The News Journal reports from Delaware. "Joyce Gwyn hoped to get $115,000 for her two-bedroom Wilmington home when she put it up for sale -- 14 months ago. Today, it's on the market for just under $80,000. 'I keep lowering and lowering and lowering the price,' said Gwyn, who paid $62,500 for the home in 1998. 'Now I feel like I'm giving it away. I don't want to keep lowering it, but it's been a long time. Right now, people aren't really buying houses.'"

"Real estate agents, whose livelihood depends on optimism, admit the Delaware market is slower than they've ever seen. 'This is probably the slowest,' said Bill Lucks, a Realtor for 28 years and president-elect of the Sussex County Association of Realtors."

"Some sellers have to face the fact that their homes are worth less than what they paid. 'After the crying is over, I can finish talking,' said Melinda Proctor, (an) agent who has been selling homes for 15 years."

"One couple paid $399,000 for their home about four years ago, Proctor said. They put it on the market earlier this year for $509,900 but had to reduce it six times to $385,000. It finally sold for $360,000 when the couple agreed to contribute $18,000 toward the buyers' settlement costs, she said."

"The bottom line: The sale put the couple about $60,000 in the hole. They pleaded with their mortgage company to write off that debt, which it did to avoid the time-consuming and expensive process of foreclosure."

"Alfred Epps was putting some work into his four-bedroom Rutledge home last week. He just put it on the market and has an open house scheduled for this afternoon. Looking out his front door, though, Epps has a vivid picture of the housing market he faces: Besides his own for-sale sign, he can see one next door, one across the street and a third one down the block."

"'It's a tough time to sell,' Epps said. 'But if it doesn't sell for what I want, I'll just ride it out.'"

The Capital from Maryland. "The number of homes sold in Anne Arundel County plunged 42 percent in November, the biggest drop in nearly a decade. The Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. reported buyers bought only 346 county homes last month. According to MRIS, the number of active listings last month stood at 4,243, up from 3,796 in November 2006."

"Dr. Joe Cater, president of Market-Economics in Annapolis. Dr. Cater said while the market may have hit the bottom, consumers are having a hard time adjusting. 'It's hard for them to come back and say life was different before this,' he said. 'The bloom goes up and it does come down. And that's where we are with the market.'"

The Herald Mail from Maryland. "The news was grim Wednesday at the monthly staff meeting of one of Washington County's smaller real estate firms. House sales by companies throughout the county were down again. The average sale price was down again."

"SuZanne Glocker, of The Glocker Group Realty Results got her 10 sales agents together and gave them a pep talk. 'Growth is inevitable. We have a bright future and it's all coming back eventually,' Glocker said. 'The market is correcting itself and the pendulum will swing back. It's just this time, the pendulum has swung so far and so wide, a lot of people got hurt.'"

"For now, the picture still is mostly dark. In Washington County, the market so far this year is not even half what it was during the same period just two years ago."

"'The one thing in my estimation that's had a bigger impact on the Franklin County market than anything else is, we've had a number of builders come in here from York (Pa.), or Fairfax, Va., or other places ... and they started slapping up prices as if they were in Fairfax, Va., or Maryland,' said Steve Spray, a past president of the Pen-Mar Regional Association of Realtors."

"'The typical new house is anywhere from $225 (thousand) to $325,000. The problem with that is, based on local wages, the median family income, according to Fannie Mae in 2006, was $57,200,' said Spray, stressing that as 'family,' not each wage-earner."

"Doing the math, that means a Franklin County resident could be expected to afford a $200,000 house - not more, Spray said. 'You're in a price range where you haven't taken into consideration buying power based on local wages,' he said."

"In Washington County, it was in the spring of 2005 that Glocker first sensed the economic slowdown that since has ravaged the market."

"'May of '05 is when the market turned,' she said. 'The multiple offers stopped. The list price-and-over (offers) stopped. In May of '05, we really felt that go down. Then, offers came in under the asking price. Then, throughout '05 and into '06, you really knew something was going on.'"

The Washington Post. "Meet Pollyanna, your real estate agent. She has stuck with the real estate business through two tough years, and she'll spend the winter convincing herself that the only problem with the market is that headline-hungry oafs in the news media have talked buyers into hiding."

"At a year-end briefing on the state of the local real estate market Tuesday, real estate executives took turns explaining why, as always, 'it's a great time to buy a home.'"

