The Sun Sentinel reports from Florida. "When the city decided to redevelop 860 acres in the Midtown district five years ago, officials estimated it would take until 2025 to complete the job. But the housing slump threatens to delay the project's completion by five years, City Councilwoman Diane Veltri Bendekovic said."

"The first hints of trouble emerged in the past two months, when 21 people who put down deposits for condominiums in Veranda at Plantation,, filed suits in Broward Circuit Court and federal court for refunds and to get out of their contracts."

"'Any time you are losing investors on a project, it will have a negative impact on the development and anyone else moving forward on their development,' Bendekovic said."

"In Veranda's case, the second of two phases — about 175 condos — are on hold because of 'market conditions,' Ken Simigran, president of builder WestCity Partners, Inc., said."

"Because of market uncertainty, the city will postpone overhauling some parks, roads and other projects, Mayor Rae Carole Armstrong said. 'We got off to a rapid start, now we are running into a downturn,' said City Councilman Jerry Fadgen. 'It is just unfortunate.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "An array of dire forces - from soaring inventory to fence-sitting buyers - continued to play havoc with housing markets in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast in the July-September quarter."

"That's the major conclusion to be reached from the Florida Association of Realtors' third-quarter sales report for single-family homes and condominiums. Perhaps it will curb some appetites - prices and sales in nearly every market went down, down, down."

"'What goes unexplained is how so many people got caught up in this real estate fantasy after losing money in the tech-wreck bear market of 2000-2002,' said John Pankauski of the Pankauski Law Firm in West Palm Beach. 'It seems that as history repeats itself, it costs more each time.'"

From Florida Today. "Brevard County had the largest percentage drop in housing prices in the last quarter of any major market in the United States, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday."

"Few people in the real estate industry are talking about an early rebound in the once red-hot housing market. Some market observers thought the local market would have been stronger by now. 'I'm surprised that it's still continuing. You keep thinking it's going to turn around,' Space Coast Association of Realtors President Lance Vandeberg said."

The Sun Herald. "The price of existing houses sold in Charlotte County during the third quarter of 2007 dropped the most of any Florida metro area...an 18-percent decrease from the same quarter of 2006."

"'Unfortunately ... Charlotte has been hit pretty hard by the housing correction and is one of the worst areas in the state in terms of price declines for housing,' said Sean Snaith, economist at the University of Central Florida."

"'The good news is that the housing market hasn't had the economy pulled out from under it. Just look at Detroit. A lot of the fundamental drivers are in place, you just have this excess supply,' Snaith said."

The Bradenton Herald. "When moving to this peaceful paradise, many new residents are faced with the nagging question: Is it better to rent or buy?"

"With more than 5,250 homes on the market in September compared to only 1,705 during the same month in 2005, according to the Manatee Association of Realtors, many in the real estate business believe there is no time like the present to purchase a home."

"'People have a great inventory to select from right now,' said Realtor Cindy Morton. 'My advice would be make your best offer. Find the property that you like the best, maybe your top three and start making offers on them because this market will change. And the opportunity to get something at the best price will be gone.'"

"'If you are able to buy, the smartest thing to do is get out there and look,' Morton said. 'But both options, renting and buying, are pretty good right now. A lot of people are renting because they are waiting to see what the market is going to do. They want to know if it is going to come down a whole lot more.'"

"Realtor Jeanette Ward said sellers are ready and willing to negotiate. 'It used to be location, location, location. Now it is definitely price, price, price,' Ward said. 'Renting is certainly a good option because sellers are negotiable, but it is the time to buy.'"

The St Petersburg Times. "In 2006, a year when most Tampa Bay real estate agents saw their business plummet, Lori Polin did remarkably well. It was an impressive feat at a time when Florida home sales and prices were dropping dramatically."

"But now Polin is accused of owing at least some of her success to mortgage fraud. In a letter to Re/Max's Denver headquarters, the Pinellas Realtor Organization and many of her fellow agents, an anonymous sender claims Polin 'artificially inflated' the prices of nine homes in Tampa and North Pinellas so buyers could get larger loans."

"Most of the houses were mortgaged for far more than the actual sales price, with the buyer or a third party pocketing the difference. In one transaction, $109,000 went to a construction cleanup company although there is no evidence of any construction or cleanup up since the run-down Clearwater house sold last year."

"That house and the others listed by the anonymous sender are all now in foreclosure proceedings. Polin said she is the innocent victim of a 'smear campaign,' which she says may have been started by a jealous rival. "

"'It's serious about these people going into foreclosure, but it has nothing to do with me except this Realtor trying to get me into trouble,' Polin said. 'All these deals were put together by attorneys and title companies and lenders. Nothing was inappropriate as far as what I did.'"

"Iris Alfonso said her house had been on the market for months when Polin asked if she would accept a reduced price of $449,900. So Alfonso was surprised to find a contract price of $540,000. She was surprised, too, that the buyer...agreed to let her sister stay on as a tenant at the same low rent she had been paying."

"'It did make us wonder if something was going on here,' Alfonso said. 'Why would he be willing to take such a small amount of rent when his loan was so much higher than ours had been?'"

My Fox Tampa Bay. "Rising taxes are crushing Florida's housing market. Now a new report shows our home values are dropping. According to Zillow.com, Tampa Bay area home values have declined, on average, 13 percent in a year."

