The Chicago Tribune reports from Illinois. "Most anybody in the mortgage business will tell you that August was a month that will live in infamy. How bad was it? A survey of mortgage brokers suggests that one in three consumers who recently signed purchase contracts canceled in August, up from just 4 percent three years ago, according to the research firm that conducted the survey for Inside Mortgage Finance."

"'Our office had four sales in one week that failed to close because the seller didn't have the cash,' said the real estate agent, who declined to be identified because she feared office repercussions."

"The sellers couldn't come up with the money?"

"The problem seems to start, she said, with those formerly easy-to-snatch mortgages that cover 95 or 100 percent, or more, of the purchase price."

"My real estate agent acquaintance grabs a settlement sheet from a recent transaction on a home that cost just under $600,000. Reeling off a few of the line items, she notes...numerous charges drove the closing costs to about $3,400."

"And that didn't include the pro-rated property taxes for which the seller was liable and which weren't covered by the escrow account. Then, ahem, there's the commission."

"'If you're listing a house for $410,000 and the mortgage is $390,000, you've got a problem,' she said, in a bit of an understatement."

"'They're probably people who have borrowed the equity out of their houses,' said John O'Brien, chairman of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association. 'Some people don't understand that a home-equity loan is a lien against the house and it has to be paid back at closing.'"

"Or, he said, they may have been among the legions of borrowers with hefty loans who have come to find, gulp, that those promises of home prices appreciating in perpetuity have turned out not to be true."

"'All those fees, they don't seem so big when you're looking at a $50,000 check coming your way,' my friend said, her voice trailing away. 'But when you've spent all your equity on a new car ...'"

The Springfield Business Journal from Missouri. "As of Sept. 26, Greene County has seen more than 500 home foreclosures, according to records maintained by the Recorder of Deeds office. After just nine months, the county is poised to surpass last year’s total of 513 foreclosures."

"'You get people that were able to afford these homes on these interest-only ARMs, and on $100,000, you’re talking a couple hundred bucks a month (when the interest rate increases),' said said Bart Evans, director of residential lending for Great Southern. 'That’s a lot. This is a monthly payment society.'"

The Des Moines Register from Iowa. "Builders like Tom Gratias, Keith Butz and others say dozens of new homes are empty in the Des Moines area. The buildup in inventory means homes are staying on the market longer. Gratias estimates that his homes are on the market twice as long as they were at the peak of the market in 2005."

"Butz, president of the Home Builders Association of Iowa, acknowledges that some builders are leaving the market - some switching to other kinds of construction such as commercial, others through bankruptcy."

"'Some builders are finding other things to do in life,' said Butz."

"Lenders filed lawsuits this fall seeking to foreclose against some big residential players, including Oaks Development, which promotes itself as the state's largest land developer. Oaks attorney Jerrold Wanek has said lenders are panicked because of 'a perceived' decline in land values."

"David Vollmar, executive secretary of the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines, said the exit of some builders is a natural shakeout. 'When the market was booming, every guy with a saw in his truck called himself a builder,' Vollmar said."

"Butz said he expects a return to a normal market similar to 2002, the year before the big housing run-up that peaked in 2005. Five years ago, the value of housing sat at $461.9 million with nearly 3,200 homes constructed. Two years ago, building skyrocketed to $860.1 million in value, with nearly 5,100 homes constructed."

The Business Journal from Indiana. "For most of this decade, the Indianapolis residential real estate market enjoyed a very good run. But now it’s muddling through the doldrums just like the rest of the country, and builders are pulling out all the stops to avoid getting stuck with inventory."

"'There are just not a lot of people out there looking,' said Jeff Kontor, VP of sales, Indianapolis-based Brenwick Development. 'So far as numbers are concerned, whether it’s for lots or homes, it’s definitely down right now.'"

"Not surprisingly, selling new homes in Indianapolis has suddenly become a dicier proposition. Especially since so many builders have chosen to crowd into one price point."

"'Seventy-five percent of this market is for homes between $100,000 and $200,000,' said Dax Meredith, who directs the Indianapolis office of American Metrostudy Corp. 'So that makes for a very, very crowded field.'"

"'Part of the problem is that people cannot sell their existing homes,' Kontor said. 'They may want to move, but they can’t sell.'"

"Alan Goldsticker, president of Ryland Homes of Indiana, said the bottom line is that pretty much everyone who wants to drive a hard bargain for a new home must first endure the trials of selling the old one. In other words, before buyers can benefit from the down market, they must first put themselves at its mercy."

"Goldsticker said that while the current bust may signal the end of the recent banner years for builders, it’s not the end of the world. No slump ever is."

"'I’m in my twenty-fifth year with Ryland and this is my third downturn,' he said. 'If you get too fat during the upturns, that means you have to take off a lot more weight during the slow times. And I don’t like that.'"

The Journal Sentinel from Wisconsin. "Housing's forecast: cloudy with intermittent storms, increasing chance of sunniness in a year."

"'Slump' is a fair description of what we're seeing,' said Nigel Gault, a managing director at a financial and informational services firm. 'Whether it's a crash depends on which part of the country you're in,' he said in an online session."

"Three market bubbles - home price appreciation, speculative building and risky mortgages- formed during the 2001-'05 boom. Now, they have popped, said Gault's colleague, Jim Diffley."

"Price bubbles were confined to several lightning-growth areas - notably Florida, Arizona, California and Nevada - but overbuilding and bad loans 'were distributed pretty much across the nation,' Diffley said."

"New houses in Metro Milwaukee have been growing bigger and more luxurious all decade, said Matt Moroney, executive director of the builders association."

"'Our average price has gone up 57% since 2000 from $195,902 to $307,000,' excluding land and improvements, he said. 'I think we'll see that average price come down, as builders put a greater emphasis on affordability.'"

"A few builders are rethinking model layouts and subdivision configurations to allow for lower-priced housing, Moroney said."