The Houston Chronicle reports from Texas. "Josh Lowrey is thinking of selling his three-story townhouse in the Sixth Ward next year so he can buy a house with a yard. The 30-year-old Dallas native said he's noticed that the housing market has started to slow, and developers are putting up units all around him. 'Do I sell now when I'm not quite ready?' he said, 'or when I'm ready and there's an abundance of homes on the market?'"

"Some builders say fewer shoppers are walking into their sales centers. And those who do are looking for bargains. 'People seem to think it's a huge buyers' market,' said Marty Weiner, president of Parkstone Estate Homes."

"Some in the industry attribute the slowdown to a confused public. Developer Larry Davis, who builds inner-city townhomes clad in metal skins, said his company's sales are off about 10 percent. But he chalks it up to buyer jitters fueled by a barrage of national news about the housing slump."

"'It's totally psychological,' said Davis, of Urban Lofts Townhomes. 'It's hard to get a grasp on what's real and what's not.'"

The American Statesman from Texas. "Reflecting the national housing slump, sales of existing homes in Central Texas fell 22 percent in September, and the number of homes on the market hit a four-year high. It was the fourth month in a row that sales have fallen from a year ago, and the first September drop in five years, according to the Austin Board of Realtors."

"It has become especially hard for first-time buyers to get financing, but even affluent buyers are finding it tougher to get loans."

"The fallout is reflected in the numbers. Sales of Central Texas homes priced at less than $200,000 plummeted almost 29 percent in September from a year ago. They fell 22.7 percent for homes from $400,000 to $599,999."

"'I think that what's going on is a little sobriety in the mind-set of home buyers across the board,' said David Reed, president of CD Reed Mortgage Bankers in Austin. 'I think people are thinking more with their pocketbooks and with less emotion. They're asking, 'Does this really make sense for me?'"

"Pending sales were down 27 percent last month, to 1,695, even as the number of listings shot up. With almost 10,000 homes on the market, the competition for buyers will get tougher."

"Krisstina Wise, owner of the GoodLife Team, said Austin area sellers will have to become more realistic about what they can get for their houses. 'Pricing a home based on yesterday's market will not work,' Wise said."

The Denton Record Chronicle from Texas. "Along U.S. Highway 380, where new subdivisions are filling with homes by the hundreds each year in and around Aubrey and Cross Roads, an undercurrent of uncertainty belies the bright picture of prosperity."

"'We have reached a point in the development of residential real estate where the more development there is, the more there is a foreclosure issue that will come with it,' said George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. 'As the metroplex has grown, we’ve seen more foreclosures occur.'"

"Among cities in a 10-county area with between 30 and 100 residential foreclosure postings for the first half of 2007, Cross Roads topped the list with a 338 percent increase above foreclosures as of midyear 2006. Following Cross Roads were Azle, Lake Worth, Princeton and Red Oak."

"The average assessed value of a home posted for foreclosure in Cross Roads during the first half of this year was $193,249, which was up 38 percent over last year’s average assessed value of $140,092."

"Among cities with at least 100 residential postings in the first half of 2007 within a 10-county area, Aubrey ranked fifth after Mansfield with a 196 percent gain, followed by Midlothian (119 percent), Frisco (57 percent) and Saginaw (55 percent.)"

"The high-growth region along U.S. 380 is indicative of what Roddy says is happening in other high-growth areas in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 'What has happened in the sub-prime market is with adjustable-rate mortgages and funny money loans going on in the last three to four years. It has added to the problem,' he said."

"Roddy describes the residential foreclosure spike as a compilation of several issues, starting with layoffs in 2000 and early 2001."

"'It started out as a jobs issue,' he said. 'As the interest rates continued to drop over the years, more and more people got involved with either refinancing at a lower rate, home equity came into play and adjustable mortgages were more a part of the real estate market.'"

"The large number of loans brought a second wave of foreclosures into the market, Roddy said. 'People were getting into too much of a house,' he said."

"Then, in a third part of the cycle, the cost of living went up. Higher gas prices, higher taxes and higher utility costs put some homeowners in a financial bind."

"'All of these four facts have added up to some severe problems for a lot of people,' he said. 'When the price of gasoline has almost doubled, the utility cost has gone to the moon — it’s the normal family who has not seen an increase or much of an increase in their living wages,' Roddy added. 'Something’s got to give somewhere.'"

"Roddy said the immediate future looks like more of the same. 'We’ve seen the lessening of these goofball loans, and you can quote me on that,' he said. 'A lot of them were goofball loans.'"

"As homeowners look to straighten out their home loans, some may find it impossible, Roddy said. 'Those people with the adjustable-rate loans adjusting and trying to refinance, they won’t be able to do it,' he said, referring to the tightening of credit and higher interest rates for jumbo loans."

