The Bradenton Herald reports from Florida. "In August, the median sales price for existing homes in the Bradenton-Sarasota market was $273,500, almost $35,000 below the median home price a year earlier. But falling home prices did nothing to stop the number of existing home sales from dropping 13 percent and condo sales from slumping 7 percent, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Florida Association of Realtors."

"The elimination of the subprime lenders has led to fewer people qualifying for loans. 'When the market was booming, there was a lot of cheap money available to anyone who could fog a mirror,' said Patrick McGuire, broker associate with Coldwell Banker's Lakewood Ranch office."

"Where there were once seminars on how to flip a home for a large profit, now more and more workshops focus on how to find and buy properties as short sales or in other stages of preforeclosure. 'I guess in any gray cloud, there is a silver lining. In this case, if you're a buyer, you can get a great deal,' McGuire said."

The Herald Tribune. "Lennar Corp., the big Miami-based home builder, has trimmed about 150 jobs in the region amid the housing slowdown. Last last month, Lennar trimmed more than 60 additional positions from its Southwest Florida division, from Naples to Manatee County, bringing it to its prehousing-boom levels of about 300."

"'It is already well documented that the housing market has continued to deteriorate throughout our third quarter. Heavy discounting by builders, and now the existing home market as well, has continued to drive pricing downward,' said CEO Stuart Miller. 'Consumer confidence in housing has remained low, while the mortgage market has continued to redefine itself, creating higher cancellation rates.'"

"The average sales price of homes delivered sank to $296,000 from $316,000 in the same period last year, mainly due to higher sales incentives."

"The Three Fountains apartment complex on Webber Street is rapidly developing a reputation for controversy. The complex was sold to a group led by Warren Hickernell just a few months before the Sarasota real estate agent and condominium converter ran into financial trouble that ultimately resulted in eight loan defaults and two Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings."

"Now Three Fountains is being pursued by Californian David D'Angelo, who wants to buy the complex for $6 million and immediately resell 17 of the units to a group of investors and end users at per-capita prices far outstripping the amount at which Hickernell's deal valued them."

"That has Sarasota appraiser Greg Haarer, hired by J.P. Morgan Chase to price two of the units, breaking the traditional code of silence between appraisers and their clients."

"Haarer said that there is no way the property is worth what D'Angelo's customers are willing to pay. Haarer also claims that he was pressured by lenders at Chase to boost his valuations."

"'I'm appraising the units at $150,000 and they're telling me that everyone else is appraising them for $270,000 to $350,000,' Haarer said. 'I said, '$300,000, you got to be out of your stinking minds.'"

"When he turned in his appraisal, Haarer said lenders at Chase sent him valuations completed by other appraisers and told him that they needed him to bring his numbers up to the same level. To hit those numbers, Haarer said other appraisers used sales of comparable units in downtown Sarasota."

"'From Bee Ridge Road to Bahia Vista, which is the same neighborhood as Three Fountains, nothing is selling for $280,000,' Haarer said. 'But I can find you 50 comps in that stretch that are selling for $150,000.'"

"Haarer also questioned how D'Angelo has been able to line up end users so quickly. 'There's no sign on the property. There's nothing on the Web,' he said."

"D'Angelo said that some of the units at Three Fountains are being sold to investors, but the bulk are going to end users. 'Four are from Florida and the rest are from northern California,' he said."

"Grant Thrall, a University of Florida land economist and board member of the Appraisal Institute, agreed it was strange that so many buyers were coming from California. 'Studies have been done showing that people who go into senior centers remain within their own neighborhood,' he said. 'They don't move from Toledo, Ohio.'"

The Sun Sentinel. "Like many South Floridians, Sheridan Lydon is frustrated by the pillow-soft housing market. She has houses in Boca Raton and Pompano Beach but can't sell either and now is asking less than she paid for each."

"'Isn't that lovely?' Lydon said. 'And I'm not even the worst one. There are a lot worse off than me.'"

"Sales of existing homes in Palm Beach County declined 13 percent to 568 from 655 a year ago. The median price of $366,200 was off 5 percent from $386,000 last August. And the number of homes on the market hit a record as the inventory topped 40 months."

"There were 33,708 homes and condos for sale at the end of August, a 10 percent increase from 30,774 a year ago, according to Illustrated Properties in Palm Beach Gardens."

"'That's an all-time high,' said Chappy Adams, president of Illustrated. 'That's horrible.'"

"Lydon, the woman stuck with two properties she can't sell, paid $600,000 for her Boca Raton home last year. She's now asking $579,000. Even after moving to Boca, she wasn't able to unload her home in Pompano. She's listing it for $450,000 after buying it for $479,000 and making major upgrades."

