What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? For sale signs? "The number of homes for sale in central Ohio continued to skyrocket in August, the Columbus Board of Realtors said yesterday. More than 4,500 houses were added last month to the inventory of homes for sale in the board's MLS. There were 19,789 houses for sale last month locally, the board said. That's 83 percent more than were for sale five years ago, said Brad Bennett, president of the Realtors board."

Developers in trouble? "Greater Des Moines' residential real estate market has shown signs recently that some developers may be the next casualties in a market already reeling from foreclosures. The recent foreclosures on developers may be just the tip of a much larger iceberg, say attorneys familiar with the cases."

"'I think there are a lot of developers who are in serious trouble,' said Don Neiman, one of three bankruptcy trustees for the southern district of Iowa. '(Those developers) haven't filed yet, but I would expect them to file Chapter 11. I'm surprised we haven't seen these file yet; we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop.'"

"'Once the house of cards starts coming down, once one lender forecloses on one development, that causes defaults in other loan agreements, and they've all got guarantees, and it just starts ratcheting down,' said Matt Cronin, a Des Moines attorney. The end result, Cronin said, may be further decreases in property values."

"South Korea's mid-sized construction companies are collapsing like houses of cards, intensifying fears of a looming liquidity crunch in Asia's third-largest banking market."

"'This is a critical moment,' said Chung Dong-joo of the Korea House Builders' Association. 'We call this a 'bankruptcy surplus', as companies have the ability to raise capital but are going bankrupt because of the high number of unsold apartment units.'"

Foreclosure avoidance? "Sheryl Christman allegedly had a plan that would give her what her mortgage company wouldn't; a way out. Four days shy of losing her 3-year-old home to foreclosure, Christman allegedly set the $150,000 residence on fire Sept. 1, Kent County sheriff's officials said."

"Christman was arraigned Friday on a felony arson count that is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. She is being held in the county jail on a $20,000 cash bond."

"'That much fire that quick, you almost have to be suspicious of its origin,' said Russ Jansen, the Gaines Township fire chief. 'We just wanted some sort of an explanation, and that never came. For us, this is really the first time we've seen anything like this.'"

Signs of speculation? "Real estate broker Anne Marie Moriarty told me that seven Irish investors had already bought in the development, with the prospect of more to come."

"'Many of my clients are really fearless - they believe in buying in property and knowing that they are always going to make money in New York City, they will buy multiple apartments at one time,' she said."