The Ellsworth American reports from Maine. "Sales of single family houses in Hancock County dropped 19 percent for the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to the Maine Real Estate Information System. 'House sales are definitely off,' said Danny Sargent, president of Sargent Real Estate. 'I have more inventory now in this office than I can ever remember and a lot of listings still coming on the market. The listings just continue to come in. Price-wise you’ve got to be very competitive.'"

"Derek Hayes, VP of business banking for Bar Harbor Bank & Trust said, 'It’s really a buyer’s market.' The area saw 'really rapid appreciation for a few years,' but now prices are declining, said Hayes."

The Concord Monitor from New Hampshire. "Al Wait's Contoocook home has been sitting on the market for 10 of the last 15 months, and it hasn't sold yet. He started listing the three-bedroom, 1,600-square-foot home on Park Avenue at $299,500, and has dropped the price by more than $20,000."

"'I'm trapped. I can't afford to live here, but I can't go away,' Wait said."

"Wait's home is one of about 90 single-family homes in Hopkinton and Contoocook currently on the market, according to the MLS, a figure area Realtors say is unusually high. 'We've had double to triple our normal inventory for the last 12 months,' said Judy Hampe, broker in Concord."

"'People are hesitant about investing, and generally feel real estate is overpriced,' said Hopkinton Realtor Mary French. 'A lot of buyers are hoping real estate will come down. Nowhere is housing flying off the market.'"

The Nashau Telegraph from New Hampshire. "Foreclosures are on the rise in New Hampshire. And the percentage increases look scary: Hillsborough County is on track to nearly double last year’s numbers and quadruple the year before."

"Home values dipped again this year and houses are staying on the market a bit longer, according to the latest statistics from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors."

"There were 353 foreclosures in Hillsborough County through Aug. 14 of this year, according to Registrar of Deeds Judith MacDonald. If that pace keeps up, foreclosures in the county could reach an all-time high of 500 by year’s end."

"By comparison, last year there were fewer than 300 – all year. In 2005, there were 101. In 2004, there were 73. 'I’ve been here for 27 years and I’ve never seen it like this,' MacDonald said. 'The future, to say the least, is bleak.'".

The Hartford Courant from Connecticut. "In the latest sign that the nationwide credit crunch is worsening, lenders are saying no to borrowers who want no-money-down mortgages. 'If someone walks in today with an A-plus credit history and a $200,000 salary but no money for a down payment, I can't help them anymore,' said Michael Menatian, president of Sanborn Mortgage Corp. in West Hartford, Conn."

"The company was notified by its lender earlier this month that the lender no longer will cover no-money-down loans."

"'There is a credit squeeze occurring,' said Michael Sheahan, director of mortgage banking at Webster Bank, one of Connecticut's largest banks. 'There is less money available for less credit-worthy borrowers or those providing less documentation on their loan.'"

"'Our industry is changing by the hour,'" said Dan Rosenfeld, VP of a mortgage company based in Avon, Conn. 'My screen flashes all day long, 'No longer available.' Lenders are really tightening their standards.'"

"Katie and Allan Chipps locked into a no-money-down mortgage through Sanborn in mid-August, on the last day they were offered. Securing that loan allowed the couple to submit a competitive offer on a new house they are buying in West Hartford, they said, without having to add a contingency clause to sell their current home first."

"Katie Chipps said once the couple sells their current house they will use the profit to pay down the second mortgage or to pay other bills."

"'We would not have been able to make a competitive offer on a home without this mortgage product,' she said. 'It gives us flexibility in pricing our home and in using the proceeds from that sale.'"

From Hartford Business in Connecticut. "Sales statistics compiled by The Warren Group show condominium sales in Hartford County dropping 16.4 percent for the first six months of 2007. For the month of June, sales dropped a staggering 21.1 percent."

"'What we were going through in 2005, during the height of the craziness, was a crazy, elevated, goofy market,' said Beth DiLoreto, with Prudential Realty Connecticut’s Wethersfield office. 'That wasn’t normal, this is normal. I believe this is just a correction and not a time to panic.'"

"One explanation for the odd trends is that there isn’t so much an onslaught of individual condos being put on the market, as there are former apartments being converted to condos, asserts Christina Brine, with ERA Broder Group Real Estate in West Hartford."

"'The problem is that we had a bunch of condo conversions that flooded the market,' Brine said. Some of those former rental units are too small to be attractive as ownership units. So they sit unsold, and unreasonably depress the market statistics."

"'Sellers are going to eventually have to bite the bullet on some of these condominiums,' said Brine. 'The sellers are still stuck in a year or two ago.'"

"Brine noted that the hype surrounding the impending retirement of baby boomers contributed to the condominium explosion that has not yet come to its expected fruition."

"'There was all this talk and so many articles about the baby boomers retiring to the city and to condos to be near their grandchildren,' said Brine. 'There’s a lot on the verge of happening in the city but it just hasn’t happened yet.'"

The Boston Herald from Massachusetts. "The foreclosure epidemic shows no signs of peaking yet in Massachusetts, with the number of homeowners unable to make mortgage payments soaring again in July, a new report shows."

"Petitions to foreclose filed by lenders in court shot up 66.5 percent in July compared to the same period last year, the 18th straight monthly increase, according to the Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman."

"'July held more of the same for Massachusetts homeowners,' said Timothy Warren, CEO of the Warren Group, in a statement. 'More people are having trouble paying their mortgages, likely because rates on many are resetting, and more of those people who get into trouble are having a hard time getting out.'"

The Gloucester Daily Times from Massachusetts. "Thirty-three condos at Pond View Village that couldn't be sold at full price and were pulled from a crumbling market earlier this year will be discounted and offered for sale again this fall, the owner-developer and the representative of major private lenders said yesterday."

"With the markdowns, Joseph Flatley, CEO of the investment corporation, said he expected the consortium, including Bank of America, 'to take significant losses.' 'We're going to take a hit on this and it's going to be substantial,' he said."

"'We've never had a loss in our 17 years - this is the first,' he added."

"Flatley's company will decide the new, discounted price for the 33 units, whose sale was projected to provide much of the cash flow to repay the loans. The units were offered at an average price of $289,000 before they were pulled from the market."

"Buyers will benefit from his consortium's losses, Flatley said. 'You sell it for what you can,' he said. 'We'll have to reduce the prices significantly.'"

"Under the work-force concept promoted by Gov. Deval Patrick, employers help their workers buy homes. Tina Brooks, undersecretary of housing and economic development, who received Flatley's bailout proposal in June, disagreed. She said the work-force proposal for Gloucester was vague."

"Brooks also questioned the need for work-force housing on Cape Ann. 'Gloucester is not exactly a high-cost market,' she said. 'I'm not sure what the hurdle is for workers.'"

"'My take,' said Sen. Bruce Tarr, 'is it's a terrific project caught in a market collapse. Now all parties are trying to make it fit into the requirements and get it sold.'"