The Gazette Times reports from Oregon. "Despite national headlines warning of shaky ground in the mortgage lending industry, home buyers shouldn’t necessarily assume that owning a home in Corvallis is out of their reach. 'Just because it’s raining in Florida doesn’t mean it’s flooding in Oregon,' said Van Melick, senior loan officer for Corvallis Metro Mortgage. 'Anybody with reasonable credit who has a job and can qualify for the payment amount can qualify.'"

"That doesn’t mean that the housing market hasn’t changed from a year ago. From October 2006 to last month, just 3,859 homes sold, compared to 4,504 during the same period a year ago. And more than 2,250 homes were listed on the market during October in the mid-valley."

"What has changed, Melick said, is freewheeling lending to people whose financial situations fit colorful acronyms: NINA (No Income, No Assets) and NINJA (No Income, No Job, No Assets)."

"'The problem was that as the housing boom started to rumble up, there was improper use of (subprime loan programs) and that got people into programs that were inappropriate,' he said."

"Melick said the housing market seems to be straddling a buyer’s and seller’s market, with many buyers expecting to find great deals, but a fair amount of sellers hanging on for a better price despite the conventional wisdom."

The Mail Tribune from Oregon. "There could be more belt-tightening among Southern Oregon wood-products companies after layoffs were announced at a pair of mills last week."

"'The decline of new construction has had a huge impact on wood products, including us,' said Roger Rutan, VP of marketing (for) Springfield-based Timber Products."

"Glendale-based Swanson Group announced 150 layoffs in several mills in the region and others around the state have seen cuts as well, said David Schott, executive director of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association."

"'We're seeing lumber at or below prices we've seen at any time in 50 years, when you factor in inflation,' Schott said. 'A year and a half ago, studs were running $320 to $340 per thousand board feet for green Doug fir. It's averaging $150 to $160 now. It's the most ugly pricing I've seen since 1980-81.'"

"He said new housing starts nationally will decline to between 1.1 million and 1.2 million by year's end, roughly half of what they were a year ago."

"'The economy is not strong and job creation is mostly service sector and government jobs when we need more created in the manufacturing sector,' Schott said. 'When you look at the $320 billion trade deficit, you know we're not creating wealth in this country.'"

The Columbia Basin Herald from Washington. "Several local housing industry members are nearly unanimous in the sentiment that now is the perfect time to buy a house in the Columbia Basin."

"In looking over statistics from the Grant County Assessor's Office and the Northwest MLS, Susan Alsted-Fanning, owner of Alsted Real Estate, said Grant County was one of seven counties in Washington to register double-digit gains over 12 months ago."

"'That's exciting in itself,' she said. 'Our median price home is up from $132,000 to $152,000 this time last year.'"

"'Which is exciting to me, because there's more and more condos being built and sold,' she said. 'In 2006, the average price of a condo was $206,000, and this year it was $286,000. Condos have not been good over the years. They just took off.'"

"'If you were a buyer, you're still going to end up being a seller in most cases, and I don't see any of these prices dropping,' she said. 'Interest rates are low, there's choices, there's new homes in all different directions and that always helps. We have plenty of supply, and we're not overbuilt.'"

"It appears most buyers of condominiums, which are raising the market, are coming from out of the area and using their properties as second homes in most cases. In Moses Lake, Alsted-Fanning's office has seen two buyers from Alaska."

"'If you drive around Moses Lake, you see new construction everywhere,' she said. 'North, south, east, west - there's more coming in. There's hundreds and hundreds of new construction (projects) being planned right now, and I don't see a lot of empty homes out there.'"

"She advises people who are presently renting to purchase now. 'Take this opportunity and buy now, because it will favor you,' she said. 'The buyers, if they're on the sideline just watching right now and waiting for the right time, I don't think there's a better time than right now.'"

"Alsted-Fanning urges sellers to consider the fact that buyers are savvy."

"'They will not put up with previewing overpriced homes,' she said. 'For the sellers, I say state your home, make your repairs, clean your clutter out and don't overprice, because we do have a lot of competition with these new homes.'"

"John L. Scott Real Estate Owner Alan Heroux said the national housing trend is 'basically tanking right now.'"

"That's because the national real estate market was treated as any large investment concept, Heroux explained, appreciating at a high level for several years until, like any investment, the actual value was much lower than the perceived value."

"'People went, 'Wait a second, we're paying more for this than what it's really worth,' and it kind of started to unravel from the top down,' Heroux said. 'Nationally, that has a lot to do with the subprime market for mortgages. They were giving credit to people who should never have had gotten credit.'"

"Locally, the market has returned to more of a normal market, Heroux noted. In the last few years, sellers were essentially able to demand what they wanted for their homes, and buyers had no choice but to pay it, he said."

