The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "A large banner hanging outside the Toledo Club Apartments on one of the main arteries in this city attests to distorted condition of the local rental market. The words on the banner read: 'Free Rent.'"

"'There is an abundance of rentals out there,' said Donata Noone, a rental specialist with ERA Sun Coast Real Estate. 'Buyers bought homes and condos when the market was good. They then tried to flip them, but realized they couldn't and decided to rent them instead.'"

"With hundreds of houses, condos and apartments for rent in North Port, not every owner has been able to find a tenant. So rents are plummeting, and so are rental standards."

"'We're talking to people we would not have considered two years ago,' said Linda Haese, who is trying to rent two new 1,800-square-foot houses. 'These are people who don't have deposit money, but are willing to put $25 aside every month. As long as they don't have a criminal record, we're willing to say OK.'"

"'Rents are coming way down because of supply,' said Karen St. Pierre, a rental specialist with ERA Advantage Realty. 'A 1,800-square-foot house without a pool that rented for $1,400 a year and a half ago is now renting from $900 to $1,000 a month.'"

"That represents a 36 percent drop and has created a wave of resentment among investors, who have seen their taxes and insurance bills move rapidly in the opposite direction."

"'Some owners are going crazy,'" said Noone. 'They say they need the higher rent or they'll go bankrupt.'"

"Haese, who is trying to rent two houses in North Port, said she attends investor club meetings where she hears horror stories about owners who have been unable to rent houses for as long as five months."

"'They're just not dropping their prices fast enough,' said Haese, who is offering her houses for just under $1,100 per month."

"Haese said she is not making money at that level, and she would like to sell, but the market is glutted with houses for sale. 'I think it will be five or six years before I can get out,' she said."

"For people looking to rent houses in North Port, the situation could not be better. They are being offered new houses with swimming pools at ridiculously low prices."

"'It makes much more sense to rent than to buy right now,' said Dennis Black, a Port Charlotte appraiser. 'A renter will pay 60 percent of what it costs to own.'"

"Because of the dramatic downturn in the real estate market, home builders are now replacing scrub jays as the most endangered species in this once rapidly growing city."

"'We're in a recession,' said Richard Gebing, who manages the North Port operation of Fort Myers-based Raymond Building Supply. 'And this is not going to be a soft landing.'"

"The fundamental problem facing North Port is the oversupply of homes choking the market."

"One in 10 houses is for sale or embroiled in some stage of foreclosure. Builders themselves are holding more than 400 homes that they built on speculation, said Dennis Black, a Port Charlotte appraiser who recently completed an exhaustive study of the North Port housing market and who interviewed individual builders to collect his data."

"'By their own admission, they are also sitting on as many as 500 vacant lots,' he said."

"'It's a ghost town for sure,' said Marla Peters, the owner of Fort Myers-based DMI Construction. 'I was driving though North Port the other day. It's a ghost town. There's a lot of downward pressure on new homes and existing homes.'"

"More than 50 companies were building houses in North Port at the height of the boom, but county property records show that only half that number remain active today. Some have quietly backed out of town, while others, including Grover Brothers and Webster Homes, face an ever-increasing number of liens filed by unpaid vendors and subcontractors."

"Greg Leach of Heron Cove Construction blames real estate investors for the problems builders are facing. 'I think the investors have treated us as builders quite inequitably,' Leach said. 'The investors have forced builders into bankruptcy.'"

"Leach's own experience is that nine out of 10 investors are walking away from contractual obligations."

"'After the economy came apart, people started losing interest,' Leach said. 'They kind of got themselves between a rock and a hard place. They were leveraging their equity and their primary residence to have a spec home built, just to get in on it, without realizing what goes up can come down, too, and it usually does. People should not have gotten into this situation with their rose-colored glasses on.'"

The News Press. "Three hundred and fifty Lee County homes sit in some stage of construction — half-built, a pile of dirt, or unlivable."

"Their owners are making interest payments on construction loans they can’t close. They’re facing tens of thousands of dollars in liens."

"The owners blame contractor, Merit Homes Inc., for taking years to complete the jobs and not paying subcontractors, while the company’s owners spent millions buying land in Florida and North Carolina, according to documents."

"Dan Norden, a real estate agent in Fort Myers, took a dozen or more client/investors to Merit to build homes. On one in Lehigh Acres, Merit received $30,000 to pull permits and begin work, but nothing was done, he said. The lot is vacant, a mound of dirt."

"The permits sat for a year at the Lee County Building Department until they expired. The owner decided to walk away and let the bank repossess the property."

"'The client is going to let it go,” Norden said. 'There’s nothing else he can do.'"

"Two of George Kaloudis’ Lehigh Acres homes are at a standstill. 'They took on too many homes,' Kaloudis said, speculating that the company may have grown too fast. 'They were a 50-home builder in 2004 and a 500-home builder in 2005.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "The mood at last week's Southeast Building Conference here was somber. The home building industry is going through tough times, and no one knows precisely when things will get better."

"'I've never seen a market like this,' said economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com."

"'Raise prices,' said (CEO) Ara Hovnanian. 'Buyers aren't buying because they think you're going to lower prices again. There's interest but there's fear. Raise prices 3-4 percent. And quit giving discounts.'"

From CBS 4. "Investing in South Florida real estate used to be a great way to make some great money but the softening South Florida market is in state of flux right now."

"'We’ve had several open houses. Very few people have come by,' Dick Weiss told CBS4’s David Sutta."

"Weiss and his wife have been trying to sell their Pinecrest home in Southwest Miami-Dade, which sits on an acre of land, for more than six months. 'A couple of years ago it would have sold in 7 days. We're optimistic that it will sell,' said Weiss."

"Two years ago, there were 12,000 homes for sale in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. Today that number is 78,000 homes for sale, which is an increase of 650 percent."

"Despite the fact that the Weiss’ home is in a great location, they are dropping the price $100,000 below appraised value in hopes of getting the right person in the door. 'We feel we have as good a shot at selling as anybody else. So we have to stay optimistic,' said Weiss."