The Baltimore Sun reports from Maryland. "During the hot real estate market, this Roland Park brick Colonial probably never would have seen an open house. 'One and a half to two years ago, this house would have had multiple contracts within three to five days,' said Jim Mikula, who, with his partner Realtor Jeff Tessmer, is listing the property with a $419,900 price tag."

"The number of homes sold in Baltimore and the five surrounding counties fell 12.36 percent to 2,921 in July, compared with 3,333 homes in July 2006, according to MRIS. With listings at a record 19,985, homes took an average of 80 days to sell, compared with an average 55 days in July 2006, when inventory was 16,749."

"'From the peak year of boom it's been like taking a 20 percent pay cut,' said Realtor Wayne Curtis. 'That's not easy for anyone to do.'"

"As for that Roland Park Colonial, the Aug. 5 open house was its first since being listed less than a month ago. It still hasn't sold, Tessmer said yesterday, and has been taken off the market, at least temporarily."

"While many homeowners are feeling the pinch of rates resetting on so-called ARMs, some are getting crushed by what housing advocates call 'strangulation ARMs' that continue to reset as often as every six months."

"'Over the last couple of years, people became so desperate to buy a home that they stopped asking what the payments would be over time,' said Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. 'The only question they asked is what's the least possible payment I can make next month so I can afford to buy that house.'"

"Cornelia Barnett said she and her husband are struggling after the adjustable mortgage on the Edgewood home they bought in 2005 reset $330 higher in June to nearly $1,900 a month. The couple did not refinance for the first two years of the loan because they couldn't afford the prepayment penalty."

"Now the rate is scheduled to reset again in December, perhaps up to 11 percent. The initial rate was 8 percent. 'We really, really are not in a position where we can afford this,' Barnett said."

"Barnett acknowledges she was a novice to the home-buying process when she signed up for her ARM but said that she was under pressure to close the deal. 'As a lay person, how am I supposed to understand all this the day before I go to closing,' she said."

The Times Community from Virginia. "With money lenders refusing to lend any more to some mortgage companies, just how difficult is it to get a mortgage in Fauquier County these days?"

"'You can still get a decent loan if you have a good credit score, and especially if you can put 10 percent down,' said Bruce Qualters, principal in Nationside Mortgage in Warrenton. 'And they are still doing loans that require only 3 to 5 percent down, but you have to be able to document those loans.'"

"'Credit score requirements have increased, and the easy mortgages are no longer there,' said Book Sengstack, owner of Cardinal Mortgage in Warrenton. 'Most of the programs based on sound business practices are still there, but those where they didn't verify the income have gone,' he added."

"It was the increasing appreciation in housing that impelled mortgage companies to continue to lend money, Sengstack said. 'Few were willing to turn down loans based on the fact that prices were increasing 24 percent a year,' he explained. 'But that was unsustainable.'"

"'People are closing loans, but then the mortgage company may not be able to sell it. They have three days to back out, and some of them are,' according to Valerie Frank, president of Preservation Mortgage in Old Town Warrenton. 'You could close today, and the money might not be there, even though the borrowers have the loan rate locked. That's the state of the market today.'"

"'You used to be able to get a mortgage without the company even checking what your income was,' she said. 'I talked with a lender today, and she said that she had seven loan applications that her company was working on. Normally they would have 50 to 75. A senior underwriter can process three to four a day, so you can see that the business is really slowing up.'"

"Fauquier has weathered the storm better than many other places, but has not escaped it entirely. There were just seven foreclosures here in the last half of 2006. In the first half of 2007, 48 other properties were sold on the courthouse steps."

"'I understand that there were 900 foreclosures in Prince William County last month,' Frank said. 'For Fauquier County, it's harder to get hard statistics, but we are seeing them, as well.'"

"'What we have seen is more inventory coming onto the market, and when that happens, sellers are continuing to have to lower their prices,' said Herb Lisjak, a real estate broker in New Baltimore."

"Lisjak said that the homeowners who are facing the most difficulty are the ones who bought a home in the last few years, who have no equity in the house, and who have to move for one reason or the other."

