The State Journal reports from Kentucky. "Pat Layton isn't ready to launch a career in blues singing yet. But she's beginning to feel she could supply B.B. King with some new and true lyrics...if the real estate market doesn't improve in 2008. A prominent real estate agent in Frankfort, Layton has been selling houses for 16 years, 'and this has been my worst year, by far,' she says. 'I understand it was worse back when interest rates went to 18 to 20 percent. But this is as slow as I've ever seen it.'"

"Jack McDonald, a former builder and real estate agent who now produces a meticulous real estate market report for Franklin County, says the local market is down a little this year."

"'Like a lot of other places, we have had a great real estate market the last several years,' McDonald says. 'Being down a little bit this year shouldn't be surprising. Practically everybody who thought they might want to buy a house has already bought one. At some point in time, it has to be a natural reaction.'"

"Charlie Jones, Franklin County master commissioner and an attorney for developers, says all sectors of the real estate market "are having a bit of a downturn. Master commissioner sales 'mostly related to foreclosures' have increased in November and December this year, Jones says."

"He says a lot of those sales, 'I think, are due to change in the mortgage situation,' with interest rates being bumped up. 'I'm sure some people bought houses they truly couldn't afford.'"

The Columbus Dispatch from Ohio. "The 'for lease' signs are going up at central Ohio condominium complexes, to the chagrin of owners who paid full price to buy there. Developers who have been trying to sell condos in a weak real-estate market now are offering to lease them with the option to purchase, while slashing prices."

"MAS Cos. began offering the unsold condos for lease with the option to purchase. About a week ago, the company cut prices again, taking up to $70,000 off the original asking price of about $200,000. That left condo owner Andy Ballog feeling as though someone shut a trap door on him. He fears that the price cuts are devaluing his property. 'We're kind of stuck now,' he said."

"'Who would buy now? In two years, they only sold two and now they're leasing? Who in their right mind would buy in a place where they're leasing?' he said."

The News Democrat from Illinois. "The latest local housing sales figures are lower than the year before, but analysts believe the metro-east market is still holding its own. 'All real estate is local, and national trends do not always reflect local market conditions,' Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois President Tari Jacobs said."

"Gateway Association of Realtors Executive Director Al Suguitan said the home prices are adjusting according to the market. 'They're just going to have to consider adjusting prices on homes,' Suguitan said. 'Many builders are clearing or reducing inventory and giving themselves some breathing room, and hopefully getting some buyers into brand new houses.'"

The Rockford Register Star from Illinois. "Thanks to the sudden slowdown in the Rock River Valley housing market in 2007, at least five area home builders are offering a variety of incentives to sell either finished properties or to generate housing starts for 2008."

"'You’ll hear people say at open houses, ‘This is the worst time to buy,' said Dianna Dianovsky of Howlett Homes. Howlett is offering free upgrades or reduced prices at selected houses in four subdivisions. 'This is actually the best time in 20 years. The prices you can find right now are unbelievable.'"

"'You keep reading about a housing slump. Well, we are in a slump here,' Rachel Nicolosi of Buckley Homes said. 'A big thing we are hearing is, people are worried about having two mortgage payments if they can’t sell their house.'"

The Daily Herald from Illinois. "Amid signs of booming development, Lake County is quickly catching up to its neighbors on another, darker front, foreclosures. Lake County saw a 36 percent increase from 2005 to 2006, according to the Chicago-based Woodstock Institute."

"Rapid growth in population, a building frenzy and high taxes have defined this area as well as many others around Chicago. These factors, along with bad sub-prime loans, unemployment and others have bombarded the suburban region with some of the highest foreclosure numbers in recent years."

"Hainesville Mayor Ted Mueller shakes his head when he hears that roughly 100 of his residents went into foreclosure proceedings last year. 'Do you really want to know what I think?' he said. 'I blame it on the developers because they were quick to build and sell. And I blame it on the banks because they were quick to give loans to people with credit ratings who shouldn't have been able to borrow.'"

"Mueller said he bought his first home with 20 percent down many years ago. 'And I wouldn't even think of walking away from that,' he said."

"Today, his two grandchildren each bought homes with no money down. While he describes them as responsible adults, the no-money-down policy for others could be worrisome. 'People are entitled to affordable housing. But today, it's gone beyond that and many people are getting unaffordable housing,' Mueller said."

The Detroit News from Michigan. "Just a few years ago, agents driving the hard sell of urban condominiums to suburban dwellers might have courted 10 lookers for each buyer. Nowadays, they're parading 30 or 40 potential customers through units before getting an offer, if they're lucky enough to get one at all."

"'They're definitely getting harder to sell,' said Andy Gutman, chief financial officer of the Farbman Group, one of Metro Detroit's largest developers of residential condominiums. 'We're having to get more creative. We're having to prove why someone would want to live in a Detroit condo.'"

