The Orlando Sentinel reports from Florida. "Linda Rovetto is a property-title agent in west Orlandohasn't taken a salary since the summer. She's working fewer hours because there's simply less business to handle. 'We used to do anywhere from 13 to 20 [closings] a month,' said Rovetto, who owns Florida Lakes Title & Closing in MetroWest. 'In September, I did two.'"

"'I sit here and I play solitaire' on the office computer, she said. 'Even the junk work that everyone hates to do is done.'"

"Cancellations have doubled or even tripled during the slump, Rovetto said. Some people change their minds about refinancing property; others can't get approval for a mortgage."

"Joe Ramirez used to have a dozen workers, but these days he works with a skeleton crew: his parents, his sister and himself. His company, One Stop Affordable Hurricane Shutters, has taken a hit from the housing slowdown."

"'I held on to my boys as long as I could, hoping there would be a turnaround,' Ramirez said. 'In reality, I should have let them go earlier.'"

The News Press. "Dennis Cantwell spent the Lee County housing boom putting up expensive houses in Bonita Springs — now he's renovating them as the demand for new ones fades away."

"'Half our business is remodeling while a couple of years ago when things were going well, I'd say, 'I don't have time,' Cantwell said."

"The number of single-family-home permits issued by the county fell to 91 in October from 444 a year earlier. Builders are increasingly taking smaller jobs such as adding a garage or putting in tile."

"The drought in home construction follows a two-year decline in sales prices and a corresponding piling up of unsold houses. As a result, the median price of a single-family home in Lee County has fallen to $231,600 in September, the latest month available, down 28 percent from an all-time high of $322,300 in December 2005, according to the Florida Association of Realtors."

"Meanwhile, about 15,000 existing houses are for sale in the county, more than four times what there were at the height of the boom in 2005."

"Kerry Johnson, who with her husband Mark were mainly building custom houses during the housing boom but that now 'we've definitely picked up a lot of remodeling and additions and upgrades.'"

"They're building one new house, she said, but 'there's not a big market for that.'"

"Spec homes, put up by a builder 'on speculation' that a buyer will materialize, were never a big part of their work and now have disappeared altogether, Kerry Johnson said. 'With the buyer's market, we can't really afford to build spec homes.'"

"The situation isn't limited to Southwest Florida, Johnson said — builders they know in Atlanta and Destin are reporting the same type of market."

"Optimism was in the air in August 2005 when Pat Logue sold the company he'd built from the ground up to one of the country's largest builders."

"Logue had vaulted First Home Builders to the top of Lee County's housing market with more than 5,000 sales in 2004 and on track to nearly double that when he signed the deal with Hovnanian Enterprises."

"Hovnanian was itself a rising star on the national home-building scene, going on a buying spree of local builders as it moved up to No. 8 in the industry. Its stock was worth $4 billion. But even though Hovnanian's bet in Lee County seemed like a sure thing, the seeds of Hovnanian's near-destruction in Southwest Florida had already been sown."

"Experts now say Hovnanian's timing was bad, to say the least, although, at the time, it seemed the company was buying into one of the hottest real estate markets in the world."

"'Hovnanian was a little late to the party,' said housing analyst Alex Barron. 'They went from no exposure to having 25 percent of their market in Florida.'"

"Sure enough, the honeymoon only lasted four months. By December the median price of an existing home in the county had peaked and was poised for a steep slide. To make matters worse, much of First Home's supercharged growth in 2005 had come in the form of thousands of houses bought by people hoping to resell them quickly for a profit."

"Helping people get financing had always been a strength of First Home's, and most of the buyers were borrowing close to 100 percent of the home's value."

"Huge numbers of homes being built by First Home ended up flooding the inexpensive-home market because so many buyers were investors who never intended to live there. Now, just more than two years after buying First Home for an undisclosed amount, Hovnanian is largely out of business in Lee County."

"It has a skeleton crew of about 50 employees, down from nearly 1,200 during the boom. The company's inventory of hundreds of lots is for sale. Two of the main lenders for First Homes construction loans are also in financial trouble."

"Nationally, analysts say Hovnanian is not destitute but, like most big builders, clearly struggling to stay afloat as prices continue to fall and mortgage foreclosures dump existing homes back on the market. To cope, the national builders are selling off what they can at fire-sale prices."

"Hovnanian was one of the first, with its weekend 'Deal of the Century' Sept. 16-17. It knocked prices down by as much as $300,000 and also offered a slew of financing incentives and upgrades. All the big builders are doing that to stay solvent, Barron said, but 'it's not sustainable.'"

"Now, he said, 'Every week there's somebody who's having a sale' and buyers are getting the message that it's foolish to buy except when big discounts are offered. As a result, Barron said, 'It only takes one builder to cut the prices for everyone else to have no sales.'"

"'Ultimately, a lot of people made commitments on houses they didn't intend to live in, and builders are having a lot of difficulty getting them to close,' said Ann Thomas, who was senior VP of construction for First Home until she was laid off in February."

"'It's really the First Home Builders division that's hurt Hovnanian the most,' said Jack McCabe, a real estate consultant based in Deerfield Beach. 'Fort Myers/Cape Coral is the worst market in the country right now; it saw the most rapid inflation in prices and now it's seeing the most rapid deflation. It just doesn't have the industries that would attract new residents. People are either already here or retirees.'"

The News Journal. "For (some) in Volusia and Flagler counties who aren't even trying to buy or sell a house, it may seem like a mystery why the housing slump is hurting them, too. People are losing their jobs, their retirement, their savings. It started with layoffs in construction and real estate and then trickled down to harm schoolteachers, secretaries and restaurant workers."

