The Daily Herald reports from Illinois. "Andy Starck thinks it's time to bust some real estate myths. Starck is CEO of Palatine-based Starck Realtors and has been in the industry in the suburbs almost 40 years. Here's the way he sees things. Home prices might have dropped a little, but not precipitously. Anyone who buys a home now has little chance of suffering a loss. Sellers are becoming realistic and are dropping their asking prices. Buyers are not going to 'steal' homes."

"While trying to sell a house for a quick profit in a year or so would be a real gamble in this market, anyone who thinks they will be in a home for a few years should go ahead and buy, Starck said. 'There are values out there,' he said. 'Be smart, find them. Let your Realtor help you find them.'"

"Starck offers all the usual reasons: The economy is broad based and expanding, Chicago is a transportation hub and there isn't enough housing for the continuing demand. 'It is not that Chicago is bulletproof, but we do have an overall lack of housing stock over time,' Starck said."

"Sellers are not going to take crazy offers, he said. Starck has seen offers $250,000 below the asking price on a $500,000 home."

"'It's just not going to happen,' he said. 'Sellers are not desperate. They are reasonable and want to sell their homes and move on to the next ones.'"

"Starck said it is important to realize that what people say about the real estate market could be true in one area like Florida, but might not apply to Chicago. 'It's a great time to get a good value,' he said. 'And there are plenty of them and you can get the house you want. Three years ago, you had to take what was available and had to move real fast.'"

The Chicago Journal from Illinois. "The number of housing foreclosures in Chicago is steadily increasing and financial experts say the situation will get worse before it gets better."

"The Chicago Department of Housing reports that foreclosures in the city in the first half of 2007 are up 35 percent from the same time period last year, increasing from 4,695 to 6,329."

"Molly Sullivan, director of communications for the Chicago Department of Housing said foreclosures are most common in low-income communities with those who face catastrophic financial problems."

"'However, we're also seeing in some of the higher end communities where people have just overextended themselves,' she said. 'They're either purchasing investment properties, thought they could take advantage of the hot market, which is now cooling and they are no longer able to leverage everything they have and keep all the balls in the air.'"

"Michael vanZalingen, with the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, said that while neighborhoods like the South and West Loops are not being hard-hit by foreclosures now, they could be in the future. In the those neighborhoods, he said, many condo and townhome owners purchased their units with adjustable rate mortgages, interest only mortgages and payment option arms."

"He said many came in thinking they would sell their property within a few years of purchasing it and make when the principal came due. Many thought the market would continue to go up, he said."

"'And as we've seen over the last six months in Chicago, and I think we're going to see over the next few years, housing appreciation is flatly declining and the markets are very soft,' he said. 'For those who had expected to sell or refinance ... there is going to be a shortage of qualified buyers for their condos at the price they are looking for.'"

"He said because of the cooling market and so many defaults on loans, lenders also are tightening their underwriting standards. 'Even if someone wanted to buy a condo, they are going to have trouble getting a loan even if they have very good credit,' he said."

The Sun Times from Illinois. "In what authorities say is a symptom of the excesses in the subprime mortgage market, 15 people are charged with fraud involving at least nine homes valued at more than $4 million."

"The scam -- led by a mortgage broker and a real-estate agent -- involved 'straw buyers' taking out mortgages on homes for more than the asking price, officials said."

"Lenders offered the loans for 100 percent of a home's price. To get the high-interest loans, borrowers only had to verify they had a job, but did not have to verify their income. Straw buyers...falsified their incomes and employment on loan applications, officials said."

"The victims were the lenders and neighbors, whose property taxes could rise because of the inflated values, officials said. Most of the homes were in the South Loop, and many have fallen into foreclosure."

The Evening News from Michigan. "Although the Eastern Upper Peninsula is viewed as a 'stable' housing market, Chippewa County Register of Deeds Sharon Kennedy indicated there is no denying that times are less than good in real estate these days."

"Kennedy said foreclosure filings so far in 2007 are about twice the average from recent years, with 81 on record so far this year. That is up dramatically from the 67 registered all last year and a recent average of about 40 repossessions per year dating back to 2001."

"Foreclosures are just one side of an overall real estate market that has seen better days, according to realtor Garth MacMaster. He accounted for an apparent glut in properties for sale as the product of several factors."

"MacMaster acknowledged the so-called 'sub-par mortgage crisis' afflicting most of the country has rippled through the EUP as well. But a dramatically tighter credit market for real estate is just one of several trends he sees in the local market."

"'Different ones want to move up, but there are more people selling than buying,' he said of the local situation."

"A specialist in property both in Sault Ste. Marie and the Paradise area, MacMaster sees other trends making for a blizzard of 'For Sale' signs. One of those is a glut of seasonal property, caused in part by hard times downstate.'

"Speaking of the Paradise area, he said that advancing age has also inspired other part-time owners to sell. The upshot is a local glut in available properties and a drop in overall value. 'Property values in the Paradise area have gone down because of the glut,' he said."

"The realtor said the local market is not immune to nationwide trends. He noted the ballooning of easy credit loans made a few years ago has come back to roost here, as it has across the country."

"He said especially young new homeowners fell heavily for the 100-percent financing offered by lenders a few years ago. Heavily invested in adjustable rate loans, many of those new owners found the uptick in interest rates and job losses left them unable to make payments."

"He said new owners with essentially no equity in a property have little incentive to hold onto the property. 'They treat the house like a rental and walk away from it,' he said. 'They have no equity at stake.'"

"He said that nowadays, one to three people show interest in an average property. Not long ago, that number of 20-30 per available house, he said. 'Prices have leveled off or dropped. They're not appreciating, that's for sure,' MacMaster said."

