The Charlotte Observer reports from North Carolina. "The slowing flow of money for mortgage loans is starting to affect people with good jobs and good credit. Charlotte-area brokers say a much broader swath of people are facing barriers to borrowing. 'Lenders are looking for reasons why a loan should be turned down,' said Kyle Kilpatrick, an executive VP at online broker LendingTree."

"Jeff Kennedy of Southern United Mortgage in Charlotte said a lender recently called to ask for documentation on a borrower's income for a loan it had approved two weeks earlier. 'That's something that's never been done before,' Kennedy said."

"Cantey Tull, of Tull Mortgage in Charlotte, said she heard from a woman who was driving to close on a home when her broker called to say the loan was no longer available. She wanted to make a 5 percent down payment and the lender had decided her credit score was no longer good enough. She needed to make a larger down payment."

"'Two weeks ago she could have' qualified, Tull said. 'Now she couldn't.'"

"'With a rate increase from 6.75 percent to 7.5 percent, the buyer's buying power just dropped by 10 percent,' said Frank Borges LLosa, a broker at FranklyRealty.com. 'That $600,000 buyer will now have to look at buying a $550,000 place or paying 10 percent more per month for the same house versus last week.'"

From WKRN.com in Tennessee. "Gary Cecere and his fiancée Heidi found their dream house in upstate New York. The couple had a mortgage lined up, their homeowner's insurance and contracts. Then, that all changed."

"'We started packing up and getting happy about it and then Monday comes and we get this call and they pulled it,' said Gary Cecere."

"The bank suddenly pulled out on the package of two mortgage loans that they needed to buy the $410,000 home. Banks are now tightening their standards, offering fewer loans and for those with mortgages, costly interest rates are forcing homeowners into foreclosure."

"Marina Peed, the Impact Group president, said, 'The range of folks that are struggling keeping their mortgages now is unprecedented.' In one Georgia community, 80 homes are in foreclosure."

"For the Cecere’s, visiting the home that could have been, brings up pain and anger. 'You're just left at the mercy of the banks, basically,' said Gary Cecere."

Reuters reports on Florida. "Until two years ago, middle-class retirees vied with property speculators for houses and apartments in Cape Coral, a town near Fort Myers on Florida's sun-drenched Gulf Coast. Now almost every other house on some of its streets has a for-sale sign outside."

"With a bloated inventory of unsold homes and a growing number of homeowners forced by mortgage delinquencies to sell -- thanks to the subprime crisis and ensuing credit crunch -- southwest Florida's once warm clime for property has turned stone-cold."

"There was a nearly 27-month supply of existing single-family homes on the Fort Myers market last month compared to a three-month supply at the height of the local boom in housing in August 2005, according to Denny Grimes, a top real estate agent in Fort Myers."

"At the same time, more than 40 percent of single-family homes were listed at prices below $250,000 versus just 18 percent at the market peak. 'There's a lot of blood in the water and there's a lot more to come,' Grimes said."

"Making things worse, Grimes said builders were still churning out new housing units at big discounts in and around Fort Myers, where many investors bought houses during the recent boom market without ever considering the long-term cost of holding properties."

"Fort Myers 'is by far the worst housing market that we're in,' J. Larry Sorsby, chief financial officer of home builder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., told Reuters. Hovnanian bought the largest home builder in the Fort Myers in August 2005 just as sales in the city were starting to dry up."

"'They were the last one aboard the Titanic,' Grimes said."

The Financial Times Deutschland on Florida."Along with bubble property markets across America, west Florida has seen its luxurious lifestyle shaken. The Sarasota district has experienced the biggest drop in house prices in the country, with foreclosures spiking after a drop of almost 15 per cent in the year to March."

"Florida is the 'canary in the cage,' according to Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs."

"'People were buying places figuring they would put in a new kitchen and then flip them. It was greed. We were all in the same game. We were selling a piece of paradise,' says Christina Neff, a real estate agent in Siesta Key. 'Flippers are behind what is happening.'"

"Claude, one of many so-called Canadian 'snowbirds' who winter in Florida, said he had a good credit rating but opted for a subprime loan because the low initial rate made a short-term investment more profitable. He says he is now 'trapped' with an unaffordable mortgage and a depreciating beachfront property."

"Real estate agent Dorothea Sandland says: "A lot of buyers took out second mortgages, risky loans or even special bonds because they thought they could get rid of the property very quickly."

"'I'm looking at condos coming to market that were bought for $259,000 when there are brand new ones next door selling for $180,000,' says Ms Sandland."

The Herald Tribune from Florida. "A survey by Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund suggests that the current Florida real estate market is rather Dickensian."

"The best of times: 63 percent of the 1,415 Florida homeowners surveyed by the big title insurance underwriter expect that the value of homes in their community will remain the same or rise in the next 12 months. Thirty-six percent think prices will rise, 37 percent that they will fall and 27 that they will stay the same."

"The worst of times: 80 percent agreed that now is a bad time to be selling a home and worry about their ability to sell their property if they needed to."

"That lends credence to the notion that prices in the market might not have bottomed out yet, the question that is on the minds of everyone from homeowners to Southwest Florida's top real estate gurus."

The Tampa Tribune from Florida. "For every 79 households in the Tampa Bay area, there was one foreclosure filing during the first six months of this year, according to a new report released Tuesday."

"With 10,173 homes falling into foreclosure in the period, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area ranked 24th among the 100 largest U.S. metro areas tracked by RealtyTrac."

"Mike Alea, owner of Brandon-based Elite Mortgage Network, a residential lender, said the Tampa Bay area must feel this kind of pain before the market can rebound. 'The market is just correcting itself right now,' Alea said. 'Housing prices went up too much too quickly. If you have cash, it's a perfect time to buy.'"

The Bradenton Herald. "Less than eight months into the year, Manatee County already has broken its record for most foreclosures, yet a national company ranks the area as the lowest risk large market."

"From January to July alone, 1,110 foreclosures had been reported in Manatee County, according to the clerk of court's office. The previous high was in 2002, when the county saw 901 foreclosures recorded for the entire year."

"While lenders have definitely tightened the purse strings on higher risk loans, the traditional loans are still out there, said Michelle Daniels, broker at Intercoastal Lending Group. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae loans also are still an option for qualified buyers purchasing homes that cost less than $417,000."

"'I think what we're going to see is going back to the day of people having to get loans on their own merits,' said Marci Walker, a managing partner at Blue Skye Lending in Lakewood Ranch."

"Falling property values have left some owners who purchased their home using adjustable rate mortgages in a bind. Many have negative equity in their homes due to their mortgage. 'It's sad that rates are still so good and it should be a good refinancing market, but a lot of those people won't qualify now,' Walker said."

"Anthony DiMauro, assistant VP of mortgages for Fifth Third Bank, and other local mortgage professionals say it is a good time to buy, especially for those with decent credit and money to put down."

"'The people who have a good job and pay their bills on time and are financially responsible, they are having no problem getting homes,' DiMauro said."