The Press Enterprise reports from California. "To cut the glut of homes on the market, the chief economist for the California Association of Realtors on Thursday urged real estate agents to refuse listings from clients who don't need to sell or won't lower their price to reflect declining values. 'The best thing you as a real estate professional can do in this market is to encourage sellers who are not serious about selling their homes not to list. Don't take a listing from someone on a hope,' Leslie Appleton-Young told a group of Inland mortgage brokers and agents."

"Median home prices have not fallen as sharply as sales, she said, because homeowners are reluctant to cut prices and because sales are shifting toward the higher end of the market, which is less affected by the availability of low-cost loans."

"Appleton-Young's suggestion that the huge inventory of unsold homes could be significantly reduced by eliminating speculative and unrealistic sellers was received with some skepticism by Beverly Bayer, an appraiser from Moreno Valley."

"'The problem is there are no buyers,' said Bayer, who attended the meeting."

"Bayer said in Moreno Valley, 59 homes in the multiple listings sold last month, while there are 2,200 homes on the market."

The Sacramento Business Journal. "Almost 8,000 bank-owned homes were for sale in the four-county area at the end of August, according to RealtyTrac, and that number could easily double by the end of the year."

"'The investors and the asset managers have not faced reality, and they think they are going to get a lot more for these homes than anyone is willing or able to pay now,' said Ron Leis, broker in Carmichael. 'They are going to have to take huge, huge losses. There is some pain that has to be felt.'"

"'Banks don't want to be in the business of managing property. If you can't sell it in a short time, then presumably its value is set too high,' said Anker Christensen, chief financial officer with River City Bank. 'If no one is buying it, you have to reduce the price. If you don't reduce the price, what are you doing?'"

"Some of the lenders are so far removed, they don't know what they own, Leis said. 'I've gotten to the point where I send lenders the crime reports for the neighborhood their house is in along with my brokers' pricing opinion because they are just not going to get what they are asking,' he said."

The Sacramento Bee. "Sacramento-area home builders have long maintained that many of the region's foreclosures are hitting investors who bet big and lost. The Mortgage Bankers Association now has some numbers."

"The MBA says 21 percent of prime loans that are in default in California belong to people who bought homes without living in them. And 15 percent of subprime loans now in default belong to the speculators."

"Since they started as a whisper last November, home auctions in the Sacramento region have become a roar. The biggest one yet, 306 houses lost by owners to the bank, is scheduled at Cal Expo at the end of this month."

"This time, it will take the weekend to sell them all. It's proof of how extensive the foreclosure problem has become in this part of the state. The majority, 227 houses, are in Sacramento County, according to REDC."

"The firm, doing its third auction in Sacramento this year, will sell 48 San Joaquin Valley homes in Modesto on Oct. 1 and 160 Bay Area homes Oct. 6 in San Mateo."

"Incidentally, the firm is expanding to do more home foreclosure auctions across the United States. It's one real estate sector where business is very good."

The Ventura County Star. "After 22 months of sagging demand for housing, August and September could be brutal as the real estate market hits rock bottom, an economist projected Thursday."

"'We're in the bottom of the third inning, maybe the top of the fourth,' said Mark Schniepp, director of California Economic Forecast in Goleta."

"Schniepp was cautiously optimistic about where the real estate market is heading in Ventura County. But he was clear that the county is in the middle of a 'terrible residential recession.'"

"The housing market will remain in the doldrums for some time, Schniepp said, adding that prices could continue to fall by 5 percent to 10 percent over the next 12 to 14 months."

"The subprime crisis has been overblown and accounts for only a small percentage of mortgage loans, said William D. Dallas, chairman of Dallas Capital Management. But it's hit the nation hard and has plunged the country into what some, including Dallas and Schniepp, believe is a real estate recession."

"Dallas added that much of the bad news surrounding the real estate industry has been blown up by the media, such as the number of foreclosures. In the second quarter, foreclosures spiked in Ventura County to 303 from 43 over the same period a year ago."

"The speakers' optimism was a welcome surprise to the packed crowd. Larry Works, a commercial loan officer in Ventura, appreciated that the speakers didn't offer a 'doom and gloom scenario.'"

"'Basically, the thought was, be cautious, be ready to adapt,' he said. 'Overall, I think everything's going to tighten. You're going to see some great bargains (in housing), so the people who have liquid assets are going to be the Rockefellers of the 2010s.'"

The Santa Cruz Sentinel. "When sales are down, you have to get creative. That's what Santa Cruz agent Dan Doerksen is doing."

"Doerksen has organized a four-hour bus tour Saturday to show homes selling for less than $600,000. The tour, which departs from Aptos at noon, will include homes and condos in Aptos, Capitola, Soquel and Santa Cruz. So far, 15 of the 30 spaces have been taken."

"He figured a chauffeured tour on an air-conditioned charter bus, with information on the properties, prizes and refreshments, would mean less stress. 'So, which sounds better: do it yourself or allow us to serve you?' he asked."

"Countywide, home sales have been lagging, with 143 homes sold in July, an 11-year low for that month. When sales are down, the buyer has an advantage."

"'Due to the subprime market fallout, many people are nervous about buying, which has caused sellers to offer incentives to sell their homes,' Doerksen said. 'We feel that right now is one of those rare moments in Santa Cruz County where prices have leveled off.'"

"Given that median prices have risen steadily from $240,000 in 1996 to $744,000 in 2006, he sees the current market as 'the perfect time to buy.' Loans are available if you have good credit, a good down payment and you can document your income, he added."

"Doerksen isn't the only agent getting creative. Last month, Realtors Cassie Maas in Los Gatos put together a driving tour of homes for sale in the Santa Cruz Mountains, creating a map and offering a barbecue."

"She had two homes for sale, and people visited the one with the barbecue, even though it was in a rather remote area. Five groups of buyers came, as many as had toured the home in the past year."

The Mercury News. "The number of homes for sale rose more steeply last month in Santa Clara County than in any other of 13 counties included in a monthly report from a local realty brokerage."

"The inventory of for-sale homes rose 9 percent in the county from July 31 to Aug. 31, to 6,412 houses and condos, according to a monthly report prepared by Redwood City-based Movoto. The second-highest increase was 5.3 percent in San Diego County, followed by a 4.1 percent uptick in San Francisco."

"In Santa Clara County, inventory is rising in part because more buyers are hesitating, said Warren Winsness, president of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. 'A lot of buyers are sitting on the fence,' he said. 'They're concerned they can't get loans because of what they hear in the media. As a result, the number of sales is really down.'"

"Movoto founder and broker Henry Shao said listings in San Jose are driving the county's overall inventory trajectory. Listings in San Jose are about double their level from three years ago, he said."

"Movoto's report also features an estimate of what percentage of homes for sale in each county are 'distressed,' as measured by whether terms such as 'bank owned,' 'short sale' or 'in foreclosure' are included in the comments entered by listing agents in the MLS."

"In Santa Clara County, those properties made up 11 percent of listings, up from 9 percent at the end of July. San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties had rates of about 10 percent, also up from 9 percent. Contra Costa and San Benito counties had the worst incidence of distressed properties, with 22.1 percent and 20.3 percent falling into the category, respectively."