The Oakland Press from Michigan. "There is more bad news for Oakland County homeowners - but good news for those looking to buy. The median price of homes sold in November fell from $184,000 a year ago to $167,500."

"RealComp reported 845 homes sold in Oakland County for the month of November, down from the 995 homes sold in November, 2006."

"'My position is that there has never ever been a better time to buy a home,' said Marcia Dyer, presidentelect of the North Oakland County Board of Realtors in Waterford Township. 'Michigan has always been a strong market, and what goes down will indeed come up.'"

"University of Michigan Professor Don Grimes annually contributes to a study on Oakland County's economic outlook released each spring. 'It's taken a little bigger hit than we expected, at least in terms of sales,' Grimes said of housing sales for the year."

"'My gut says it has gotten worse than we were expecting last spring,' Grimes said. 'We knew it was going to be bad; we just didn't know how bad it would get. The big question is when will it turn around. I don't know.'"

"'Brokers may stabilize in 2009, but construction will go down because they have to get rid of the inventory of unsold homes,' he said."

The Journal Sentinel from Wisconsin. "Foreclosures were up 28.7% in Wisconsin during the first 11 months of the year as the resetting of adjustable-rate mortgages pushed increasing numbers of homeowners over a financial cliff, according to a report."

"Many of those in foreclosure 'bought a home they probably shouldn't have bought,' said Michael Holloway, owner of a real estate agency in Milwaukee that represents only purchasers. 'I remember writing a newsletter three years ago that if you can't afford a house on a 30-year mortgage, you shouldn't be buying a house.'"

"Holloway said that he is as busy now as he has ever been in 23 years representing buyers. Sellers are willing to negotiate prices, he said."

"'What I see is a terrific time to buy if you don't have to sell a house,' Holloway said. Mortgage 'rates are still low. You can buy a house for a fair value, but I don't see people grabbing on to that. If you have to sell to buy it is a little tougher.'"

The Star Tribune from Minnesota. "Winter came early to the Twin Cities housing market. Closed and pending sales were both down about 20 percent for November, while prices posted their deepest year-over-year decline of 2007."

"The number of closed home sales in the metro area was 19.3 percent lower than in November 2006, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. The number of pending sales was down 21 percent. The median price of closed sales was $216,500, down 5.1 percent from November 2006."

"At the end of the month, a record 30,126 homes were for sale, 32.6 percent more than two years ago."

"With so many sellers competing for buyers, prices are dropping at an accelerated pace. In November, sellers on average received 92.4 percent of their original list price, down from 95.2 percent in 2006 and 97.2 percent in 2005."

"The only encouraging signs for sellers are that affordability continues to improve and that certain segments and locations of the housing market are doing much better than others. A family with the median income for the area now has 141 percent of the income necessary to buy a median-priced home, assuming a 30-year fixed mortgage and a 20 percent down payment."

"Steve Hyland, president of the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors, said that he's hopeful that falling prices will mean a stronger market come spring. 'The market is slowing and will continue to slow down a little more during the winter months,' he said."

The Pioneer Press from Minnesota. "The selection is huge, the interest rates are low and eager sellers are paring their asking prices. And still, would-be homebuyers are about as enthusiastic as 10-year-olds at a gallery opening."

"Would-be buyers are a little less willing to strike when they see their purchase might lose value in the short run."

"Homes continue to sell, of course, as any agent will tell you. Take one gem on Lake Como. It sold last week after just 40 days - and after the $1.1 million asking price was dropped to $899,900. Realtors Mary and Jim Sommerfeld, who sold the house, won't say what the Twin Cities couple who bought the home paid."

"'People have the feeling from looking at the headlines that homes aren't selling. That's really not true. If houses are priced according to the market, well prepared and decluttered, they're selling,' Mary Sommerfeld said."

"Additionally, tighter financing hasn't choked off sales. The jumbo loan is far from dead, mortgage lenders just aren't able to bundle them for sale as mortgage-backed securities to investors as they used to, and the terms are less generous."

From Minnesota Public Radio. "Bob and Joan Campbell love their cozy two-bedroom townhome near the Mississippi River on the south side of Brainerd. But for all this home's charm, the Campbell's needed more space to better accommodate their visiting children, grandchildren and great grandchildren."

"They bought a four-bedroom condo in the spring in the nearby town of Baxter and put this place on the market."

"'When we bought the place over there we thought things were fairly good. And about the time we concluded the deal everything went to pot, so our timing was not good,' Bob Campbell says."

"At first the Campbell's listed their home for nearly $180,000. After a few months they dropped the price to $169,000. Just a few days ago, their townhome finally sold after six months on the market. The winning offer came up short of what the Campbells asked for, but they're happy with how things turned out."

"Rona Karasik (who) heads up the gerontology program at St. Cloud State University...says even if a retiree's house sells for tens of thousands of dollars less than it would have two years ago, it is still worth many times more than they paid."

"'If they've owned a home for a very long time, it's probably still appreciated even in this softening market. But how much it's appreciated has probably shifted downward in the last few years. So if they were planning to have $300,000 they may have less than that,' Karasik says."

"Karasik agrees with real estate officials who say older folks ready to sell their home should probably wait a year or so while the market sorts itself out."

"Local real estate broker Kevin Goedker has dealt with more retirees selling their homes over the last year. He thinks one reason they feel pressure to sell now is because no one is sure how low the market will actually go. 'If you've got a stock that's going down, it's probably better to get rid of it sooner rather than later. Because you never know when the bottom is,' Goedker says."