"The future? 'It looks like we have another year to 18 months for high foreclosures,' he said, barring any unforeseen market changes. 'Past that point, if I told you what was going to happen, it would be a dream.'"

"The average assessed value of homes posted for foreclosure during the first half of this year exceeded $500,000 in four North Texas cities."

"The highest average assessed value of homes posted for foreclosure during the first half of this year was $677,750 in Bartonville. The second highest average was $599,760 in University Park."

"Records show that foreclosure postings of homes valued at $250,000 to $500,000 rose 35 percent; homes valued at $500,000 to $1 million rose 64 percent; and homes valued at $1 million and more shot up 83 percent."

"The hot spots for foreclosures appear to be homes valued at more than $250,000 and in areas where significant growth in residential development is evident, Roddy said."

The Denver Post from Colorado. "An Illinois homebuilder with several projects in Colorado plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Neumann Homes announced this week that it had been unable to secure adequate funding to operate its business and had closed its sales, production and customer service offices."

"It also said it has laid off most of its employees. Chief executive Kenneth Neumann blamed the situation on a 'significant downturn' in housing markets including Denver."

"In the metro Denver area, Neumann's communities included Harmony Park in Westminster, Neutowne in Parker, Serenity Ridge in Aurora and Mountain Shadows in Firestone. Of the 1,095 homes Neumann planned to build in the Denver area this year, it reported selling just 81 through August, according to Hanley Wood LLC."

"The company blamed its woes on the housing decline in three of its largest markets - Detroit, Chicago and Denver - where foreclosures have been rampant and the number of existing homes on the market has spiked."

"'A lot of builders out there are hurting,' said Jay Peterson, Hanley Wood's regional director. 'Margins on homebuilders are thin. The market is having a pretty drastic effect on these builders.'"

"Neumann's vacant lots will end up back on the market. Neumann had announced plans to auction off 49 properties in suburban Denver on Oct. 3. It was unclear Tuesday whether that auction was successful."

The Coloradoan. "Norlarco Credit Union continued to bleed deposits and depositors five weeks after federal regulators confirmed they had seized the organization and dismissed its board of directors."

"Norlarco lost $20 million in deposits and nearly 900 members from Aug. 31 to Sept. 30, according to the statement of financial condition released Tuesday."

"That means in the five weeks after the conservatorship became public, the credit union lost nearly $52 million, a 17.2 percent drop in deposits, and about 1,500 members."

"State regulators placed Norlarco under federal control in May after an increasing number of construction loans made in Lee County, Fla., became delinquent."

"Norlarco has just over 1,000 real estate construction loans totaling more than $238 million in Florida, according to federal regulators. The risks are shared by other credit unions that joined in a loan participation program, but it is unclear how much of the $238 million is shared."

"Norlarco also faces a new lawsuit filed recently by an investor in a spec home in Cape Coral alleging the credit union loaned money to investors knowing they could not repay the loan but used inflated appraisals to qualify the investors."

"Norlarco for years continued to make construction loans in Florida, capitalizing on a building boom on the western edge of the Everglades. When the bottom fell out of the housing market in Lee County, Norlarco was left with more than 1,000 delinquent loans, most of them in Florida."

"Norlarco CEO Bob Hamer, who took over the credit union about 18 months ago, immediately ceased the practice of loaning money for construction loans in Florida."

The Rocky Mountain News from Colorado. "Developer Randy Nichols' company has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Hypo Real Estate Capital Corp. for failing to fund a $160 million loan for his 41-story Spire condo building across from the Colorado Convention Center."

"Construction was halted on the 503-unit condo when Hypo pulled the plug on the loan in August. 'Construction, which had been paid for through investor equity dollars, is on the verge of being suspended, and the entire project is in jeopardy,' according to the lawsuit."

"Although potential damages aren't stated in the lawsuit, they could exceed $10 million. J.E. Dunn Construction Co. stopped work in August after completing more than $8.3 million in work."

"The contract was signed Aug. 22, the lawsuit said. Shortly afterward, a Hypo director, David McNeil, said the documents did not mean that Hypo would fund the loan and that the company was waiting on final signatures from its corporate parent in Germany."

"The next day, according to the lawsuit, McNeil wrote: 'We are having difficulty on the deal with final approval from Europe. We have never had a deal get approved in N.Y. and then not get approved in Germany.'"

"On Aug. 28, Hypo informed Spire that it would not fund the loan. 'Germany had refused the loan,' McNeil stated, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said that McNeil admitted, 'The German position defied logic and explanation.' McNeil said telling Spire it would not fund the loan was the 'worst thing he has had to do in his career."