"Negotiations are going on, he said. 'We are a little bit above what we probably should be value-wise on homes, but we're not like the national market where it's 50 percent overvalued,' he said. 'Our prices are a little bit on the high side, but sellers are starting to negotiate now. It's actually a normal real estate market, which we've needed to do.'"

"Sellers do need to understand the difference between perceived value and actual value, Heroux advised."

"'The reality is if they bought their house for $100,000 and thought it was worth $200,000, but it turns out it's only worth $175,000, people think they lost $25,000 in value,' he said. 'They didn't; that value was never there, it was a paper value.'"

The Daily News from Washington. "For five months, Les Campbell waited for his three-story house on Curtis Drive north of Longview to sell. As many as 25 people came to look, but Campbell soon realized few were serious about buying."

"They'd show up just to take a tour of his home to see what was available, but only one or two people were ready to make the commitment to pay close to the asking price of $340,000. So Campbell decided to wait until next spring to try to sell the 2,800-square-foot home."

"'I think it's just a slow market,' the retired General Motors manager said."

"Campbell is not alone. Recent statistics released from the Northwest MLS, which tracks home sales in Western Washington, show far more houses on the market than a year ago."

"In October this year, 759 houses were listed on the market in Cowlitz County, up 27.6 percent from a year ago, according to the listing service. The inventory of available homes has fallen 6.1 percent since August, which some local brokers saw as a record-breaking month in Cowlitz County."

"Across the 20 Washington counties included in the listing service study, the number of homes listed for sale increased by 31 percent from October 2006."

"Despite the glut of homes, local real estate agents are insisting that Cowlitz County remains a good place to buy. The market has slowed, they say, but it's part of a natural cooling following the local housing boom of the past two years."

"In fact, a group of brokers and mortgage lenders have launched an advertising campaign reminding people that Cowlitz County has good things to offer."

"Agent Shirley Nelson said she's seeing a lot of low offers from buyers. That's part of the reason, she said, that sellers are waiting longer for offers close to their asking price."

"'Our sellers are saying, 'Nope, we want what we want for our home,' said Nelson, who was a co-sponsor of the ad campaign."

"The recent house-flipping craze, spurred by popular television shows such as 'Flip That House,' has also contributed to the glut of buyers looking for a deal, Nelson said."

"Shirley Little, incoming president of the Cowlitz County Association of Realtors, added that the wave of low-interest loans that had grown popular during the housing boom are taking their toll. After paying a small down payment, some home owners came to realize they couldn't afford the high rates down the road and have been forced to give up their homes, she said."

"'The same buyers six months ago, a year ago, can no longer buy homes,' Little said."

The Kitsap Sun from Washington. "Kitsap real estate prices leveled off in October while the number of homes on the market continued to rise, according to statistics released last week by the Northwest MLS."

"There were 453 more homes for sale in Kitsap in October 2007 than in the past year, and those that did sell went more cheaply than in previous years."

"The bottom line on the new stats, according to Mike Eliason, executive of the Kitsap Association of Realtors, is a supply-and-demand story."

"The real estate boom of the early 2000s fueled a boom in construction of homes, Eliason said. But the red hot market also contributed to money lenders' willingness to get anyone into a home who wanted one —regardless of credit."

"When the overall U.S. housing market finally turned south this year, it caused a flooding of foreclosures, and made even more homes available."

"Central Kitsap experienced the highest rise in number of homes on the market. The Seabeck and Holly areas, for example, had 80 homes on the market in October 2006. In the same month this year, there were 142."

"Demand, meanwhile, as lenders tighten restrictions on attaining mortgages due to fears of more foreclosures, has decreased. Eliason said that the market is entering its 'winter cycle,' where real estate activity is less."

"Eliason predicts a downturn of the median home price in Kitsap County, one that will be more accurately aligned with Kitsap's wage earners. 'We've pushed people out of the housing market,' Eliason said. 'Now we're going to start to see people coming back.'"

The Columbian from Washington. "At a time when more Clark County homeowners are faced with the threat of foreclosure, a local agency has discontinued counseling services that help with mortgage default."

"The Vancouver-based Community Housing Resource Center's four-person staff has been unable to handle the rising caseload after its full-time foreclosure counselor resigned two months ago. The center is referring foreclosure calls to two informational Web sites and a foreclosure advice line."

"The loss of default counseling comes at a time when local foreclosures have more than doubled, according to RealtyTrac, which showed 374 foreclosure filings in Clark County during the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, up from 180 foreclosures filed during the same period a year ago."

"In the meantime, an increasing number of phone calls to the center reflect the problem of rising foreclosures, said Kevin Gillette, program manager. 'We're getting quite a few inquiries regarding this, and we hope to hire someone' to continue the counseling, he said."

"He added that foreclosure is a highly emotional issue for clients. 'There's so much in the way of emotion, depression and anger,' Gillette said, because homeowners in default face limited options now that home sales have slowed and prices have softened."

"'Quite frankly, you've got a lot of people owing more than what the houses are worth,' he said."