Dow Jones Newswire reports on Florida. "Advisers say even millionaire clients aren't immune to fallout from current real-estate market woes. Take, for example, a wealthy client of financial adviser Michael Charleton. 'He came to me with about $3 million' just about four years ago, Charleton says. The client subsequently invested in 21 individual million-dollar condominiums in Cape Coral, Fla., planning on re-selling them."

"The client had kept the risk of his investments manageable before, Charleton says, 'because he always put 20% down.' But this time around, says Charleton, 'all the foreclosures' in Cape Coral 'are killing him. It's a perfect storm,' he says, 'and he just has to wait it out.'"

"'Every client thinks that their house is worth X amount,' says Darlene McConnell, a retail lending manager at Raymond James Bank. 'That's the sensitive part of the market that we're in right now.'"

"This line of service can also entail much soothing of nerves, says Cadaret Grant's Charleton. Beyond providing financial analysis, he says, 'it's more of a hand-holding type of thing.'"

From TC Palm. "City Attorney Roger Orr said his staff is hoping to secure about 50 lots between Interstate 95 and Savona Boulevard by January or February so the first phase of construction can get under way as planned. But now several property owners along Becker, including many who bought at the height of the real estate boom, are resisting the city's offers."

"Karen Allen from North Loxahatchee, bought her quarter-acre lot in 2005 for $86,000, according to records on the St. Lucie County Property Appraiser's Office Web site. Allen said...a city attorney told her by phone that the city appraised her land at $55,000."

"'If they wanted to give me what I paid for it, at least I wouldn't lose anything,' Allen said. 'But it's really an insult to want to take my lot and give me less than what I paid for it.'"

"'There's going to be enormous displeasure,' Orr said. 'We understand that we'll be dealing with property owners who acquired land at the top of the (real estate) bubble.'"

From Newsweek. "Roger Elliott's neighbors call it the Dream House. Elliott, a contractor, and his wife Allison, built the house in Palm City, Fla., from plans they drew themselves. All told, they've dropped about $750,000 on their home, which they've lived in for just over a year. But as the housing market has shifted into reverse, the Elliotts--Roger in particular--are plagued by doubts."

"He's grown to expect his home to provide more than simple shelter. He wants it to provide a return on his and his wife's investment--preferably one that's measured in double digits."

"Instead, the Elliotts' Dream House is losing value. Across the country it's a familiar scenario. The local real-estate market is terrible, Roger says, with listed properties languishing. Roger guesses the house is worth 10 percent less than it cost to build--and he's worried its fall has just begun."

"'I have personal angst,' Elliott says. 'Yes, I built this fantastic house. My wife loves it. Everybody in the neighborhood thinks it's great.'"

"But it was a house built for appreciation. Now that prices are falling, he wishes he'd built something far more modest."

"Since the home was built partly with an inheritance, Roger feels a special responsibility that the money left to his wife by her father turns out to be a wise investment. It doesn't help that because Roger served as his own general contractor he chose many of his home's pricey extras."

"The Elliotts are realizing they have more house than they need. Roger regrets building a home that has so much unused space. 'If I could do it again I'd do it a lot differently. I'd scale it back in every area,' he says."

"Roger admits his parents probably wouldn't recognize the anxiety he's feeling. 'They bought a home thinking they were going to live there for 30 years and pay off the mortgage,' he says. 'It wasn't 'We'll live there for five years and pocket some money.' It wasn't an investment game for them.'"

"Then again, they couldn't imagine living in a $750,000 home, either. 'We've kind of oversold ourselves on the need for our homes to be investments,' he says reflectively."

The Wall Street Journal. "Tom Crossett is one investor on the verge of walking away from his properties. At the height of Florida's condominium boom two years ago, the air-conditioner contractor from Delray Beach, Fla., bought four units with the plan to flip them quickly. He paid between $143,000 and $173,000 for the units."

"Mr. Crossett now says the developer of the complex that sold him the converted-from-apartment units reneged on many of the promises, including extensive renovations, making them a tough sell."

"To help make monthly mortgage payments totaling $4,000, he's been stuck renting the units to tenants who make sporadic payments. He says that next month, he plans to cut his losses and stop paying the mortgages."

"'The only way I can see for me is to just get out, stop the bleeding and let them go,' Mr. Crossett sighs."

The Sun Sentinel. "Levitt and Sons, the cash-strapped Fort Lauderdale company trying to survive the housing slump, said Thursday it has temporarily stopped building houses as it tries to restructure its debt. The action is an inconvenience for consumers who plan to move into Levitt homes and now are in limbo."

"'I'm up in the air,' said Angelo Palermo, who's waiting for his $380,000 house in Port St. Lucie to be finished. 'This is a very bad situation.'"

"'We realize that there are a number of questions from customers,' said Michael Freitag, a spokesman for Levitt Corp. 'But until the matter of financing is resolved, we don't have answers to those questions.'"

