The News Journal reports from Delaware. "While foreclosure filings continue to rise throughout the state, housing counselors at Neighborhood House Inc. in Wilmington say they're overwhelmed with pending mortgage defaults. Filings in Delaware continued to tick up in September, bringing the total filings for the state up 32.7 percent for the first quarter of the fiscal year. Hardest hit was Sussex County, which saw a 75 percent increase in foreclosure filings for the quarter ending in September."

"'Our books are filling up with default clients,' said counselor Brenda J. Dryden."

The News Post from Maryland. "The executive director of the Frederick County Builders Association said those in the housing field should have been more prepared for the real estate downcycle."

"'Housing bubble? It was more like a dirigible filled with hydrogen, an explosion -- kaboom,' Bryan Patchan said, addressing the Frederick County Association of Realtors."

"'Go back two years ago,' Patchan said. 'You knew the law of gravity would make it come down,' he said, referring to several years of soaring prices and buyers lining up to bid on homes."

"The 'occupation at the moment' is to unload the inventory of homes, Patchan said, currently more than 2,400 in Frederick County. Right now, 'Housing starts are down by one-third, sales are the lowest in 12 years and there is a downward pressure on home prices,' he said of the market."

"He has spent his career in the housing industry, serving in...public affairs for the National Association of Home Builders prior to joining the local group. Describing himself as an industry pessimist, Patchan said builders should have known better than to try to get ahead of the market."

"'Builders need to do one house at a time, with a contract with a qualified buyer,' Patchan said."

"Patchan reflected on other down markets, such as in the 1980s when buyers faced double-digit interest rates. 'What's different this time?' he asked. 'For one thing, this past market was full of speculators. We didn't realize the impact of this until the downturn. Secondly, there is the subprime market.'"

"'It may sound like heresy from someone in the housing field, but there is too much emphasis on homeownership,' he said. 'It costs money to own a home. It's like a car. You have to buy gas, maintain it, as well as make the payments. People are euphoric. They want a piece of America -- a home. We are at nearly 70-percent home ownership in this country, but maybe it should be less than that.'"

The Washington Post. "Won-Ki Choi and his wife Janice had their eye on the townhouse at East Market at Fair Lakes for some time. But the $536,449 price tag was much too high for them."

"Then they saw a newspaper ad from Ryland Homes: For two hours on a recent Saturday afternoon, the builder would sell 140 homes in the Washington area at a discount, through a silent auction. The minimum bid for the 2,068-square-foot Fairfax County home was $429,999. Won-Ki Choi wrote his name down minutes before the auction was scheduled to end at 3 p.m. He was the only bidder."

"'This is your lucky day,' Jerie Wolicki, a company receptionist, told him amid applause."

"Builders say they have no other choice. 'We were trying to figure out how do we break through all the clutter that's out there with home builders' said Mike Disler, Ryland's Washington Division president. 'I think people understand that it's totally beyond our control and all the builders are reacting to market conditions.'"

The Courier Journal from Kentucky. "The median price of a home in the Louisville area has risen nearly 5 percent a year over the past two decades, better than inflation, and about the same as the national rate."

"But as the national housing slump deepens, properties are sitting on the market longer, making sellers nervous and prompting some to slash asking prices and throw in such incentives to close deals."

"Agent Kim Farris said a glut of available properties has given buyers the upper hand in negotiations, with some offers coming in at 15 percent to 25 percent below the asking price."

"'There's just so much to choose from, the market is saturated,' said Farris, who got her real-estate license in 1994. 'They (buyers) feel like the sellers are desperate, so they go in with a low-ball offer. And some sellers are accepting them, because they're worried they won't get their house sold.'"

"Joe Simms, who just stepped down as president of the local Realtors' association, urged its members to carry with them at all times a copy of figures showing positive local trends. In a recent letter, Simms advised agents to show the figures to any buyer who wants to make an offer 20 percent below the asking price, and to share the numbers with the media to 'straighten them out.'"

