The Manchester Journal reports from Vermont. "The real estate market has seen a decline in the number of sales nationwide and Manchester is no exception to the rule. Building contractor Peter Keelan said the market is slower than it has been in previous years. Keelan said this is because many of the second homebuyers, who are mainly from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, often have difficulty selling their primary homes."

"'Next year will be the interesting year, but the bottom line is that the real estate market needs to be corrected. It's too overpriced and it needs to be corrected,' he said."

The Telegram from Massachusetts. "Through August, lenders have filed 2,673 foreclosure petitions on residential properties in Central Massachusetts. It’s more than double the 1,064 foreclosure petitions filed during the same period in 2005, according to a Telegram & Gazette analysis."

"Worcester is trying to fight the potential foreclosure blight in the city, which has seen foreclosure petitions more than triple to nearly 700 through August of this year, by keeping an eye on foreclosure notices as they’re filed, said Dennis E. Hennessy, director of Neighborhood and Housing Development."

"The foreclosure process typically takes about six months to complete after the petition is filed, usually in the Land Court in Boston. Although an auction is scheduled at the end of the process, the lender typically takes ownership of the property, said Alan Pasnik, a data analyst for The Warren Group."

"'It’s a bad outcome because there’s no guarantee the current owner is not going to trash the place or if he’s even going to move out,' Mr. Pasnik said. 'There are so many foreclosures happening now, there are huge inventories of 3,000 or 4,000 homes being held by lenders.'"

The Boston Globe from Massachusetts. "Barbara Pennucci's landlady had an interesting proposition: If she decided to sell, the landlady asked, might Pennucci be interested in buying the two-bedroom Medford town house she has been renting since April?"

"A few years ago, the ever-rising real estate market might have pushed the 49-year-old single mother to act quickly to buy."

"Back then, the popular wisdom was that buying trumped renting, providing a way to benefit from any appreciation in the housing market. But in today's world of foreclosures and falling property values, the argument for home ownership is far less compelling."

"The Tufts University Web designer wasn't new to home ownership. In fact, she had purchased a condo in Malden back in 2001, buying the apartment she was renting when that owner put the unit on the market. 'I did it once, and I felt like I did everything wrong,' she said, explaining she'd felt pressured to buy by the red-hot real estate market. She ended up selling the condo to help pay the bills after she lost her high-tech job when the technology sector tanked."

"Newton-based financial adviser Michael Broad walked Pennucci through a series of calculations, starting with the cost of home ownership. Since the landlady neither set a price nor provided information about condo association fees, cost of purchase calculations had to be based on estimates."

"Given the current $1,200 monthly rent, which Pennucci said accurately reflected the Medford rental market, ownership would increase monthly housing expenses 45 percent, costing an additional $538 a month. 'No matter how wonderful owning the place might be, right now renting is the better deal,' Broad said."

The Boston Globe from Massachusetts. "A number of major Boston condo projects are going rental as developers face the daunting task of selling new units in a market mired in a downturn. At least three major condo projects have rolled out for-rent signs, and other developers, stuck with unsold units in a tough market, are likely to follow suit, industry experts say."

"The conversions are expected to add several hundred rental units to a Boston market that, until recently, suffered a decades-long drought in new rental construction."

"'It is easier to rent something now than to sell something,' said Michael Carucci, CEO of ERA Boston Real Estate Group."

"One of the most notable conversions is Charlestown’s Mezzo Design Lofts, whose backers include former Lakers great Earvin 'Magic' Johnson’s Canyon-Johnson Fund. Johnson flew into town in September to pull the wraps off the $54 million project, which was to feature 156 loft-style units. Prices ranged from $330,000 to nearly $600,000."

"But a soft real estate market and a credit crunch forced project executives to rethink the format. Still, the project’s target market remains the same - young Gen X and Gen Y professionals looking to buy for the first time, said Jim Goldenberg, one of the project’s backers."

"'When the credit market gets tough and the housing market gets soft, they choose to rent rather than buy,' Goldenberg said."

The Times Union from New York. "George and Rebecca Weiss were thrilled to be buying their dream home. 'This house offered everything -- and then some,' Rebecca recalled as she described the spacious white four-bedroom Colonial."

"Ultimately, it wasn't to be. With the contents of their Clifton Park apartment packed up and their three children anticipating their first night in their new house, the deal fell apart at the closing table when mortgage terms they originally agreed to appeared far different."

"Now, as the scope of the national subprime mortgage debacle grows and home foreclosures in the Capital Region climb, the Weisses realize they narrowly escaped financial disaster."

"The documents they confronted when they arrived for the closing on Jan. 3 surprised them. Their mortgage loan would have an adjustable rate instead of fixed. The initial interest rate was about 3 points higher than they had expected, and the listed fees were higher than they had understood they would be."

"The 30-year mortgage included monthly payments on principal and interest of $1,767.37 the first two years, climbing to $2,377.48 for another half year, before rising to $2,387.81. The final monthly payment, however, would be a doozy: $229,955.67, nearly as much as the $246,081.29 they were to be financing."

