The Ledger reports from Florida. "Jon Brock was sure Polk County's rental home market would take off, just like property values did nearly two years ago. In a typical real estate climate, higher home prices drive a greater demand for rental units, he said. But so far, it hasn't happened. 'It hurts,' said Brock, broker and owner a real estate and property management company in Lakeland. 'It should be good but it's not.'"

"Across Florida, about 40 percent of the homes purchased during the peak of the housing boom two years ago were picked up by investors looking to make quick money by turning around and selling the property, Brock said. But many investors were caught in a high-stakes version of hot-potato in the latter stages of the boom."

"Their only option: Rent or suffer foreclosure. Now those rentals have flooded the local market, giving renters a wide selection. But just like in the sales market, if they aren't priced right the homes will remain vacant."

"'I've been doing this for 17 years,' said Dottie Rowe, a Realtor and certified property manager in Auburndale. 'For the first time this year, I've had people not show up for appointments. It's a unique market.'"

"It wasn't until two years ago that the real estate veteran began marketing new homes for rent. 'The boom just opened the market up,' she said."

"Rowe estimates that about 22 percent to 23 percent of the available homes for rent are new. 'It is a relatively high number,' she said. 'The people have to do something with them because they can't sell them.'"

"'We have more three-bed, two-bath rentals over $1,000 a month than I have seen in seven years,' said Tracy Crews, a Realtor and property manager in Lakeland. 'If they are priced right and advertised right, we are finding we can rent them. Everybody is flooded.'"

"That glut in the market is forcing a decline in rental rates, said broker John Marchetti. 'There has definitely been a decline,' he said. 'We've had almost a $200 (a month) pullback on some of these homes. Say you were asking about $1,400 a month for a new home in 2006. Now you really couldn't get more than $1,200.'"

"The majority of those homes, he said, were all built during 2005 and 2006."

The Herald Tribune. "Last month, Nancy Detert sold Osprey Mortgage to a former employee, saying that she decided to sell her 23-year-old business because 'the market is so strange right now.'"

"'I've seen buyers markets and sellers markets, high interest rates and low interest rates, but now there's something I've never seen before,' Detert said. 'Interest rates are as low as they ever have been, but people can't afford to buy because they overpurchased and overfinanced during the boom, and now they're upside down in their homes.'"

"'The next step we're all waiting for is foreclosures,' Detert said. 'It will hit the banking industry hard.'"

"'The foreclosure phase will be the final nail in the real estate coffin,' Detert said. 'After that the market will turn and soon we will be back to where we were before the locusts invaded -- probably by the end of 2008.'"

The News Journal. "In stark contrast to the glut of residential housing on the market, blue-chip commercial properties in the Pensacola Bay Area have become a relatively scarce commodity."

"But commercial sales are starting to feel the effects of the housing slump, made worse by the drag that escalating insurance rates and property taxes are having on property transactions."

"'What we're seeing right now is that commercial sales are slowing,' said Justin Beck of Beck Property Co. 'Commercial prices have not dropped anywhere near as much as residential ... but it's not what it once was.'"

The News Press. "Foreclosures in Lee County topped 1,000 in July, an all-time high, as investors continued to let go of houses and land they bought on speculation in the real estate industry boom that ended two years ago."

"'It’s really the pre-construction and speculative second-home buyers going south,' said mortgage broker Jeff Tumbarello, who tracks the local foreclosure market."

"A total of 1,045 foreclosures occurred last month. That’s about four times more than a year ago."

"Tumbarello noted that many investors find themselves faced with the prospect of closing on deals they made for homes now worth far less than what they agreed to pay."

"Since the height of the real estate boom in December 2005, the median price of an existing home sold with the help of a Realtor has fallen 21 percent, from $322,300 to $253,900 in June 2007, according to the Florida Association of Realtors."

"Meanwhile, buyers have become scarce as the number of home sales fell 39 percent in the same period, from 1,084 to 558, and the number of homes for sale is still about 15,000."

"'I assume people had to close on these pre-construction deals and they’re really saying, 'I’d rather be able to live in the house I’m living in than have good credit,' Tumbarello said. 'It’s pretty harsh, but they are doing the right thing in my opinion — they need to have a place for their children to live.'"

"Somebody, please ... Buy something! That's one way of interpreting the advertisements and MLS entries from builders and real estate agents in today's market."

"From fire-sale prices to bonuses for agents, homeowners and builders are pulling out all the stops to try to get buyers off the fence."

"'Sellers are trying to price their homes attractively, aggressively," said Jim Higgins, a residential agent in Fort Myers. 'And they're picking up the (homeowner's association) fees or golf membership fees for a period of time. Say, six months to a year.'"

"The Lennar newspaper ads are hard to miss. Big, block print, sparsely worded and to the point, they announce the price of an available new home. 'People are responding to the ads because price is the big thing in this market,' said Mark Berry, a Lennar new home consultant. 'Folks are looking for the best deal when they can shop around.'"

"Price is the big thing for M.W. Johnson Construction as well, according to Kelly Palmer, division VP of sales and marketing. Palmer added that until more inventory comes off the market, things will stay slow for builders and resellers. With the deals builders are offering, she said buyers should be going for the new homes."

"'A builder has to make a very risky decision,' said Gerard Marino, commercial agent in Fort Myers. 'Does he sell at a discount, possibly angering past clients, or does he gamble that the market will come back and try to sell at the higher price? If he's wrong, his losses could be horrendous. Most have decided it's more prudent to sell at a loss and adapt to a changed market.'"

"On builders' Web sites, the incentives are mainly big price cuts. Really big. More than $100,000 big."

"Centex is offering these deep discounts during its summer clearance sale at The Plantation in Fort Myers. A 1,557-square-foot, 'twin-villa' lakeview home with two bedrooms plus a den, two baths and a two-car garage was $401,407 — on sale now for just $269,990. That's $131,417 off."

"An estate home in the same section of the community has 3,021 square feet of living area with four bedrooms plus a den, three bathrooms and a two-car garage. It was being offered for $615,173 but is now just $499,990. A reduction of $115,183."

"A myriad of freebies can be found in the resale market in listings in the Greater Fort Myers MLS: cars, plasma televisions and surround sound stereo equipment thrown in by homeowners, up to 6 percent toward buyers' closing costs, bonuses to buyers' agents, home warranties and, perhaps most valuable to Cape Coral buyers, sewer and water assessments paid in full."

"'If you're a buyer looking for a home to live in, and if you can qualify for a mortgage, with interest rates as low as they are, there has probably not been a better time to buy than right now," Marino advised."