"'When the market slows, then we have to do more selling,' Simms wrote, adding that agents could counter negative publicity by 'telling the truth attractively.'"

"Roughly one-third of the nation's largest metro areas, including nearby places such as Cincinnati, Lexington and Memphis, saw home prices fall in the second quarter of 2007 from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors."

"But that's little consolation for couples such as Mark and Annie Baker, who live in the SpringView subdivision. Working with Farris, the Bakers put their four-bedroom home on the market in February for $159,900. It took eight months to find a buyer, after they dropped the price by $8,000."

"'This has been a proverbial nightmare, to say the least,' said Annie Baker. 'Everybody's lost that warm and fuzzy feeling that the market is good.'"

"Pat Harrison, who owns Harrison Realty in New Albany, Ind., said the local real-estate market is approaching the status of the early 1980s. Harrison, a licensed real-estate agent since 1968, said the local market is hurting from a combination of problems in the lending industry and subprime loans made to borrowers with patchy credit."

"Those issues have contributed to a surge in foreclosures in recent months. Jefferson County, for example, is on track for a record 3,125 foreclosure auctions this year, up from last year's record of 2,710."

"In southwestern Jefferson County, agent Berenda Burnssaid she was baffled about her inability to quickly find a buyer for a four-bedroom ranch with vaulted ceilings, a Jacuzzi in the master bath and more than 1,700 square feet of space."

"When the home was first put on the market at the beginning of the year, the listing said it was 'a real buy and will not last long." The asking price was $119,900 -- after several price cuts, the property sold late last month for $70,000.'"

The Daily News from Tennessee. "For numerous homebuilders, the Mid-South Parade of Homes can't come soon enough."

"As home sales continue to slide, the buzz created by the debut of this four-county, 161-home bonanza could be the shot in the arm that many companies need to finish the year strong."

"But with residential home sales in the pits, the Parade might not be enough to salvage 2007's slumping housing market. Residential sales took another nosedive during the third quarter (July through September), falling 20 percent from Q3 2006, according to Chandler Reports."

"Just 5,734 residential sales were recorded during the quarter, down from the record 7,169 in 2006. And many of the top builders reported drastic sales dropoffs, a reflection of diminishing consumer confidence and lingering subprime fallout."

"'We're now having to wean ourselves from subprime mortgages being available,' said Jerry Gillis, president of FaxonGillis Homes. 'When 30 percent of your buyers are subprime buyers, and that market is taken away from you, it has a profound effect.'"

"Even the usually strong submarkets have struggled. Three of the five ZIP codes with the highest average sales dollars for Q3 also registered a decrease in home sales. It's difficult to figure out what the public is looking for - if they're even looking at all."

"During the current foreclosure fiasco, banking is the only industry that has registered an increase in home sales. That anomaly stems from banks being forced to reacquire homes from defaulting homeowners and then sell them."

"'After the foreclosure, the bank or other owner of the property can decide whether to auction the property immediately and move on, or hold the property in anticipation of receiving a better price and minimizing their loss,' said Andrew Gibbs, VP of the Memphis-based financial advisory firm Mercer Capital. 'I think you're seeing people make these determinations now.'"

"Indeed, banks made up three of the top five residential property sellers during Q3, with a couple of them seeing more than 200 percent increases from Q3 2006."

"This is negative for financial institutions, which don't like to manage such large volumes of 'non-earning assets,' or assets that produce no interest income for the bank, Gibbs said. 'This is particularly an issue in markets where you've seen declining home prices and loan structures in which the borrower has little or no equity in the property,' Gibbs said."

"Will the housing market rebound? 'The housing market has slowed some, but in recent months, as can be seen in our third quarter, we feel like it's stabilizing now,' said said Keith Grant, president of the Memphis Area Home Builders Association. 'We can only look up from this point.'"