"Linda Simpson, 2008 president of the Prince George's County Association of Realtors, said, 'From a bust perspective, we're not doing all that bad.' That's even though the average time a home stays on the market has increased to more than three months, and the unsold inventory has doubled since 2006. 'Prices have stabilized; they will begin to increase soon,' Simpson said."

"The Center for Regional Analysis reported that the Washington-area foreclosure rate in the third quarter had increased significantly over the past year. Locally, 79 homes per 10,000 were in foreclosure, compared with 11 per 10,000 in the corresponding quarter last year."

"Also, officials in Loudoun and Fairfax counties warned that their budgets would each fall short by $200 million or more next year, thanks largely to declining home prices."

"'Some parts of our region, such as Loudoun and Prince William counties, will take a lot longer to recover,' said John McClain, deputy director of the Center. 'There's so much inventory.' How much longer will it be until they recover? 'Not 2008.'"

The Free Lance Star from Virginia. "October housing prices in the Fredericksburg area fell to their lowest levels since February 2005, according to the Virginia Association of Realtors."

"The median sales price for a home in the Fredericksburg area was $292,000 in October. That was an 8.6 percent drop from October 2006. It was only the third time since April 2005 in which median monthly prices have slipped below $300,000."

"The number of area homes sold through October dropped 16.5 percent from the year-ago period."

"Median monthly sales prices were below $200,000 in the Fredericksburg area as recently as April 2003, according to Virginia Association of Realtors data. Go back to October 2000 and you'll find median sales prices of $134,700."

"'We went up so high in this area, and that's why we're experiencing the fall,' said Suzy Stone, president of the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors."

The Morning Call from Pennsylvania. "When the Eastonian opened in 2006, the fanfare reached a feverish pitch, with state and local politicians touting the $14 million project as the savior of the downtown and a symbol of greater things to come."

"The developers, Koehler-Kheel Realty, said the renovation of the old Hotel Easton would prove to skeptics that buyers would be willing to pay up to $795,000 to live downtown, in large part due to the building's Manhattan-style amenities and river views."

"Thus far, the Eastonian has failed to meet these lofty expectations, as only nine of the building's 30 units have sold, according to Northampton County real estate records."

"In fact, records show that only one unit has sold during the past 17 months, despite buyer incentives such as reduced prices, breaks on maintenance fees and temporary tax savings from the state."

"Eastonian developer Peter Koehler blamed the economy and the sluggish real estate market for the slow sales."

"'It is just this tremendous downturn in the economy,' he said, adding that other condominium developers in the city may have delayed their projects based on the low level of sales at the Eastonian."

"Ashley Development Corp., which owns three of the four uncertain condominium projects, received city approval in February to build the $40 million Majestic project, a nine-story, 143-unit residential building. But Ashley President Lou Pektor told city officials in September that the project is 'on hold until market conditions are better for condominium financing.'"

"'We can't just keep approving projects and have them sit idle,' City Councilman Ken Brown said at a recent City Council meeting. 'The Pomeroy looks like an eyesore, and it's a key piece to the revitalization of the downtown, and it needs to be completed.'"

"Since 2000, real estate records show that 61 properties designated as condos have been sold at an average price of roughly $138,000, substantially lower than the prices offered at the Eastonian, where condos range from the low $300,000s to nearly $800,000, according to published reports."

"Homes in the Easton Area School District, which covers parts of the suburbs, sell for about $237,000 on average, county records show."

"'I don't know if the price point [at the Eastonian] was appropriate for that location,' Councilman Dan Corpora said."

"Easton Mayor-elect Sal Panto Jr., who is chief administrative officer of developer Strausser Enterprises, Palmer Township, said he doesn't want to see developers cut their prices. 'With the type of people we want to attract, the buildings should be of high caliber,' Panto said. 'I don't want to lower the pricing and the quality.'"

"'The prices are surely not to blame -- it's the market, and it will turn around,' he added."

"Owners of the Eastonian condos say that while they are concerned about the lack of sales, they believe it's just the vicious cycle of the real estate market."

"'Yes, we're concerned,' said Marie Tipton, who purchased one of the units. 'It may be a couple years before we realize the financial benefits from investing in a unit, but we are happy with the benefits of living in the building, and I think history will show that we are pioneers.'"