The Hook reports from Virginia. "With the real estate slump and glut of new houses on the market, it probably comes as no surprise that one of Charlottesville's many builders has decided to get out of the biz. But few in the home building community could have predicted the first to go would be one of Charlottesville's most prominent."

"Randy Wade, founder and owner of R.D. Wade Builder, announced, 'We have informed our employees that we will discontinue homebuilding as of January 31, 2008.'"

"He explains that his decision was not made hastily or out of financial duress, but rather resulted from his observations over the last several years as the housing market has cooled from the red-hot sales of 2003-2005."

"'We've taken a restrained approach to building for the last year and a half,' he says. 'We've already been through the cut-down stage. We hoped things would get better over that time, but instead they've gotten worse.'"

"Indeed, in recent days, several other local builders acknowledged they've had to cut their own workforce and that in the upcoming year they expect to build about half the number of houses they've completed in other years. Mike Gaffney, of Gaffney Homes, says he's cut his staff by about half and is discounting some of his existing inventory and converting others to lease-purchase options."

"Randy Rinehart says his 'very close' friendship with Wade stretches back nearly 40 years, when both served as presidents of the Blue Ridge Homebuilders Association. Given Wade's past influence on Rinehart, Kingma, and other builders, could his current decision spark an exodus from the industry?"

"Rinehart...admits Wade's decision will have an effect. 'It has to be in the back of individuals' minds,' says Rinehart, 'that someone as strong as [Wade] has chosen this to be the time to close his business because he doesn't see opportunity on the horizon.'"

"For Wade, his favorite times were the years before the boom began in the late 1990s. 'Everything stayed in balance,' he says. 'Builders knew how many people would be buying and how many [houses] would be bought; it was market-driven. Now we're pushing the market, trying to make the market do it rather than meeting the demands of the market.'"

In Richmond from Virginia. "Scott and Dawn Loving were able to stop the foreclosure on their house -- at least temporarily. The Lovings got into trouble when the subprime adjustable-rate mortgage on their Chesterfield County home reset after two years."

"Their monthly payment jumped from $1,250 to $1,400, resetting six months later at $1,600, then again at $1,650. Their new payment consumed more than half their net income."

"'We were OK the first two years, but we got stretched when the payment went up $400,' Scott said. The Lovings agreed to a subprime loan because past credit problems limited their options."

"The number of foreclosures in Virginia soared from 4,354 in 2006 to an estimated 14,000 this year. In 2008, the number could reach 20,000."

"The Lovings were locked into their original mortgage because it carried a hefty prepayment penalty. As soon as the penalty phase passed, they looked into refinancing. 'At least a dozen lenders turned us down,' Scott said."

"They found one taker. The payoff on the old loan, a combo ARM and fixed-rate mortgage, was $137,000. They walked away with another ARM. This one was for $161,000, which increased their debt. Fees and closing costs totaled $20,000."

"It included $4,000 in cash. 'We didn't feel we had any choice,' Scott said."

"The new payment is $1,623, not much better than the $1,650 payment on the old loan. 'But we had a fresh start,' he said. The initial interest rate on the new loan is 9.8 percent, 0.1 percent better than the old loan. It, too, has a prepayment penalty -- 5 percent of the loan amount. It resets next June."

"The Lovings kept up with their new payments for a few months. Then one payment was put into escrow and the Lovings were one month behind. Repeated calls to the lender solved nothing. When the couple received notice of a foreclosure sale, they turned to Housing Opportunities Made Equal."

"Their HOME counselor (did) what they couldn't -- open a line of communication with the lender. 'We're in limbo,' Scott said, as they wait to find out if their lender will work with them. 'We should find out right before Christmas if we can keep our house.'"

The Washington Post. "The number of recent home foreclosure filings in Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties is up more than 600 percent from a year ago, a much higher increase than in the United States as a whole, according to a national real estate company."

"Loudoun had the sharpest increase among the three counties, with 1,073 foreclosure filings in July, August and September, compared with 125 filings during the same period in 2006, a jump of 758 percent, according to RealtyTrac. Those numbers represent filings in all phases of the foreclosure process, from the initial default notice sent to a borrower to the repossession by a bank."

"'Quite simply, the foreclosure issue is tied very closely to first-time home buyers who got in over their heads,' said Jeanette G. Newton, CEO of the Dulles Area Association of Realtors. 'The [higher] variable rates have now kicked in, and they just can't afford the mortgage payments.'"

"The jump was 694 percent in Fairfax, from 229 filings in the third quarter of 2006 to 1,818 in the same period this year. Prince William filings rose 624 percent, from 212 to 1,535."

"Dozens of advertisements for foreclosed Northern Virginia houses have been posted on real estate agents' Web sites. One ad early this week offered a three-bedroom, two-bathroom single-family house in Sterling for $325,000. Another trumpeted a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Centreville for $356,500."

"'Most of the people running into trouble either can't make their payments or are being forced to sell for some reason or another,' Newton said. 'Or they are being forced to sell in an economy where they are not going to make any money on their homes, and they have to bring money to the table to sell their houses, and they just don't have the money.'"

"Newton said there's an upside to the crisis. 'There is more inventory of properties and the interest rates are low,' she said. 'It really is a good time to buy as long as you are looking for a long-term home investment.'"

"'If people can hold on to their homes, they are going to be okay,' Newton said. 'The market is going to come back. The market always does come back.'"

The Virginia Pilot. "The real estate market in Ocean View is depressed, as evidenced by the hundreds of for sale signs and lack of construction in the community nestled along seven miles of the Chesapeake Bay."

"But at least one project is moving forward – a plan to build a 54-unit senior condominium on East Ocean View Avenue."

"Virginia Beach developer Janice Key said she is moving ahead because the project, limited to residents 55 and older, will fill a niche in Ocean View. 'We believe there’s a demand for this housing,' she said."

The Baltimore Sun from Maryland. "Maryland's housing market spiraled further downward this past summer, registering the fourth-biggest drop among all the states as home sales fell nearly 30 percent from a year earlier."

"Indications are that the market isn't getting better. Home sales in Baltimore and the five surrounding counties plunged 31.74 percent in October from a year earlier, the most in the eight years that Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. has tracked sales through the MLS."

"'At one point, homes were selling very fast, and now the inventory is catching up and overtaking the demand,' said Daraius Irani, director of the applied economics group at Towson University's research and consulting arm. 'It's somewhat of a concern that it's fallen.'"

"Only three states -- Nevada, Florida and Arizona -- had greater slumps in home sales than Maryland."

"The sales picture in Maryland deteriorated over the course of the year, the NAR data show. In the second quarter, the year-over-year decline was 21.1 percent, the fifth-worst in the nation."

"'There's a disconnect between sellers and the buyers' expectations,' said Marc Witman, a Baltimore County-based realtor. 'Until the sellers come down with their pricing, the buyers aren't going to jump off the bench.'"