The Desert Sun reports from California. "Uncertainty surrounds Escena, the much-touted 1,400-home project that is the first golf course development built in Palm Springs in two decades. Home-building giant Lennar Corp. has stopped pouring foundations for new homes at the upscale gated development south of Vista Chino. 'They shut down their sales offices and are not finishing construction on the clubhouse. It is 95 percent done. They are not going to finish it,' Councilman Chris Mills said. 'The market drives everything.'"

"Dozens of homes from about 1,900 to 3,000 square feet along the golf course and in courtyards stand empty and ready for occupancy, but buyers have not materialized as envisioned. It's a far cry from three or four years ago, when buyers sat on waiting lists for new homes in many valley developments."

"Mills said city staff told him that Lennar has refunded deposits that were taken from prospective homebuyers. 'You don't want people out there,' he said, because Lennar would be responsible for maintaining the project."

The Orange County Register. "New stats...for the 22 business days through Sept. 21 show an O.C. median selling price of $590,000. If that held for the full month, that would be the lowest since April '05."

"In addition, that price would mark a 8.1% drop from August, the biggest one-month drop in DataQuick’s 20-year history of O.C. buying patterns. And the 6.3% decline from a year ago would be the biggest year-to-year drop since Dec. '95."

The Voice of San Diego. "As the number of San Diegans facing foreclosure rises meteorically month after month, landlords and property managers are bracing for an influx of former homeowners now looking for a place to rent."

"In August, the number of foreclosure filings jumped by 80 percent from July, and by nearly 250 percent from August 2006, according to RealtyTrac."

"Gabe del Rio, director of homeownership for nonprofit Community HousingWorks, said he and other housing counselors tell prospective tenants with a foreclosure on their record to draft a letter of explanation to the landlord or property manager."

"'They're really going to need to explain that they've gone through a situation recently, and why and how that is not a good reflection of their ability to pay rent,' he said. 'It could be something like, 'My mortgage was $2,500 a month and then it adjusted to $3,500. I was not late before it adjusted. And this rental amount is $1,200.'"

"Industry experts said the trend has yet to hit in full force. 'It hasn't hit in great numbers yet,' said Robert Pinnegar, the apartment association chief. 'The speculation out there is that the wave of foreclosures is largely investor properties. The next wave, that's what everybody's watching.'"

The Business Journal. "Standard Pacific Corp. will merge its South Bay operations into its East Bay office, its Northern California regional President Douglas C. Krah said today. Of 75 people working in the South Bay, Irvine-based Standard Pacific laid off about 25 people. The South Bay office has been open about a decade."

"At the same time, the company is merging its Central Valley operations into its Sacramento office. About 10 of 35 people in the Central Valley lost their jobs in that transition."

"'This is clearly a cyclical correction, and we are not shocked. But we never know the magnitude of a correction or the duration. It will get better when people start buying again, as obvious as that sounds,' Krah said.""

From CBS 5.com. "On Thursday we visited a San Jose home that had recently been foreclosed on. After residents moved out, gangs moved in, taking over the vacant property."

"Neighbor Diane Ludwig says she was scared, watching all the activity. 'Drinking, parties and other things. I don't want to mention too much,' said Ludwig."

"And at another foreclosed home we found more evidence of squatters-- two blankets. A window to a bedroom was shattered. Both homes are in east San Jose. That's the area with the most homes in various stages of foreclosure in the city. There are also high numbers of foreclosures in south San Jose and downtown."

"Real estate agent Mark Detar of Intero thinks the squatter problem is only beginning. 'With an increase in foreclosures, you're going to see things like this,' Detar said."

Inside Bay Area. "Despite an initial setback, outraged homeowners in the upscale Paseo West subdivision plan to continue their informal protest against a developer planning to auction off 34 brand-new homes."

"Anderson Homes plans to stir up homebuyer interest with the Oct. 13 auction of vacant or under-construction homes in the Manteca subdivision, said Craig Barton, chief financial officer for the Lodi-based developer."

"Following a meeting last Friday with Barton, homeowners crafted a letter asking Anderson Homes for a $20,000 per owner rebate for their property."

"On Wednesday, homeowner Dave Cantrell, the de facto leader of the protest, received a response. In a letter via e-mail, Anderson Homes president Larry W. Anderson said he was 'perplexed' by the rebate request."

"'In nearly 25 years of building homes, I have not asked a homeowner to pay more for a house when the value increased,' he wrote. 'Housing is cyclical and values will fluctuate as history tells us. Housing has been hit especially hard this cycle due to the financial market crisis and large number of foreclosures.'"

"'In a nutshell, they blew us off,' Cantrell said. 'The way they talked around it; it's somewhat insulting.'"

"On Thursday, Cantrell says he sent a short reply to Anderson simply saying, 'Not acceptable.' 'At this point, they're not being part of the community,' he said. 'They're acting like a corporation and not looking back.'"

"The consensus from homeowners is that the auction will undercut property values by hundreds of thousands of dollars and that the current tight credit situation will mean only investors will participate in the auction, and would rent out the homes."

"Though the best-case scenario would be no auction at all, getting some sort of rebate would be a token of good will, homeowners said. Or, as Joseph Leon put it, it wouldn't help, but 'at least it wouldn't be a slap in the face.'"

The Recordnet. "A minimum auction bid of $265,000 will be required for most of the homes in the Paseo West project in Manteca, which Anderson Homes said runs about 60 percent of the 'reduced asking price.'"

"The financial repercussions of homes sold at prices far below what current residents paid could damage families in the neighborhood beyond repair, said Manteca construction contractor Randy Brown, the newest resident of Paseo West."

"He got the keys on his $440,000 house in mid-August, two weeks before finding out about the planned auction. The minimum bid on an auction house such as his is $285,000. 'To put this in the shortest term possible, this sucks,' he said."