USA Today reports on Colorado. "While everyone agrees these more prudent lending standards should ensure future borrowers can afford to keep their homes over the life of the loan, many homeowners who got those loans in the past few years are now having grave problems refinancing as their interest rate rises. In the Denver area, Patrick Jones bought his home three years ago and has paid his mortgage on time every month."

"This month, his adjustable-rate loan reset for the first time, to $1,800, up $450. Loan terms in the current market mean that he can't get relief if he were to refinance. 'Now, I'm just barely making it,' he says. 'I used to have a steak once or twice a week; now, I'm going to have hot dogs and beans. We used to go to the movies, but we're giving that up.'"

From CBS 4 Denver in Colorado. "Homebuyers tried to zero in on a good deal at the Denver Convention Center Saturday when REBC held the first home auction in the Denver area. More than 100 homes were on the auction block, including a property Jon Carle had his eye on."

"'I hope to get it for under $300,000,' Carle said. 'I honestly think it will go for well more than that. If it does, then I just walk away from it, but if it's coming under $300,000, that's why I'm here.'"

"The downtown town home was valued at $468,000. The starting bid was $259,000. The home sold for $340,000."

"'Sometimes you can get deals and I'm not saying that you can't, but then sometimes there are some that people get all excited and wrapped up into it and the bidding just keeps going and going,' realtor Jody Malone."

The Arizona Republic. "Home buyers have long flocked to metropolitan Phoenix's farthest flung suburbs to get the most house for their buck. But where affordability and steady appreciation once enticed many to the Valley's edges, foreclosures are now forcing them out."

"Neighborhoods from Queen Creek and Pinal County in the southeast to Laveen, Goodyear and Buckeye in the southwest to Surprise and Anthem in the northwest have at least three times as many homeowners struggling to hold on than communities closer in, according to an Arizona Republic analysis."

"'The fringes are where affordable houses were and where investors went,' said Jay Butler, director of realty studies at Arizona State University. 'A lot of people stretched to buy at peak prices and can't hold on.'"

"The number of Valley residents who lost their homes to foreclosure has nearly tripled since last year, from 1,073 in all of 2006 to 2,954 through June of this year. Some suburbs like El Mirage, northwest Peoria, Buckeye, Queen Creek and parts of Gilbert were hit especially hard, with the number of people in danger of losing their homes quadrupling in the past year."

"Maxine Gordon bought a new home in Surprise in early 2005, at the height of the housing boom. She had very little to put down in cash, so she was advised to get two loans, one of which would cover her down payment. That loan came with a rapidly rising interest rate and now has a payment she can't afford."

"'I am stuck,' the retirement-home nurse said. 'I can't afford it, and I can't refinance and I can't sell.' Her lender filed to foreclose on her home in June."

"Gordon, like many other struggling home buyers in new edge developments who are trying to sell to avoid foreclosure, is competing with home builders offering huge incentives of $50,000 or more to sell homes. Builders are motivated, too, because more than 20,000 new homes are unsold across the Valley."

"Add to those houses the multiple homes that speculators snatched up during the boom and now want to unload."

"And then there's the glut of homes on the market. A record 50,000-plus homes are for sale across metropolitan Phoenix, compared with 12,000 two years ago. The median price of a new home has fallen to $275,000 from about $315,000 a year ago, according to the Information Market."

"Low home prices enticed Anthony LaRocca to buy a home near Florence in Pinal County last year. But the 30-mile commute to doctors' offices at the nearest hospital in Casa Grande has soured the retiree on the area."

"'We have been trying to sell our home for four months. Not one person has come by,' LaRocca said. 'Of course, foreclosures are jumping here. No one can afford the commute, and no one is making money off their homes.'"

From Las Vegas Now in Nevada. "The largest single home foreclosure auction in Las Vegas history took place on Sunday. Prospective buyers across the valley got a chance to cast their bids for nearly 100 homes and condominiums. Real estate buyer Bill Guerra called the auction a buyer's bargain market."

"'There seemed like some deals, which is good for our market. We need to see the bidding go high so our market doesn't stay soft like it is,' said Guerra."

"Some of the homes in the auction were newer homes. 'I would say this is a new home someone bought, whether they could not afford it or they decided not to move, whatever the case may be,' said Joe Iuliucci, a Prudential real estate agent."

"'We do have a lot of vacant homes on the market in the MLS today. The numbers are astronomical,' said Iuliucci."

"Joe Iuliucci works with banks to sell foreclosed properties. He says the competition to sell could be a silver lining for the right person."

"The bidding usually starts at $1. The bank's goal is to make enough to cover the loan. 'In some cases, they don't, unfortunately. They have to settle for less than they are into it for. That is a common thing,' said Iuliucci."

The Reno Gazette Journal from Nevada. "It's taken time, but Ken Wiseman believes Northern Nevada's sluggish housing market has finally hit home with sellers. And that's good, he said, as more sellers realize they need to trim their asking prices if they want their homes sold."

"'In the second quarter, it finally registered that they need to be on board,' said Wiseman, broker/owner of Reno Rancho Realty LLC."

"The median price for all types of single-family homes in greater Reno-Sparks was $295,000 in the April-June quarter, below the 2006 peak."

"'We've seen an increase in sales,' Wiseman said. 'There's so much inventory, it comes down to supply and demand. If we look at history, every five to seven years we go through this.'"

"UNR economist Tom Cargill said the housing slump might be hitting bottom. 'I think we've seen the worst,' he said. 'People have adjusted their prices down 10 (percent), 20 percent. If anyone's waiting to get another 10 percent cheaper next year, I don't think that's going to work out.'"

"Housing...will continue to top the economy talk for the rest of 2007, if not longer, observers said."

"'We'll see this pattern for what could be the next year,' said Brian Kaiser, research analyst at the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. 'Everyone's been shell-shocked. It was such a precipitous fall from the peak....It's definitely a psychological mountain to surmount.'"