Seacoast Online reports from New Hampshire. "The number of home foreclosures in Rockingham County in September were 33, compared to 19 in September a year ago, according to an independent statewide newspaper. The total number of foreclosures in New Hampshire from January through September of this year were 1,381, compared to 653 the year before, according to Real Data."

"'John,' works installing dry wall. He put $17,000 down on their Collins Street fixer-upper home in 2004, he said. The couple got an adjustable rate mortgage of 8.25 percent with a fixed rate for two years and a balloon payment. They refinanced at the end of two years, but got an adjustable rate mortgage that offered a more affordable interest rate."

"'My credit was bad,' John said. 'I went to the mortgage company. I didn't know the market was going to turn like it did. Even if it went up, I thought it would be by a hundred a month.'"

"The mortgage payment they could afford of $1,508 a month climbed to $2,115. 'We got behind,' Mary said. 'We couldn't keep up.'"

The Nashau Telegraph from New Hampshire. "The pace of property foreclosures in Hillsborough County isn't slackening and may be quickening in places. Hudson has already seen three times as many foreclosures as happened all of last year."

"Merrimack has already had half again as many foreclosures as all of last year. Litchfield had just one foreclosure in 2006 but has seen 11 this year."

"Even the Souhegan Valley is seeing bad news: Amherst, Brookline and Hollis already have twice as many foreclosures as they had in 2006, while Milford and the Mascenic towns are already at last year's total. Hillsborough County is on pace to have some 580 foreclosures of homes and businesses this year, nearly double last year's tally and five times the total of 2005."

The Cape Cod Times from Massachusetts. "The median property sale price last month was down 7.6 percent when compared with the October 2006 median of $373,500."

"Foreclosure numbers continued to be high in October, with 27 foreclosure deeds filed with the registry, 145 percent more than were filed in the same month last year. This number adds to a record-setting year in foreclosures."

"Through the end of October, 217 foreclosures have been completed on the Cape, according to registry records. That's the highest number since 1995 when 222 foreclosures were filed during the first 10 months of that year."

The Inquirer and Monitor from Massachusetts. "Beth Ann Meehan, the mortgage loan officer at Pacific National, said that the national situation has not directly affected lending on Nantucket."

"'What’s interesting is when the subprime thing started falling apart, people started asking me about Bank of America and I initially said there would be no impact because we’re not a subprime lender,' Meehan said. 'But it did impact us in a roundabout way. The jumbo rates have gotten higher. Those interest rates have crept up, and that’s one of the fallouts of the subprime mortgage disaster. I wasn’t expecting that. New guidelines are coming out every week. The easy borrowing days are pretty much over for the time being.'"

From The Day in Connecticut. "Foreclosure actions in New London County have risen nearly 42 percent this year, but experts say that if you think things are bad now, just wait until next year."

"'The number of people facing foreclosure is going to be doubling or tripling in the next few months,' said Daniel S. Blinn, an attorney with the Consumer Law Group in Rocky Hill."

"The Warren Group indicated about 1,000 homes in New London County have faced foreclosure actions in the first three quarters of the year, compared to about 700 last year."

"Locally, experts say that banks and mortgage companies often are left to sit on properties in foreclosure for longer periods without generating any income. 'Nobody's even showing up for these sales,' said Barbara Crouch, a housing counselor for Catholic Charities in Norwich. 'There's so many of them, nobody is showing up.'"

"She said the courts are so backlogged with cases that it can take six to eight months to evict the former owners from the property, meaning some are able to stay in their homes rent-free for almost a year before a foreclosure auction is held."

The New York Post. "Three months after Gov. Spitzer announced a $100 million program to save New Yorkers in danger of losing their homes due to the subprime mortgage crisis, only a single mortgage rescue is in the work."

"It is estimated that by the end of the year, some 1,250 city residents will have lost their homes through foreclosure."

"'I can't explain the feelings running through my veins right now,' Ray Dawkins, a Brooklyn homeowner who says he was duped into a risky mortgage, told Crain's. After he tried to refinance his duplex in 2005, a mortgage broker told him his monthly payment would be $200 more than the $3,300 he was paying. Instead, it jumped to $4,500."