"'How was anyone supposed to know the market would get this bad?' said Lydon."

"Not everyone is cursing the market. Kellie and Scott Collins recently listed their three-bedroom home in Florida Gardens, near Lake Worth, for $269,000. A buyer stepped forward after about a week and is paying close to the asking price."

"The Collins' agent, Mike Kleinrichert, said sellers have to price their homes as if it were 2003 or 2004. 'I ask my clients, 'Do you want to list your home or do you want to sell it?' Kleinrichert said. 'If you price the house right, it's going to sell.'"

The News Journal. "Home prices fell 5.4 percent on average in Volusia and Flagler counties last month from a year earlier and the number of sales plunged 16 percent in the same period as the slump in the area's housing market deepened."

"A local broker, Maggi Hall, said she has not seen much interest among potential buyers. Sellers are refusing to lower their prices more, and buyers are trying to out-wait them, Hall said. 'It's almost like it's a standoff.'"

The Times Union. "Realtors, builders, developers and others in the industry expect today's 28th annual Realtor-Builder Tradeshow to focus on the optimistic side of the statistics."

"'The mood will be good. It will be upbeat and fun,' said Mark Downing, first VP of the 2,100-member Northeast Florida Builders Association."

"'As we look at things, this is the bottom,' Downing said, although 'we still have a period of time before we are back on track.' He said most members believe 2009 will be good, 'but '08 probably is not going to be.'"

The Sun Herald. "Economic uncertainty is one of life's few certainties. The truth is, most families teeter on a fragile tightrope, strung together paycheck to paycheck."

"Former bank president Sandy Scribner and her fiancé came to North Port seven years ago. She'd suffered a stroke in Connecticut, leaving her 100 percent disabled. They planned to invest an $80,000 nest egg in a home and two rental properties."

"'It worked fine until I made a mistake and bought our second residence,' she said."

"Scribner paid $242,000 for a three-bedroom house on Warrior Drive in early 2005. 'It was too small, so we bought a third before we sold the second,' she said."

"Scribner paid $279,000 for a three-bedroom home on Ponce De Leon Drive. She was carrying a $1,300 monthly mortgage on the Warrior house; $1,800 monthly mortgage for the Ponce De Leon home. It seemed a reasonable risk in 2005. The housing market was hot. Scribner reasoned the home would sell quickly."

"'That didn't happen,' she said. 'What happened is the market went the way it did.'"

"The Warrior home idled unsold. All along, Scribner paid two mortgages, as well as insurance and taxes, for both. She sold the rental units. 'I used every penny I had, along with using my credit card, to pay bills,' she said. 'By March of this year, I had no more money.'"

"When her husband died in May, Scribner moved in with a brother because disabilities preclude her from living alone. In July, the Warrior home finally sold -- for $130,000. To avoid a similar loss on her other home, Scribner found a new mortgage."

"'I called Countrywide,' she said. 'I have a Realtor who has two buyers, but Countrywide is so messed up, they have turned around and sued me for foreclosure. I owe $220,000 on the property.'"

"Meanwhile, she's left with mounting debt, a disability stipend, and a room in her brother's home. 'Now I own nothing,' Scribner said. 'I'm not a deadbeat. I'm a statistic of the real estate market.'"

"The Charlotte County market was down considerably from its frenetic post-Hurricane Charley pace, when anything with four walls and a roof could find a buyer. August's 223 houses represented a 19-percent drop in volume from the 274 dwellings sold in August 2006."

"The median price of the homes sold in August was $186,500, an 11-percent drop from the same month in 2006."

"Locally, brokers and builders alike are hoping the market has nearly completed what most agree was an inevitable price correction. 'Everyone is having to do what they have to do to make a living,' said Ellen McCarthy, president of McCarthy Realty in Murdock."

"Probably the main factor speeding the market correction is sellers finally realizing that today's market is not the same market that followed Hurricane Charley, she added."

"For many sellers, backing off a little on price is no great hardship, if they bought their houses in the 1990s before prices began spiking, they could still walk away from a sale with a fair profit, although certainly not as much as if they had sold at the height of the market."

"But some sellers are getting squeezed by either losing employment, paying top dollar for a house just a few years ago, or both."

"McCarthy noted she's had to handle several short sales in recent months. In many cases, lenders will forgive part of the debt, provided that the hardship can be documented. 'The banks know that the market has fallen and they can't sell the house for what they paid for it,' McCarthy said."