The Connection reports from Virginia. "Condominium sales have dropped by more than 50 percent, changing the course of some of Northern Virginia’s major projects and crippling sales of one of the regions most important types of housing. Some 20,000 condominiums currently are standing unsold in the region with some 9,500 unsold in Northern Virginia."

"Between June 2006 and June 2007, Delta Associates VP William Rich reports, only 2,000 units were sold. During the last 12 months, Rich said, about 1,800 condo units were cancelled in Northern Virginia and about 8,800 units were 'reprogrammed' to rent as apartments."

"'When a condo project has been built and has to change to a rental building, certainly the developer has lost money. He has to hold the asset longer and leasing is a way to pay off the debt.' Rich said."

"Jeff Shumaker argues that condos 'always have a high rate of investor ownership.' 'In the old days, you couldn’t get a loan on a condo if the building wasn’t FHA approved, but then they began giving $100,000 loans without FHA approval and investors were taking higher proportions of the units,' he said."

"Paradigm Company’s Carlyle Place complex in Alexandria was built on the concept of being part of a new city within a city. The condos were advertised at $300,000 for a one bedroom to a price 'in the high $700,000s' for a three bedroom. The buildings were expected to open in 2007."

"Between the time of conception and the opening, the sales of condominium apartments dropped through the floor. Carlyle Place abandoned the condo concept last year and is now renting apartments, offering one month free rent for a year’s lease on certain apartments."

"Shumaker says the 'majority of the people buying those types of condos are planning to buy them for a short period of time and reselling them for a profit. If you did that now, you’ll own that condo for 10 years. Reselling is no longer an option.'"

"Rich too argues that the condominium business will 'come back,' perhaps by 2009, but he doubts it will hit the 'go-go" years of 2003 and 2004. 'There were never condominium sales like that historically,' he said."

The Daily Press. "Stubborn sellers of homes in Hampton Roads finally began to give in somewhat to get deals done in the oversupplied market in July, according to data from the Virginia Association of Realtors."

"In July, sellers dropped prices and made concessions to get deals done. The data for July suggests that sellers may have even been motivated by a national credit crunch to start making concessions they had stubbornly resisted so far this year. It is still very much a buyer's market in Hampton Roads, and it takes 35 percent longer to sell than a year ago."

"The Williamsburg market, which includes sales in upper York County and James City County, continued to swing erratically in June. Prices dropped dramatically, which got more homes sold - and sold quicker - than in July 2006."

"The median price of $292,000 was down 6 percent from a year ago, and nearly $31,000 from May."

The Washington Post. "The new house on Allison Street in North Brentwood is two stories higher than the older homes that surround it. It doesn't have a porch, shutters or any of the other distinguishing features found on the century-old bungalows on the block."

"'It's humongous,' a neighbor said of the house, as yet unoccupied. 'It just doesn't fit in.'"

"The complaints sound the same as those in Chevy Chase and Arlington County: Builders are constructing large houses on small lots, knocking down trees, obstructing sunlight and destroying the character of the town."

"But in North Brentwood and other small municipalities in northern Prince George's County, mansionization comes with a twist: Some of the new homes, neighbors and town leaders say, are being used as boardinghouses for several families or unrelated people."

"'Our concern with these McMansions is they are not single-family homes,' LaVerne Williams of Lewisdale told a group of county planners and elected officials in Riverdale. 'You are turning our communities into rooming communities.'"

"County law declares that no more than five people unrelated by blood or marriage can live in a single-family house. But enforcement has been lax, said Bob Schnabel of College Park."

"'There is no penalty,' he said. 'Properties in my neighborhood are rented to more than five people.'"

"Del. Barbara A. Frush said she understands the plight of neighbors, feeling helpless while their community is altered. 'They make these things into not a McMansion but a McApartment building,' Frush said."

From NBC 29. "The mortgage market is getting tougher for everyone, but a new national report says it's worse if you're trying to borrow $417,000 or more. That's the line for a jumbo loan and lenders are getting skittish. The question is: is the same true in and around Charlottesville?"

"Last year, for the first time in a long time, housing prices in the Charlottesville dropped. Those prices are a long way from the boom that drove prices sky high a couple of years ago."

"Charlottesville is definitely a buyer's market: there are 3,500 homes up for sale -some at discounted prices-and sellers are offering some incentives."

"While buyers have plenty to choose from, sellers have to bite the bullet. Many sellers are cutting prices, but realtors have high hopes for the future. 'It's a great time to buy a home and we just need to get back to market basics and the real estate market will rebound in the future,' insisted David Phillips with the Association of Realtors."

"Phillips says in a lot of places people just aren't buying because they can't obtain a mortgage and many people are defaulting on the ones they have."

"'So our prices while their higher than what we'd like to see them in our community for our size, they aren't unrealistic. We see folks come down from the north who think our prices here are great,' shared Phillips."