The News Press reports from Florida. "The number of permits issued for single-family homes in Cape Coral sank to 29 in September — by far the lowest in memory, according to statistics released Monday. Unincorporated Lee County, which also handles permitting for the town of Fort Myers Beach and the city of Bonita Springs, issued 76 permits, up from 63 in August. In September 2006, 458 permits were issued."

"There were 45 permits issued by the Cape in July, and city spokeswoman Connie Barron said at the time that a search of records back through 1995 didn’t turn up any month that slow. Numbers that low likely would have been in the early 1990s when the city had only a quarter of its current population of about 170,000, she said."

"'I think the Cape will bounce back, but the numbers in general will stay low' because of a huge inventory of unsold houses — about 15,000 countywide, more than four times what it was before the market started deteriorating,' said Jamie Pirrello, president of Fort Myers-based Vision Homes USA."

The Herald Tribune. "Florida is going to struggle with its housing market for the rest of this year and part of next but, barring an unforeseen disaster like a major hurricane or other catastrophe, the Sunshine State's economy should not sag into recession, an up-and-coming economist from the University of Central Florida is predicting."

"'After enduring a substantial deceleration caused by the slowing housing sector and the financial repercussions of the subprime meltdown and credit crunch, the economy will begin to accelerate slowly in 2008,' said Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness."

"Some sectors, such as construction, will take longer to recover. For example, Snaith is predicting that this year and next will be a difficult time for sellers. He said it is akin to the run-up in housing in 2004-05, which created problems for buyers because of spiraling prices."

"Snaith used the term 'market karma' to describe sellers and buyers apparently changing places, but he does not expect the housing market to crash. 'If you are waiting until this occurs to buy, you will spend the rest of your life as a renter,' he said."

The Associated Press. "Sherrill Zenie said all she wanted was a piece of the American Dream, but what she got was 'a kick in the rear.'"

"Zenie is one of a legion of a relatively new type of homeowner, a 'flipper,' who sought fast money by rapidly buying and selling homes to capture a profit on each as prices soared. Speculators who bought multiple homes like Zenie were once a boon to the U.S. economy when they pushed home prices to record levels over a five-year period. Now their unsold homes are the bane of a sickly housing market."

"'Nobody is looking, either to rent or to buy,' says Sherrill Zenie, of Delray Beach, Florida, who is stuck with two unsold condominiums there after profitably selling two others."

"She owns the condos outright, as well as her own home, part of a vacation home in Vermont. But taxes, maintenance and a home equity credit line cost over $2,000 a month for the two condos alone, a stretch for Zenie, who is out of work on disability."

"'I wanted to follow the American Dream,' she says. 'I wanted to be an entrepreneur and make some money -- not a killing, but some money. Instead, I got a kick in the rear.'"

"Her husband has found a job in another state to help pay the bills. 'Am I panicking? I would be hysterical if my husband weren't in Mississippi working.'"

"'People were buying a condo in Florida, or five condos in Florida before they even broke ground, and before they even had the condo half-way built they would sell them for hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits,' notes Jim Gillespie, CEO at Coldwell Banker Real Estate."

"'The big lesson is that even during hot times, if you're going to invest in real estate or stocks or bonds, gold or silver, or anything, and you try to time the market and invest with the intent of flipping in a very short period of time, eventually you are going to get burned,' Gillespie said."

"Andrea Wolkenberg in White Plains, New York, says the speculative fever was too hard to resist for many. 'I think you get stars in your eyes, when the mortgage industry is throwing money at you.'"

"She has just rented out two Florida investment units she has long been unable to sell, and took on a third roommate in New York to ease the burden. 'The condos have really been bleeding me.'"

"Wolkenberg bought the units after making about $200,000 on a Florida preconstruction property. 'That was September 2005 and I'm still sitting with them. The market tanked hard and fast,' she says. 'If the rentals work out, I will consider myself one of the lucky ones. It will make holding on until this market turns possible. Long-term, I could come out OK.'"

"The mention of speculators spurs a flurry of cliches by industry experts: there's no free lunch, trees don't grow to the sky, not having a place to sit down when the music stops."