"The report shows home values in Clearwater Beach have dropped more than 20 percent. Homeowners like Stefanie Pignatelli can't move because they can't sell. She's asking $205,000 for a house she bought for $250,000."

"'With a house that's not selling, and a job in jeopardy, it's very scary,' said Pignatelli."

The News Journal. "Four months have passed since Lynn Friel and her husband moved into a $425,000 place not far from the Intracoastal Waterway in Edgewater. She calls it their 'dream house,' one they couldn't pass up."

"But their previous home hasn't sold, and making monthly mortgage payments on two houses in the same county has become a nightmare for the young married couple."

"Not a single prospective buyer has dropped by to see the three-bedroom, two-bath house. An open house in September drew only a curious neighbor. The country house (is) listed at $269,900, $10,000 less than a few weeks ago."

"'We'll negotiate,' she said. 'It's not set in stone.'"

"Friel believes most buyers these days are looking for deals, houses in the high $100,000 or low $200,000 price range. The Friels can't afford to go that low, given the equity loans they have on both houses to help pay the bills."

"'If we still haven't sold it by December, I'll have more gray hair,' she said, smiling. 'But I try not to dwell on the negative.'"

"Don't feel sorry for Ray Hagood. The veteran homebuilder has seen his share of ups and downs in the housing market in more than three decades in the business, and he's confident another upswing is coming. He just doesn't know when."

"'It's unfortunate we're in this temporary crisis, but it is temporary and we'll get through this. In three years...there won't be any gloom and doom,' said the certified building contractor. 'I went from five supervisors down to none, at this point,' he said."

"Still, Hagood said he can't help but get discouraged at times. 'I'm sitting on a lot of real estate, and I can't sell it unless I want to let somebody steal it,' he said. 'And I don't want to let somebody steal it.'"

"So, like many builders stuck with high-priced land, he'll hold onto the properties as long as he can because paying the taxes, interest and other carrying costs is less expensive than selling them at huge discounts."

"'You start wondering if you can hold onto a house for two more years,' he said."

"'Most builders that are still left are not going to dump their homes, (but) a lot of resales will be dumped,' he said. 'Buyers are waiting for prices to go down. Builders are waiting for prices to go up. Somewhere, we have to find some kind of understanding. Only time will tell.'"

"When Carmen Bosco arrives at the office in Ormond Beach, it is nearly 9 o'clock, half an hour later than he started these shifts back when business was booming. Nothing is booming now. There are no other real estate agents in the office on this morning. No customers have pulled up, their engines and air conditioning still purring, to await the office's opening. The phones are silent."

"A few years ago, he would have fielded half a dozen phone calls by now, he estimates. He would have needed a back-up agent to take over as Bosco ran out to pick up a listing or show a property. Back then, everything was different."

"'As soon as you got a listing, you sold it,' he said. 'That was my heyday. I enjoyed that.'"

"By last year, his commissions had fallen to just $35,000 or $40,000. And this year, Bosco said he is on course for just half that."

"Bosco can handle the slump financially. Still, he likes to work. And now, 'it's just completely dead. The phone doesn't ring.'"

"For mortgage broker Janet Lawrence, a file cabinet that no longer bulges testifies to the year-long drought in her business. 'I'd say our volume is down 75 percent from a year ago,' said John Nugent, the other half of the two-person team that's managing to keep the Ormond Beach brokerage afloat."

"'I don't have the heart to put them in a loan that I know they can't afford. I can't morally do this,' Nugent said. 'But at the same time, I know they can go down the street and get the same deal from someone else in 20 minutes.'"

"But being finicky about ethics can hurt in the pocketbook, he said. 'It's been over a year since I took my kids to Disney,' said Nugent."

"Brian Harrington still rents an office in DeBary for Apex Funding, but he had to get rid of four other staff members and run his shop single-handed. 'The bread and butter of the business is gone,' he said. 'There no such thing as a subprime market still left.'"

"And mortgage closings take a lot longer, added Nugent, as lenders demand the borrower's income be fully documented and appraisals updated to reflect declining market values."

"'I used to be able to close a loan in eight business days,' Nugent said. 'Now I'm lucky to do it in 38 days.'"

The Herald Tribune. "The magic number is 3,254,530. That is how many 'yes' votes are needed to approve the sale of beleaguered Coast Financial Holdings Inc. to First Banks Inc. of St. Louis. The fate of the $664 million-asset bank is at stake."

"With a positive nod, shareholders will get something from their investment, though many will still take a bath."

"If the merger is rejected, Bradenton-based Coast Bank could become the fourth U.S. bank failure of 2007, and the stockholders would be left empty-handed."

"Steve Aidlin of Sarasota, one of the 71/2-year-old bank's original stockholders, is voting his 50,000 shares in favor of the sale. 'I don't see any reasonable alternative,' Aidlin said. 'The bank, as I understand it, if it doesn't go this way, the Fed will take it over.'"

"Aidlin expects to lose at least $500,000 on the sale."

"The bank has been hemorrhaging, $50.1 million in losses the last four quarters, under the weight of its mortgage meltdown. Nearly $80 million in loans are overdue. Many of them involve borrowers with investment homes who stopped making payments when their builders quit and the real estate market tanked."

"Coast's troubles will not simply vanish if it becomes part of First Banks. Some shareholders have filed a federal lawsuit seeking class action status against Coast, claiming they were defrauded when the company lied about its financial condition."

"More than 100 borrowers have sued Coast to get out of their mortgages for homes that are worth less than their loans."