The News Press reports from Florida. "Many of the Real Estate Network Services's clients, 65 percent, are faced with a 'short sale' situation, where the loan balance exceeds the home's market value, said broker Beth White-Dahlstrom. 'It's very intricate, right now, to make sure that a property owner knows, realistically, what a property is worth,' she said. 'But that's not always a really bad thing because the banks are working with us now. But it makes it tougher to sell a house. That's why we have to be realistic with the price.'"

"'If you don't need to sell right now, I would say hold on to your house for a little while. But if there is a need to sell, I'd say make sure your price is competitive with similar homes within a quarter mile of you. No matter how much you owe, what we have to look at is what is today's value,' she said. 'You should make sure that you're priced toward the bottom few homes in your class. I'm not saying give it away, but make sure that your value is correct. The sellers need to put themselves into the buyer's shoes because when you're a seller, right now, you're competing with a lot of other people.'"

The Star Banner from Florida. "In Marion County, some 1,181 petitions were filed with the county's Value Adjustment Board. By comparison, there were 626 petitions filed in 2006 and 108 filed in 2005."

"Greg Meade owns a few mobile homes he rents out. The appraised value went from $75,500 in 2005 to more than $303,000 in 2007."

"'Make no mistake, those people went crazy on assessments,' Meade said."

"After Meade filed his appeal, the Property Appraiser's Office went out to visit the property and reduced the appraised value to a little more than $254,000. Meade dropped his appeal. But he said his concerns remain."

"'We've got an actual property tax crisis here,' Meade said. 'If you own any property except homestead, you're dying. It leaves me in the unenviable position of maybe getting out of the rental business.'"

The Orlando Sentinel from Florida. "Nearly twice as many people face losing their homes in Central Florida this year compared with 2006, many of them borrowers struggling to repay adjustable-rate loans or investors unable to sell in a glutted market."

"Through the first eight months of 2007, more than 11,000 homeowners in a seven-county area in and around Orlando have entered the foreclosure process by defaulting on their mortgage payments -- 85 percent more than all of last year."

"Experts say the evidence points to both homeowners living beyond their means and investors grasping for quick riches as prime sources of the problem, with foreclosure notices stretching from the new resort-home subdivisions near Walt Disney World in Osceola to the established starter-home neighborhoods of Deltona in Volusia County."

"'There is blame for everybody: builders who overbuilt, Realtors who oversold, lenders who weakened loan criteria and borrowers who stretched too far knowing nothing goes up forever,' said Doug Duncan, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association."

"Don Casselman of St. Cloud started missing mortgage payments on his home earlier this year, after work injuries and a failed attempt to start a business. When Casselman, saddled with two mortgages, tried to sell it recently, he got no takers. Last month, Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank forced his family to leave."

"'They take people who are not in the best of credit, and they treat us like we're millionaires -- then they try to rip every dollar that you can make from your pocket, and they try to draw blood,' said Casselman, who couldn't persuade lenders to refinance his adjustable-rate loans when the $974 monthly payment was about to double. 'They try to keep a poor man poor.'"

The Atlanta Journal Constitution from Georgia. "Foreclosure actions for metro Atlanta hit an all-time high this month, with 6,809 properties in 13 counties threatened with public auction in November. So far this year, lenders have published 41,312 foreclosure notices against properties in the 13-county area of metro Atlanta."

"The October statistics, released Monday by Equity Depot, represent a 38 percent increase over September and a 49 percent jump when compared with October 2006. 'This is the largest swing we have ever seen from month to month,' said Barry Bramlett, an Equity Depot VP."

"The total estimated value of properties entering foreclosure in metro Atlanta was $1,076,975,783."

"Bramlett said mortgages with high interest rates are driving foreclosures across Atlanta. Adjustable rate mortgages make up about half of 2007 foreclosure notices."

"Bramlett said an unusually high number of construction loans also showed up in this month's listings, representing developments that never got off the ground or that failed to sell when construction was complete."

"The October totals represented an all-time high for each of the 13 metro Atlanta counties, suggesting that the national mortgage meltdown is touching virtually every corner of the metro area. Even Fayette and Forsyth, where foreclosures have historically been rare, saw big jumps this month."

"'Now that we are at this kind of quantum level up in terms of foreclosure activity, I think we're going to start really seeing the effects on housing prices,' said Dan Immergluck, a Georgia Tech professor who is an expert on foreclosures."

The Post & Courier from South Carolina. "Homes sales in the Charleston area were off significantly again last month, weighed down by too much supply and not enough demand. The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors said Wednesday that 885 homes changed hands in the three-county region in September, a 28 percent drop compared with the same month in 2006."

"It was the second-steepest decline in monthly sales since the local housing slump took hold early last year."

"Builders are trying to keep their prices stable, but to do so they are offering upgrades and more-attractive financing packages to bring buyers in the door, said Frank Hefner, an economist with the College of Charleston."

"Nearly every zone that the Realtors association tracks saw sales volume drop off last month. The declines were mild in some areas and eye-opening in others. In Hanahan, sales plummeted to 10 last month, compared to 84 a year earlier."

"The competition for buyers is especially tough in developing suburban residential areas where sellers of existing homes are going up against deep-pocketed national companies that are offering incentives on newly built models, said real estate agent Tenia Cattles. 'They get very frustrated because they can't give away the farm like builders can afford to do,' she said."

"Frank Finlaw, the local president of Atlanta-based Beazer Homes, said September sales for his division were healthy compared to the first half of the year, thanks to reduced prices and more-attractive incentive packages. 'We're much more willing to negotiate,' he said."

"These days, many local home buyers are either relocating from other areas or are making their first purchase, Finlaw said. 'Someone who has to sell their house — those folks have come to the realization that it would be very difficult to sell right now,' he said."

"Experts agreed that the local inventory will have to fall back to a more-manageable level before the market trends will change course. As of Wednesday, 10,887 residences were listed for sale in the Charleston region, more than double the average number of properties on the market in 2004 and 2005, according to association data."

"The rental side of the housing industry also is providing some relief, said Bonnie Miller, owner of Mount Pleasant-based Old Dominion Realtors. She said some owners who bought a new home before selling their first are having to seek tenants to help them cover both mortgages."

"Miller said the rental trend 'helps the market, too, because it gets some of that influx of supply off.'"

"Finlaw noted that the local supply of new homes is falling, a good sign for the industry. Once that happens, demand for existing homes will go up, bringing the overall market back into balance. 'This has been a cyclical business since the housing industry started,' Finlaw said."