"'The gal who does my nails said her business is struggling,' said Mary Spearman, president of Gulf Stream Mortgage in Port Orange. 'If people cut back, that's the kind of thing they cut out. I've talked to a lot of people and this has affected all types of businesses.'"

"To beleaguered homeowners trying to sell houses in Volusia or Flagler, it may seem as if outside forces have conspired against them. And they are right. This isn't just about them. They are caught up in something bigger, with the same storm hitting the rest of the country and even the world. But there are reasons it has hit Florida particularly hard."

"In Florida, it all started in 2002 and 2003 when, thanks to a growing number of retirees, low interest rates and the relative bargains across the state compared to South Florida, home prices started soaring like never before."

"'We saw a meteoric rise in prices,' said John Adams, president of Adams-Cameron Realty."

"Speculators...artificially pushed up the demand, leading to overbuilding, especially of condos. Market-watchers said a 'correction' was inevitable. In other words, at some point the supply would exceed the demand. What goes up, must come down. And, it might have stayed a minor storm were it not for the gale force winds blowing in from the financial markets."

"'There are two markets in play: the real estate market and the financial market,' said Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida. 'Both have ramifications now on a person's 401(k).'"

"'Wall Street sold bonds that were backed by mortgages,' Snaith said. 'All that means is that my mortgage is put together with your mortgage and sold under the umbrella of a bond. Remember in the Bailey Building and Loan model (from 'It's a Wonderful Life' with Jimmy Stewart), the banker made the loan and the borrower paid the bank. That's not the way it works anymore. These loans get sold,' Snaith said."

The Sun Sentinel. "With so many homes in North Lauderdale in foreclosure, city leaders are seeking to help financially troubled homeowners."

"They plan to create a new staff position, Neighborhood Improvement Coordinator, who will advise residents how to avoid foreclosure, guide those about to lose their homes and deal with the rash of abandoned properties in the city."

"Lenders have repossessed at least 57 homes, the owners of 90 foreclosed homes are trying to sell them and at least 325 additional homeowners are in danger of losing their homes, he said."

"'Being a small municipality, what we're observing and at this rapid rate, this will impact us a lot more and a lot faster' than larger cities, Jesus Valdes, assistant director of community development."

The Palm Beach Post. "With so many homes and condos sitting on the market month after month, their fresh-paint smell fading and owners' costs rising, Realtors must find a way to sell."

"While home sales have dropped nationwide, they have plummeted in Florida, which is 'ground zero for the housing market slump,' said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors."

"In September, statewide sales by Realtors plunged 38 percent from the same month a year ago, the Florida Association of Realtors says. Prices were down 9 percent from 2006, which was a lousy year, too."

"To restore their spirits, more than 30,000 members and guests of the National Association of Realtors arrived at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino last week for their annual conference and expo. John Mike, chairman of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, assesses the mood on opening day. 'People are nervous and they are concerned about where things are going,' he says. Real estate agents have been hurting financially, 'including me,' he says."

"When the South Florida market was booming, Mike could sell up to 40 houses a year. Now it's maybe half that. 'It's our livelihoods,' he says. 'I'm concerned about real estate offices, which are closing," hurting not only Realtors, but secretaries, office managers and so many others.'"

The Herald Tribune. "There were 1,612 bankruptcy filings in Sarasota, Charlotte and Manatee counties in the 12 months ended Nov. 9, a whopping 160 percent increase from the 619 filings submitted during the same period a year ago."

"Not surprisingly, the number of filings related to the downturn in the housing industry grew during the past year."

"'It goes right down the line from Realtors, to mortgage brokers, to home builders, to any company that supplies these businesses,' said Rick Ellis, a bankruptcy attorney in Sarasota."

"Bankruptcy attorneys say the impact of the real estate downturn is beginning to broaden. Retailers, who have seemingly nothing to do with real estate, are beginning to file, and that trend is likely to increase in the year ahead."

"'It's spreading,' said Sarasota attorney Timothy Gensmer. 'With all the people being laid off, they don't have the earnings they used to have, so they're not spending as much.'"

"Anna Maria Island developers Steve Noriega and Robert Byrne filed for protection from $33 million in debt owed to bankers and investors after failing to deliver on various multifamily and single-family housing projects on Manatee's barrier islands."

"Warren Hickernell, who is involved in more than a dozen condo conversions around the region, submitted two Chapter 11 filings after banks attempted to seize properties through foreclosure."

"Five companies Ashvin Srivastava took into bankruptcy between January and August, claiming assets of $2.7 million and debts of $5.1 million. Srivastava's companies, which make and install decorative masonry, ran into problems after underpricing work for the developers of the 1350 Main condo tower in downtown Sarasota."

"'I thought it would be a showroom that would allow us to get more jobs,' Srivastava said. 'But I discovered that each job has to carry itself.'"

"After finishing 1350 Main, construction activity in Southwest Florida ground nearly to a halt. Though he says jobs in the area are nonexistent, Srivastava does not plan to shut down. His aim is to sell his fire-resistant construction building technique to homeowners in the San Diego area, who are rebuilding after the recent forest fires."

"'I'm on the rebound,' Srivastava said. 'My only sadness is that I depleted all of our family's resources.'"

"'Most of the people I see are contractors, subcontractors, mortgage brokers, real estate agents and people who invested in properties in order to flip them,' said Gensmer, the Sarasota bankruptcy attorney who specializes in personal rather than business bankruptcies. 'With the housing industry in a nosedive, that's not surprising at all.'"

"Tampa bankruptcy attorney David Steen expects many more bankruptcies in the year ahead, and he things retailers will be hit the hardest. 'I think there will be a lot more retail filings next year,' Steen said. 'A lot will hold on till Christmas or perhaps until the end of the season. Next summer will really tell the tale.'"