"The state's program was initially limited to single-family houses, which excluded many of the city's potential foreclosures."

"Another obstacle is that Fannie Mae, which is buying the loans, requires borrowers to be less than two months late on payments when they close on their new mortgages. That's a challenge for many trying to dig their way out of mounting mortgage debt."

The Star Ledger from New Jersey. "New Jersey's five-year housing boom has given way to a market with flat prices and considerably lower sales volume, a Star-Ledger analysis has found."

"East Orange had a 59 percent drop in sales volume, Paterson a 57 percent decrease, Plainfield 46 percent, Elizabeth 41 percent and Newark 37 percent. 'Every upswing has a downswing,' said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. 'And we're in the downswing.'"

"The drop in sales is not from a lack of houses on the market, real estate experts say. New Jersey's inventory of homes for sale reached record levels this year, soaring to more than 72,000 in June, they report."

"Bruce Gaylen of Wayne said he has looked at at least 40 two-family houses over the past year. In all but three instances, he didn't make an offer. 'I don't understand how they are asking that much for some of these places,' said Gaylen, a first-time buyer."

"Indeed, some sellers, especially investors looking for a quick profit, are still living in the past, experts said, asking for prices as if the market remained as robust as it had been several years ago."

"Buyers also have become increasingly patient, brokers said, waiting for the market to hit bottom before they pull the trigger."

"'Nobody wants to buy something for $500,000 when they think that if they wait a while they can get it for $450,000,' said Lawrence Perlaki, a broker at a firm in Jersey City. 'Nobody wants to look like a sucker. Everybody wants to say they got a great deal.'"

"It's no longer so easy for many to borrow money to a buy a house. 'The industry has become more rational about how we're lending money,' said Michael Borodinsky, assistant VP for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. 'The industry is scrutinizing borrowers like we should have been before.'"

"Perlaki has been selling real estate in the city for more than 30 years. During the peak of the real estate boom, Perlaki said, developers of the luxury housing projects would ignore his inquiries on whether they wanted his help selling their unit."

"Now, he said, the developers are holding parties for local Realtors to enlist their help. 'Every day, I get e-mails from them,' Perlaki said. 'It's crazy.'"

The Times Online from Pennsylvania. "In the Middle Ages, St. Teresa of Avila began to bury medals of St. Joseph in the ground of properties sought for Carmelite Convents. Over time, the medals became statues and the tradition of burying a statue of St. Joseph in the grounds of homes for sale became very prevalent."

"If real estate agents thought they had the market cornered on selling homes, they got it all wrong. With today's sluggish housing market, many home owners are turning to a higher power to help sell their property: St. Joseph. Heck, he even comes with his own real estate kit."

"St. Joseph is enjoying a surge in popularity with homeowners of all religious backgrounds desperate for a quick sale of their home."

"Dave Lichius, owner of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Books and Gifts in Beaver, estimates he has sold nearly 4,000 plastic figurines of St. Joseph since a flustered real estate agent burst in the store a decade ago desperate to buy one of the figurines for a client."

"'This harried looking guy, a real estate agent, rushed in and said 'I need a statue of St. Steven.' He was frantic about it, you know,' Lichius recalled. 'I called around to some other shops to find out what this guy wanted. As it turned out it was St. Joseph the home seller. Since then we've sold quite a few. People come in and ask for them all the time.'"

"The Web site known as 'the underground real estate agent kit,' is just one site devoted to selling the statues and offers a free online home listing as well as testimonials from believers, including a bevy of real estate agents. Ordering is simply - and the number unforgettable - at (888) Bury-Joe."

"'On Tuesday we had 564 orders come in,' said Phil Cates, who started selling the kits in 1990."

"Mary Sonnett, manager of St. Francis de Sales shop, said she noticed that the sale of kits started to pick up last summer, just when the market started to turn sour. 'We've shipped them everywhere, really,' Lichius said. 'Even overseas.'"

"His clients, he said, aren't limited to those with a Catholic background. He once sold several real estate kits to a Jewish rabbi who said he planned to distribute the statues among friends. 'I guess when there's a lot of money is concerned, the theological lines get blurred,' Lichius said with a laugh."