"Bob Oblas of New York was scheduled to close on his two-bedroom house in Seasons at Tradition on Oct. 31, but said a company representative told him Thursday that it was not likely to happen. He wonders about a clubhouse and other amenities that have yet to be built."

"'I'm very concerned about the viability of the community,' said Oblas."

The Palm Beach Post. "The average rent for an apartment in Palm Beach County from July through September was relatively unchanged from the same period a year ago, RealFacts said."

"The sale of rental communities also stalled as the condo conversion craze fizzled in the worst housing slump in 16 years. There was only one sale of an investment-grade apartment complex this year, compared with six last year and a peak of nine sales in 2005, according to the report."

"'It's like musical chairs,' said Chris Bates, sales and marketing director for RealFacts. 'The music stopped, and everyone is left holding what they have.'"

"Declining occupancy is a trend that confuses Bates, given that other data-analysis companies have documented a tsunami of foreclosures in what has come to be known as the 'mortgage meltdown.'"

"'We cover nine of the 10 markets in those foreclosure reports,' Bates said, 'and we looked for an increase in rental occupancies after all those people lost their homes. We didn't find it.'"

"Then he realized that credit reports took a nosedive after foreclosure. 'When they're foreclosed on, their FICO (credit) scores are screwed, and landlords take that seriously,' Bates said, referring to investment-grade units. 'They can't rent.'"

"The question then becomes: Where have all these people gone? They can't own a home and they can't rent. That's one of the major dilemmas of the housing crash of 2007."

"'They're doubling up with friends and family,' Bates theorized, 'or else they're exiting the locale.'"

"Local investors stuck with condos and townhouses they couldn't sell are dumping them on the rental market, real estate agents say, hoping to recoup their carrying costs, even if they don't make a profit. But getting owners to set realistic rental prices has been a problem, agents say."

From WFTV Orlando. "Sluggish sales and high foreclosure rates are causing higher bills for some condo owners. Residents at the Uptown Place condos in downtown Orlando said their monthly association fees have gone up $150 to nearly $450 a month. They have also been asked to pay an additional $689 for emergencies."

"The hike compensates for vacant units and foreclosures."

"'That's not my fault. I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. I shouldn't be expected to pay for everyone else,' said Christine Geever, a condo owner."

The Street.com. "With the housing boom in a massive retreat, homebuilders are feeling a lot of pressure, perhaps none more so than Tousa. The Hollywood, Fla.-based builder of single-family residences, town homes and condominiums has seen its shares lose more than 90% of their value over the last year. The dismal news seems to have given Tousa's unsecured creditors cause for concern that Tousa may be on its way to a bankruptcy filing."

"A creditor group that owns more than $1 billion in senior notes and subordinated debt has hired law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld to assess its rights in the event of a bankruptcy filing, TheStreet.com has learned."

"Joe Snider, senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service, downgraded the homebuilder's debt rating...back in July. 'They really reduced the financial flexibility of the company to zero, in our opinion,' Snider says. 'There is definitely a lot of pressure. Just about every one of the macro economic indicators are flashing serious warning signs.'"

The News Press. "Construction and sales of houses in Florida are nearing bottom but expect more decreases in prices, economist Hank Fishkind told the Southwest Florida Regional Economic Outlook on Thursday."

"Statewide, 'I think we’re about at the bottom of the housing market,' the Orlando-based Fishkind said, although he doesn’t expect much improvement over the next two years."

"Don’t expect your home’s value to go up, he warned. 'Those prices haven’t adjusted. They’re going to, and it’s going to be very painful in the next two years.'"

"Lee County is especially overbuilt with houses, Fishkind said — at about 15,000, it’s a bigger inventory of unsold houses than anywhere else in the state, and more than four times what it was two years ago. Meanwhile, the median price of an existing single-family home has fallen from an all-time high of $322,300 in December 2005 to $250,800 in August."

The Naples News. "Southwest Florida has reached the bottom of its housing slump, but a significant turnaround may take some time. That’s the message economist Henry Fishkind delivered in Fort Myers on Thursday afternoon."

"Fishkind told attendees the volume of housing transactions has stopped going down, and appears to be bouncing along the bottom. However, there remains a 36-month inventory of homes for sale in Lee County and a 12-month inventory in Collier."

"'We’re at the bottom of the housing cycle, but it’s going to be long and flat, I’m afraid,' he said."

"'It’s going to take time for that inventory to be absorbed because there’s so much of it,' he told an audience." "The hardest-hit housing segment when it comes to values, he said, is the condo market. 'Condos are at a great risk,' he said."

"Some panelists acknowledged the pain that has accompanied the housing slump. 'I know countless people in business who are just trying to get through,' said Blake Gable, VP of Naples developer Barron Collier Cos. 'For the next 12 to 18 months it’s more about surviving than growing.'"