"The decline in the average price in housing is hurting them the most. The latest statistics show that the average price of a house sold in Fauquier County declined 25 percent from July 2006 to July 2007."

"Last year was the first time that Prince William's housing values have fallen since 1993. As of June, the assessed value (not the sale price) of homes in Prince William had slipped to an average of $413,00, down significantly from a high of $429,000 in 2006."

"Rising rates of foreclosure are an ominous sign and foreclosures have an impact beyond the homeowners affected directly. 'Any foreclosure in a neighborhood tends to depress the existing housing prices in that neighborhood, and nobody likes that,' said mortgage broker Andreas Keller. 'And we're going to see more, I think.'"

"'A lot of loans made in 2004, 2005 and 2006 were made with low initial teaser rates, and now some of those are resetting to higher rates. People are faced with increased mortgage payments that are 20, 30 even 50 percent higher. That will be very painful,' Keller said."

"'We could see a further 20 percent decline,' he said, '"and it's going to be a question of how they can be arrested so we don't have a meltdown in the market.'"

"At current rates of consumption, there is an 18-month supply of housing inventory on the market, and that doesn't account for any new listings. 'This is the worst for me in the 12 years that I've been in the mortgage business,' Frank said. 'A lot of people are getting out of the business.'"

The News Journal from Delaware. "In a sign that housing market troubles are far from over, foreclosure filings in July increased by 21.74 percent in Delaware, a report said."

"As many as 6,000 households in Delaware hold subprime, adjustable-rate mortgages that are due to reset at a higher rate in the next few years, said Gerry Kelly, Delaware deputy bank commissioner for consumer affairs."

"Delaware court records from each county show foreclosure filings in Delaware increased year over year in July by 34 percent in New Castle, 43 percent in Kent and 54 percent in Sussex."

"'The filings that we have show a record year, far surpassing 2002 and 2003, and with much more uncertainty in the marketplace than we had in 2002 and 2003,' said Kelly. 'There are so many different things that are uncalculable.'"

The News & Observer from North Carolina. "The national housing slump is hitting harder close to home. 'A lot of us have said it's not as bad as elsewhere, but the area is starting to catch up with elsewhere,' said Michael Helmar, an economist with Moody's Economy.com who follows the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill market. 'The trends affecting other areas ... are starting to bite the Triangle now.'"

"In July, a total of 2,947 existing homes were sold in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties, down about 13 percent from a year earlier, according to data collected by the Triangle MLS. New home sales fell 10.3 percent during April, May and June, according to the latest figures available."

"That was the steepest quarterly drop in nearly seven years and came during the spring quarter, which is traditionally the busiest selling season."

"Local home sales have set records each year since 2003. Unless the market improves dramatically, something observers agree is very unlikely, 2007 will mark the first decline since 2002."

"Sales began slowing here last fall largely because many potential buyers couldn't sell their homes in overbuilt markets elsewhere. Helmar predicts further sales drops into early 2008 as problems roil the credit industry and slowing job growth weakens confidence."

"'There's now such a big inventory of homes sitting out there it will take time to work though that,' Helmar said."

"The July inventory of unsold homes was up 19 percent from a year ago to 16,786. Pending sales contracts were down 8 percent in July from 2006. Owners have lowered prices on 39 percent of homes now on the market, up from 34 percent a year ago, and 23 percent more homes were taken off the market in July than in the same month a year ago."

"'There are some frustrated sellers,' said Susan Holbrook, senior VP of one of the Triangle's largest residential brokerage firms."

"She said it's becoming common in closings for buyers to learn they need to come up with a bigger down payment. 'Multiply that by all the [real estate] offices in the Triangle, and you've got a numerical effect of what's going on,' Holbrook said."

"Sales are being stymied because potential buyers can't sell their homes in distressed markets in Florida, California and elsewhere, said broker Joe Ward. Three buyers now are looking at the same $420,000 home in North Raleigh, but none will make an offer."

"'They're all afraid they can't sell their house,' said Ward, who sells about 100 houses annually but this year is experiencing a 10 percent drop-off. 'It's a common theme right now. Can you tell I'm angry about it? It's been going on the past 12 months.'"