"Detroit's condominium-building blitz, driven largely by a combination of warehouse loft conversions, apartment building renovations and modern new construction, began in 1999, when 34 building permits for attached condos were issued in the city. In 2003, 223 such permits were issued, the most of any year on record with the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments."

"Through October this year, 105 condo permits have been issued in Detroit, an increase from the 46 issued in all of 2006, but below the boom years of 2003-05."

The Detroit Free Press. "From the well-heeled streets of the Pointes to the desolate neighborhoods of Detroit, thousands of people are facing foreclosure of their properties because they haven't paid taxes for at least two years."

"In 121 printed pages of the Sunday Free Press, Wayne County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz listed more than 18,000 properties across Wayne County facing foreclosure. Notices sent to homeowners since March have whittled the list from 161,000 properties that had been delinquent on tax payment."

"In Oakland County, 8,300 properties are facing foreclosure because of delinquent taxes. 'That's the largest number of tax foreclosures we've had,' Oakland County Treasurer Patrick Dohany said."

The Leelanau Enterprise from Michigan. "Tony Brakel of Brakel Construction in Cedar says he’s like many homebuilding contractors in Leelanau County – he’s diversifying and working harder just to stay in business."

"New home starts in Leelanau County are down more than 32 percent from this time last year. 'I hadn’t taken a bathroom remodeling job in 10 years because I was too busy building houses,' Brakel said. 'But things have slowed down so much that I’m happy to hear from customers who have smaller projects for me to do.'"

The Herald Argus from Wisconsin. "Homebuilding has been hard hit, but it hasn’t come to a complete halt. Just about everything in the housing market that could go wrong has gone wrong since the nation’s 2001-05 boom busted."

"'There’s been a lot of pressure to let staff go and reduce overhead, or lower (profit) margins, a very difficult decision,' said Bruce A. Johnson, president of the Milwaukee area’s Metropolitan Builders Association. 'Builder profit margins are already really low.'"

"Meanwhile, 'If you want extra attention, now’s the time,' said Matt Moroney, the association’s executive director."

The Pioneer Press from Minnesota. "The Twin Cities are now well into the nation's housing bust, with foreclosures numbering far above last year's recent record. At least 10,521 homes across the Twin Cities have been auctioned off in sheriff's foreclosure sales and are on their way back to the bank as of the end of October, according to a Pioneer Press count of sheriff's records."

"Statewide, an estimated 20,000 Minnesotans may lose their homes this year alone."

"Housing pros are watching the suburbs, concerned a second round of resets and payment shock will hit between 2008 and 2012, including 'Alt A' adjustable-rate mortgages made to people whose credit was just south of great. Many Alt A loans were ARMS with optional payments and are due for major resets after five years."

"'We're actively working to see when and where resets are going to be hitting,' said Richard Todd, a VP working on the issue at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. 'It's pretty darn likely you'll find those Alt A resets more geographically spread,' said Prentiss Cox, a consumer protection law."

"In the Jordan area of North Minneapolis, banks are repossessing homes at a rate of about 200 per half-square mile. About half the foreclosures in Hennepin County are investor-owned, according to Carolyn Olson, president of the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corp. That number rises as high as 70 percent in pockets of North Minneapolis, she said."

"'A lot of people looked at late-night TV, thought they could be an investor and bought,' said Olson."

"A developer who once hoped to build luxury condominiums along the Mississippi River in Hastings has canceled any plans for the downtown waterfront."

"'The condo market fell apart, and the whole plan kind of collapsed on its own,' Hastings Mayor Paul Hicks said. 'They were kind of high-priced condos ... but it would not have been easy to develop the area there.'"

"Not far from downtown, a condo project behind the Schoolhouse Square center at East 10th and Vermillion streets also has failed to find legs. Plans once called for 57 condos, but the concept was retooled into a proposed senior-housing cooperative. That project, too, is on hold."

The St Cloud Times from Minnesota. "Single-family home sales dropped 16 percent in the St. Cloud area from the third quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of this year, according to the most recent data from the St. Cloud Area Association of Realtors."

"To Paul Elwell, executive of the association, the news is not as bad as it seems. The difference between the years is about 100 homes, he said, and that’s not surprising given the current real estate market."

"'The reality is that we have increased inventory. There’s no doubt about it,' he said."

"Financial institutions tightened lending standards in the credit crunch that hit in August. A few years ago a home buyer didn’t need much of a down payment or other qualifications to buy a home, but now a person must have 10, 15 or even 20 percent for a down payment, he said. On a $200,000 home, that’s a lot of money. 'Who’s got $40,000?' Elwell said."

"'Once buyers adjust to the more realistic qualifications for buying a property, the market will continue on. This is not the first time this has happened,' he said."