The News Review reports from Oregon. "To make the jump to a larger house, Eric Pickle and his wife have to sell their current home first. And attracting buyers has proven a difficult challenge these past six months amid a stagnant real estate market. 'Unfortunately, I missed the boom,' Pickle said."

"According to the Regional MLS, houses for sale in Douglas County in July 2005 outnumbered closed sales by a ratio of only 3 to 1. Two years later the ratio had jumped to 12.7 to 1. The inflated inventory reflects a lull in home sales, keeping houses like the Pickles' on the market longer than expected."

"Pickle, who originally listed his home for sale at $237,000, has since dropped it to $197,000. He paid $105,000 six years ago for the four-bedroom, two-bath house on Rainbow Street. Since then he's spent $30,000 in upgrades, and expected to turn a nice profit when he initially put it up for sale."

"It didn't stay at its original listing for long. Two weeks later, the Pickles slashed $18,000 from the asking price. They cut another $10,000 a month later. Not until they dropped the price below $200,000 did interested buyers come by to take a serious look."

"Pickle said the home's appraisal two years ago was $198,000. And that was before the upgrades. 'It was a starter home. I was thinking how I can get in the market and make a profit on a home,' he said. 'That's the whole idea.'"

"The Pickles, who are now on their own, had a contract with a real estate agent which ended Sept. 1. Pickle said he and his wife are constantly picking up after their kids and cleaning the house to make it more appealing to homebuyers. 'There's no relaxing at home now,' he said."

"'Really, I think the prices are too high. Prices need to come down,' said Diana Woodward, president-elect of the Douglas County Board of Realtors. The majority of homes currently pending sale in the county are priced around $225,000 or less, Woodward said. Newly built homes, however, are largely hovering at $400,000 or more and are not in high demand."

"'Two years ago you could buy a ranch for that,' she said."

The West Linn Tidings from Oregon. "The delay in closing the deal on the sale of two properties owned by the West Linn-Wilsonville School District will continue probably until the spring of 2009, according to Dale Hoogestraat, chair of the school board."

"The softening housing market and delays getting through the cities’ permitting processes, Hoogestraat said, are reasons for the delay."

"Those earnest money payments are not refundable, but beyond that Hoogestraat says keeping the contracts is in the best interest of saving taxpayers’ money because if either deal defaults, the land could not be sold today for the same price."

"'The market has softened to the point that we are in very good shape price wise,' he said. 'In today’s market, we would not be able to sell at those prices.'"

The Olympian from Washington. "The South Sound real-estate market has shifted from a sellers' to a buyers' market in the past year. Inventories of homes, pushed by new-home builders entering the market, have swelled, sales volume is down and homes are staying on the market longer before they sell, according to two regional MLS's."

"The shift to a slower sales market attracted Roman and Rosemarie Pitka of Tenino to the remodeling show. Roman said he thought of selling his Tenino home recently but decided to remodel as the region's real-estate market cooled in recent months."

"'A few years ago, homes were selling in a month or two, but not now,' said Roman Pitka."

"The couple have noticed it taking longer for Tenino-area homes to sell. 'In our town, 'for sale' signs now stay up for a year,' Rosemarie Pitka said."

The Columbian from Washington. "For the third month in a row, Clark County home values slipped in August below 2006 levels, as year-over-year sales dropped 21.67 percent."

"Sales of new homes took the hardest hit last month, dropping by more than 52 percent from 2006 with a total of only 82 transactions out of 730 total sales. Builders have reacted to slowing sales with a dramatic cutback in construction as measured by single-family home building permit requests."

"In August, local home builders sought 50 percent fewer permits to build homes in unincorporated parts of the county. Home construction represents a $350 million piece of the local economy and supports several thousand jobs in construction and related services."

The Anchorage Daily News from Alaska. "Anchorage's hot housing market has cooled. Evidence comes from the proliferating 'for sale' signs around town and in the Mat-Su, many of them marked 'price reduced.'"

"The upshot is that the housing market in the state's largest city, for the first time in years, is shifting in favor of buyers."

"The number of houses for sale in Anchorage has increased steadily almost every month since spring of last year. By August, the inventory of Anchorage single-family homes for sale was the largest since 1994 and almost double what was available in August 2001."

"In Anchorage, the inventory of single-family houses for sale in the $250,000 to $350,000 price bracket has increased to about a five-month supply, based on how many houses typically sell in a month."

"The inventory of houses priced $1 million or greater is at 29 months' supply. New home construction has tumbled to half of last year's level."

"Terrie Gottstein and her husband, Jim, recently downsized to a smaller home. But they are having a heck of a time selling off their sprawling stucco estate on the Lower Hillside."

"These days, the house on Alpine Woods is mainly a source of anxiety. It's been on the market since late October. Since then, an average of one house per month in its price bracket, $1 million and up, has sold in Anchorage."

"So, Terrie has joined the ranks of the nervous sellers. She's hired a professional who 'staged' the house. The Gottsteins are holding frequent open houses, and recently, when Terrie heard about a business executive moving to town, she e-mailed him a link to a virtual tour of her home."

"'One of the ways to deal with stress is to be more proactive, to put (the house) out there as much as I can,' she said."

"Crystal Neff, who owns a home in Muldoon, is another nervous seller. She, her husband and their four kids are moving to Texas to advance his career."

"After purchasing their Anchorage home a couple years ago, the Neffs remodeled it 'from head to toe,' taking out a second mortgage to complete the repairs."

"They still owe more than $400,000 on the home but can't seem to attract any serious buyers, she said. They've already reduced the list price by $15,000, and can't afford to reduce it much more without losing some money, she said. She's speculating that prospective buyers are getting scared by the national news about housing."

"'I am partly scared that it hasn't sold or remotely had an offer,' Neff said."