoka County Union [newspaper] has long lists of foreclosures. First ring suburbs are getting nailed worse than any others right now.'"

"Gorman said dealing with the banks can be frustrating. 'Sometimes they ship it out to a contract company. I sit on the phone all the time to banks in California and Florida. They have no clue about a property in Columbia Heights, even when we’ve tracked it down to them. We can go a good six months without finding somebody to work with...How do you take a rental license away from a phantom bank in California?'"

The Grand Rapids Press from Michigan. "In the high times of home construction, Sable Developing in Rockford would carry between 45 and 50 homes in their inventory."

"'Right now, we have the absolute bare minimum for our company,' VP John Bitely said. 'We probably have 15. We're struggling a little bit like everybody else.'"

"For some, struggling is an understatement. Single-family home starts through the first half of the year are down a combined 36 percent in Kent and Ottawa counties from last year, and down 56 percent from two years ago, according to Ada-based Builder Track."

"'Very few of our members are doing any speculative housing at all,' said Judy Barnes, chief executive of the Home & Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids."

"Rick Gootjes, of Deppe Homes in Caledonia, said starts for his company are not what they used to be. 'A lot of guys are trying to pick up remodel jobs and jobs that, in years past, we wouldn't have done because they were too small,' he said. 'There is not a whole lot of confidence out there.'"

"Gootjes said they recently sold a house entered in this year's Spring Parade of Homes, but the home also was in last year's Fall Parade. 'We sat on it for eight or nine months,' he said."

From Crains Detroit in Michigan. "The housing situation is unlikely to get better before yearend. 'To call the housing market a lost cause might be extreme, but there’s just a huge overhang of unsold inventory that is depressing both prices and new construction. It’s going to take a year or longer to work through the inventory,' said Carl Steidtmann, chief economist for Deloitte & Touche USA L.L.P."

"New federal guidelines were issued this month that reduce credit availability in the subprime market. 'They flat-out can’t get a loan, now. They are out of the market,' said Bob Walters, chief economist at Livonia-based Quicken Loans/Rock Financial."

"David Meahney believes he has found a way to earn a profit despite a soft housing market, and the Plainfield Township Board is giving him a chance to test his hunch."

"Board members unanimously agreed to let Meahney construct 61 condominiums instead of the 22 single-family houses previously approved for the southwest corner of Five Mile Road NE and Grand River Avenue."

"Meahney said market demand for 20,000-square-foot houses has suffered a sustained nosedive."

"He said condominiums averaging 1,200 to 1,500 square feet should be more attractive to baby boomers who don't want upkeep responsibilities of a larger home."