"'Sometimes they're vilified but they shouldn't be,' says Barry Habib, CEO of a real estate market information service. 'That's the American way. They go back to the Gold Rush.'"

"Speculators 'add jet fuel' both on the way up and on the way down, he said. 'Nobody was saying 'hey, the speculators were bad' on the way up, when people were selling their homes and making lots more money.'"

The Bradenton Herald. "The property taxes on Johann Haeussler's River Club home dropped about $900 this year, but he's looking for more relief."

"'It doesn't make sense to us. Our taxes were raised two years in a row, even though property values went down,' Haeussler said. 'We questioned that the property appraiser's theory is based on actual sales because no one in this neighborhood could sell their homes.'"

"'Houses in this area have depreciated considerably in the past 12 to 18 months, as evidenced by the prices that they're on the market for,' said Heritage Harbour resident Edward Viltz. 'I don't think the current tax assessment is indicative of the environment as it is today.'"

"The reason things don't make sense might be because assessed values - values for 2006 - haven't caught up to the sluggish housing market. Even through the first nine months of this year there's only been a 3 percent to 6 percent devaluation around the county, according to Dale Friedley, a Manatee County Property Appraiser tax analyst."

"Property Appraiser Charles Hackney expects values to correct themselves somewhat next year, but it won't be enough to offset the increases of 2004 and 2005."

"'A huge correction has to be made,' Hackney said. 'Until excess properties are absorbed, we'll have a problem with the values. Logic tells you we need to have a 20 percent correction to undo what was done during those two years, but does that mean values will go down 20 percent next year? I don't think so.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "The monthly real estate numbers are out and both the number of homes sold and the median price of homes continue to fall. But inventory is still the story."

"In Palm Beach County, the number of homes for sale last month rose to a three-year supply at the current pace of sales. A total of 24,428 homes were listed in the MLS."

"'With inventory levels at three years, you have to offer the best home at the most aggressive price if you even want to get your home shown,' said mortgage broker Jim Sahnger. 'Granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, once thought of as upgrades, are now merely the price of admission.'"

"Yes, it's a buyers' market — but, for the most part, buyers aren't buying."

"In Palm Beach County, 568 buyers bought single-family homes last month, a 13 percent drop from 655 sales a year ago, according to a Florida Association of Realtors report. August marked the 20th straight month of declining home sales in Palm Beach County, FAR reports show."

"Single-family home sales in the Treasure Coast fell 26 percent — twice the rate of Palm Beach."

"In Palm Beach County, the median price of a single-family home dropped 5 percent, falling to $366,200 in August, from $386,000 in August 2006, FAR said. In the Treasure Coast, the decline in median price was more pronounced at 15 percent. The median price fell to $214,200 in August, from $251,900 in the same month of 2006, FAR said."

"Finally, an answer for why a developer won't return about $10'million in deposits to buyers of the unbuilt Palladio Terrace condo: Merco Group says it doesn't have to return the money!"

"Merco Group has been a virtual stone wall when it comes to explaining why it is keeping money from its prospective buyers, even though the company canceled plans for the luxury West Palm Beach condo in January. Buyers have begged, cried and sued to get their money back, mostly to no avail."

"But in a recent court filing, Merco says that state law allows it to keep deposits for 'construction and development,' Merco emphasized."

"Greg Coleman, a West Palm Beach attorney representing aggrieved Palladio buyers...said Merco thinks it can use deposits for soft costs associated with planning a condo, such as architects and engineers."

"Big mistake, Coleman said. 'The law says the money can be used when the construction of improvements has begun. A lot full of dirt is not an improvement. And they can't have done any improvements because they never obtained building permits,' he said."

"Coleman recently added some muscle to a lawsuit he filed on behalf of Andrew Greenberg and Michael Catalano, two Palladio Terrace buyers still owed $99,700 in deposit money. In addition to a charge of conversion, Coleman just amended his complaint to include civil theft, which carries a possible award of triple damages, plus interest and attorneys fees."

"Coleman said he can't wait for the day when the case goes to trial and he can show jurors a giant photo of the dirt pile that's supposed to be the gleaming Palladio Terrace. "