The Florida realtors report on July sales. "With positive economic conditions such as low mortgage interest rates and job growth continuing in Florida, statewide sales of existing single-family homes totaled 11,674 in July and were closer to activity in July 2001 and 2002 – before the housing boom years – than the July 2006 figures, when 15,378 homes sold for a 24 percent decrease in the year-to-year comparison, according to the Florida Association of Realtors."

"Florida’s median sales price for existing single-family homes last month was $237,500; a year ago, it was $250,400 for a 5 percent decrease. In July 2002, the statewide median sales price for single-family homes was $141,700, for an increase of 67.6 percent over the five-year-period, according to FAR records."

The Herald Tribune. "Market forces continue to bleed value from homes that ran up during the recent housing boom, and nowhere was that more evident during July than in Southwest Florida. Charlotte County-North Port's median price was 21 percent below July 2006; Sarasota-Bradenton's was 12 percent below the comparable month last year."

"After some initial success in flipping lots, Mick Fenn invested heavily, and now has four houses to sell. His home in North Port cost him $137,000. He put $15,000 more into it, not counting sweat equity. The house came in with a juicy looking appraisal of $190,000 in January, but the market has not agreed at all."

"Fenn recently tried posting huge signs in the yard and on the garage door. One read: 'Reduced $1,000 a week until sold.' The city of North Port cracked down on the signs, and Fenn has since turned to more traditional means. 'I think I can keep my head above water the next 90 days,' he said. 'At that point in time, I am going to be in big trouble.'"

"Fenn still likes Southwest Florida. He just wishes he did not own so much of it: 'I think I got greedy and I think the greed came back to haunt me.'"

"He is in good company. Just in the Sarasota MLS, there were 7,916 single-family homes for sale as of mid-August. With Realtors closing at the rate of 87 homes per week, that is an inventory of about 21 months. In Sarasota's condominium market, it is worse. There were 4,808 units. Realtors are closing on about 40 per week, leaving a two-year supply."

"Sales were down 35 percent in Charlotte County-North Port during July when compared with a year ago. Ocala's sales dropped 55 percent, while Fort Myers-Cape Coral slipped 39 percent. But dragging down the southern market is the large number of speculatively financed homes in North Port, which are now proving difficult to move, said Roger Richmond, a broker associate in Port Charlotte."

"Typically, a speculator paid to have a three-two with a two-car garage built in North Port for a little more than $200,000, Richmond said. 'They can now sell it for $180,000,' he said."

"'Homes that sold in the $600,000s to $700,000s market are probably high $400,000s to low $500,000s now,' said Richmond, citing the Old Grassy Point canal system in Port Charlotte as one neighborhood for such pricing."

The News Press. "Prices and sales in Lee County were off compared to June: down 7 percent from $264,600 and off 24 percent from 558. It all adds up to a market where it's hard to sell a house, Kathleen Bressler said. 'I think there's just such a saturation of houses for sale because of foreclosures and investment houses that are for sale.'"

"Maggie Morris, an executive committee member with the Florida Association of Realtors, said many people in today's market are finding themselves having to let go of their properties. 'I think a lot of people are walking away,' she said, and that in turn is causing prices to adjust to real market values at last."

The Ledger. "The number of existing homes sold in July continued Polk County's housing slide. For the 14th consecutive month, the total was less than the year before. Realtors sold 278 homes last month, down 40 percent when compared to a year ago. Median home prices also fell: 3 percent from July. Lakeland Realtors had 172 home sales in July, down 37 percent from 274 a year ago."

"'We are returning to a normal market. People are adjusting their prices. They are realizing they aren't going to get that pie in the sky price,' said Tony Fridovich, broker in Lakeland."

"In a market that has turned favorable to buyers, Fridovich has noticed a new type of home investor - predatory buyers. 'They are making offers of 50 percent on the dollar,' he said. 'They are giving extreme low-ball offers. But all of them have been rejected.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "The median price of an existing single-family home sold in July in Palm Beach County declined 5 percent - the 12th straight month of falling home prices, the Florida group said Monday. In the Treasure Coast, the median price of an existing single-family home fell 11 percent in July - marking 14 straight months of plunging prices."

"Worse, the inventory of homes for sale continues to grow, especially in Palm Beach County. It's inventory - the new dirty word in real estate - that has made so many housing analysts bearish on the market."

"Worse news may lie ahead, some economists say. 'The July data reflects sales that were agreed to in May or June, well before the severe tightening in credit standards that occurred in July and August,' said Nigel Gault of Global Insight. 'It's hard to see a bottom before mid-2008.'"