"In all, the Weisses would have paid $1,072,226.92 over 30 years for their Colonial, not including property and school taxes. Still, the Weisses say, they might have signed on if last-minute problems with the bank involved hadn't scuttled their purchase."

"The prospect of losing the house at that point -- when it seemed so close to being theirs -- seemed almost unbearable. 'Going to the closing and having the keys in your hand and losing the house, it was very tough on both of us,' said George."

"Just over a year after their offer on the house in Brunswick was accepted, the Weisses have moved on. They purchased a spacious five-bedroom house in Lansingburgh. Real estate records show a sale price of $139,200."

"They say they're very happy with their new place and have begun to view the loss of the Brunswick house with relief."

"'I think that having the experience of now actually making a mortgage payment has made us realize that had we closed that day, we likely would have been in trouble from the first month,' George said."

The Cay Compass on New York. "Susan and John Harriman normally spend about $500 on holiday gifts. But this season, the couple has a wrenching choice to make: celebrate Christmas or keep their home out of foreclosure. 'We’re just sending out Christmas cards, with us standing in front of the house – the house that cost us,' says Ms. Harriman."

"With all their might, the couple is trying to hold on to their modest 1,100–square–foot ranch house in Central Islip, N.Y. In the six and half years since they bought their home on Long Island, Susan and John have watched their monthly mortgage payments skyrocket 66 percent to $2,454 due to home–equity loans for repairs, delinquent fees, and an adjustable–rate mortgage that has risen twice in the past six months."

"'I think people pay less a month on mansions in the Hamptons than we do,' Ms. Harriman says with a bitter laugh."

"Ms. Harriman, who revels in decorating for the holidays, has three inflatable lawn ornaments, but will put up only one this year, a Charlie Brown Christmas globe, to save on the electric bill."

"For the same reason, she won’t string multicolored lights on the outside of her house, nor put up the tiny white lights along the interior hallways. In their place, she will plant some cardboard candy canes along the front walk. To save money on the Christmas dinner, she’ll serve turkey or lasagna, but not both."

"'Everything is being halved,' she says."

The Staten Island Advance from New York. "Attorney Steve Soren was set to start a foreclosure auction in Supreme Court one morning recently, but he needed bidders."

"Soren, the court-appointed referee for the public sale of a house at 237 Clove Rd., stood alone in a hallway alcove on the bottom floor of Supreme Court. When an out-of-breath bank representative showed up shortly after the scheduled sale start time, the auction could finally begin."

"But in the absence of other buyers, the sale was merely perfunctory. The only bid came from Downey Savings, which already held the bad debt on the property. The starting bid, also known as the upset price, was $296,406."

"'Going once, going twice, sold to the bank,' Soren, a real estate attorney, told an imaginary audience."

"Motivated investors who might be able to turn over properties more quickly than banks are not coming out for foreclosures forged by the subprime lending crisis here. 'It's usually troublesome because now you have this property and there is no equity in it. Now what's going to happen with it?' said Jessica Davies, publisher of Profiles Publications Inc."

"'The smart investors look at everything before they make a decision. If these investors didn't show up to bid on these three properties, there was for a reason it,' she added."

"John Brancato, a specialist with U.S. Loss Mitigation Services, rarely sees investors at sales he attends these days. 'For the last six months, I can count on my hand how many times a property has sold to an investor,' he said."

"His company recently had an investor willing to buy a house before the expensive foreclosure auction could begin, but because the sale could not be completed until just a few days after the scheduled auction, the bank declined."

"'I think it's a poor business decision,' he said of the banks' inability to prevent more foreclosures. 'In this market, (banks) have not been bloodied enough, yet.'"

The New York Post. "If you build it they will come - at least that's how it used to be in the residential New York real estate market. Developers that once had lines out their sales door are pursuing foreigners by attending property shows around the world, setting up private presentations for buyers in their offices, and including amenities that are specific for the international audience."

"'New York purchasers are starting to dry up, so you always go to where the money is,' said Luigi Rosabianca, a real estate-lawyer, who just returned from Ireland. 'No one was doing it about a year ago, but now it is the thing to do.'"

The Tribune Review from Pennsylvania. "Don't mention a real estate bust in Lawrenceville. People probably won't know what you're talking about."

"Frank Novak, a retired truck driver who reared six children in his brick, three-story rowhouse on Main Street, said he can hardly believe his next-door neighbors have listed their place, almost identical to his from the sidewalk, for $189,900."

"'These prices are terrible now. They're ridiculous, the way they're going up,' said Novak."

"Median prices fell last year in almost half of the 223 municipalities and Pittsburgh wards the Trib analyzed, compared to prices declining in one-third of those places in each of the previous two years."

"In 48 areas, median prices are lower than they were three years ago. 'Houses are still selling, but they're taking longer,' said Georgie Smigel, a Coldwell Banker agent whose territory includes the North Hills and Butler County."

"'There haven't been booms and busts in Pittsburgh in the way there have been in Florida, California and New England,' said Andrew Leventis, senior economist for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight."

"'To the extent that you may have a lower appreciation rate than other places in Pennsylvania, that may not necessarily be a bad thing. It's certainly not a bad thing for people who are looking to buy a house over the next year or two,' Leventis said."