What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? Builder incentives? "It's the time of year for gifts, and home builders are ready to give, in order to receive. It's no secret that 2007 has not been a good year for home builders. It is predicted that 18,000 single-family and townhouses have been started in the Chicago area this year, almost a 50 percent decrease from 2005, said Chris Huecksteadt, Chicago director for Metrostudy. To encourage buyers, home incentives are abundant -- from very first homes to dream houses."

"In Elgin at West Point Gardens, both townhouses and single-family homes ready for occupancy come with price breaks. For example, a four-bedroom Templeton with a porte-cochere, 9-foot ceilings and a home site on a pond is available at $412,275, down $40,000."

Or auctions? "It's a buyer's market for those looking to buy a home. One bit of evidence: this Sunday, some Colorado homes will be auctioned off. They are homes that have been through foreclosure. In an effort to unload them, the banks have decided they will go to the highest bidder."

"One hundred Colorado homes will be auctioned in one day, from Arvada to Westminster, and from Greeley to Colorado Springs."

"And some could go for bargain basement prices. 'Well, this particular home was previously listed at $203,900, and on Sunday the starting bid price is $85,000. So it will be up to the bidders to decide the price,' said Martin Clouser, the Director of Auction Operations."

More foreclosures? "South Dakota continues to rank 49th in the country for foreclosures. RealtyTrac, admits that the company only bases it's report on three South Dakota counties, Minnehaha, Meade and Brown."

"But there are many more counties in the state that are seeing the rise of foreclosures hit their area of the South Dakota and are watching people lose their homes. Davison County Civil Deputy Kathy Fouberg says, 'It's just been amazing, the amount of sales that we have.'"

"Dozens of homes in Davison county have been sold this year, but not by local realtors, by the sheriff's department. Fouberg says, 'This is a case where I'd just assume we were in the bottom of the barrel but I don't think that is correct.'"

"Fouberg is seeing the foreclosure trend hit her county this year. The county has seen 34 homes foreclosed on in 2007, that's more homes than the county has had in the last three years combined."

Industry changes? "Nearly a year ago, NABOR quit sending its monthly sales numbers to the Florida Association of Realtors, the voice of Florida real estate. That meant they were no longer visible to the public, or the media. But that's about to change."

"NABOR's decision to keep itself out of the state association's monthly reports came after they began to show sharp drops in home sales and prices in the Naples area. Some questioned the group's motives, though leaders insisted they weren't trying to hide anything."

"'Our idea is to give the market what it wants. The numbers are the numbers,' said Joe Ballarino, a former NABOR president."