The Sun Sentinel. "Three years and counting. Sales of existing homes in Broward County declined in July, just as they have for 36 of the past 37 months. That dismal trend isn't likely to change soon as lenders across South Florida make it tougher for consumers to qualify for mortgages."

"Jim Mander still is trying to find a buyer for the four-bedroom Davie house he listed more than a year ago. The property with a pool is set on an acre lot and has been renovated extensively. He originally was asking $789,000, but he's down to $749,000 and getting frustrated."

"'I've got a feeling it's not the house, it's not the location,' said Mander. 'It's just the market. My timing was wrong.'"

"If he doesn't sell soon, Mander will try to rent the house. His agent, Debbie Anderson said exasperated sellers are having success as landlords. 'People have the money to rent expensive homes,' Anderson said. 'They just don't want to pay for them. I think they're afraid that prices will fall even more.'"

"Home sellers will have to lower expectations from the record high prices during the housing boom of 2000 to 2005. 'I talk very seriously with my sellers to let go of what was,' said Cathy Prenner, a real estate agent in Lighthouse Point."

"Kathy Connors put her five-bedroom Wellington home on the market in January. At the time, she was asking $655,000, a price she now concedes was too high."

"The manicured property inside the gated Isles at Wellington development has a hot tub, a spiral staircase and a balcony outside the master bedroom. But with no offers and only a handful of prospective buyers stopping by, she has slashed the price to $549,900."

"'Just getting people in here has been the problem,' said Connors."

"Her new real estate agent, Polly Parker in Boca Raton, said homes that attract little interest probably are overpriced by at least 5 percent. If no buyers step forward, the properties could be overvalued by 10 percent, Parker said."

"'Houses sell because of amenities, location and price,' she said. 'If you have all three, you'll sell the house.'"

The News Journal. "After six months of trying to sell her Ormond Beach home, Susan McDaniels is getting scared. Scared that she won't recoup much of the money she spent on improving the kitchen or the new appliances, among other things."

"McDaniels said her first instinct was to price her house at $279,000, what a similar house sold for about a year ago. But real estate agents told her that was too high. So she listed it for $229,000. Then she dropped it to $224,000, then to $219,000. As of Monday, the asking price was $209,000."

"'And we're still not showing it. I just have to hope in a month or so that when the snowbirds arrive, we'll get a bite,' said McDaniels."

"Such is the state of local real estate, post-housing boom. Sales have fallen sharply, and now average prices have dropped, too."

"Broker Greg Antonich said sellers have to compete against the lowest-priced houses on the market in the same category. 'Buyers are scraping the bottom of the market and coming back to the best price in whatever category' in which they are looking, Antonich said."

"'It's a tough market,' broker Sandy Stutz said. Many properties are staying on the market six months or more, she said. She had several such properties, including one on Sunland Road in Daytona Beach. The listing expired recently."

"'It's absolute precious,' she said of the property. 'Immaculate, but we just couldn't get anybody to come inside.'"

From Mrytle Beach Online in South Carolina. "With a forecast of 18 more months of a slow market, real estate agent Cal Harrelson, who specializes in the oceanfront resort home market, has asked all his clients to bring their prices down by 10 percent."

"'Chances are that in six months, values are going to be down 10 percent anyway,' Harrelson said. 'I told them to do it today and get ahead of all of their competition, get the sale and move on. If they truly want to sell their property, that's what they need to do because there is so much inventory out there.'"

"'If they don't reduce by 10 percent, they along with everybody else are still going to be on the market in six months and probably in two years,' he said."

"Harrelson said he...gave his clients the facts and all but one lowered their price. Since that time, he's had two oceanfront homes sell in the last six weeks priced at more than $1.5 million each. So he thinks it might be a good idea for others."

"'There might be something to this. If other Realtors see that and they do that, then more power to them. These sellers need to hear the facts whether they are not so good or not. It's difficult to tell them you think it's going to be slow for another 18 months and why,' said Harrelson, a 13-year real estate veteran and top sales agent in Garden City Beach."

"It's also important that homeowners realize that builders' closing prices do not reflect the amount of incentives they're offering, said Don Schunk, research economist at Coastal Carolina University."

"'What I'm seeing now is that the resale market as we saw in July is starting to come down. If prices get 20 percent or more different, that will encourage the resale market. Builders are starting to look at lowering prices versus the incentive packages,' said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate."