The Denver Post reports from Colorado. "More Colorado homeowners have gone into foreclosure in the first nine months of this year than in all of 2006, which was a record year. And in a sign of how tough times are, about two of every three Colorado homeowners who enter foreclosure are losing their homes at auction, compared with about one of every two last year. 'We don't think we have bottomed out yet,' said Kathi Williams, director of the Colorado Division of Real Estate."

"Public trustees in the state reported 28,960 foreclosures from January through September, versus 28,509 through all of last year. The state recorded 19,025 foreclosure sales at auction through the first nine months versus 15,112 in all of last year, according to the report."

"'We had 28 foreclosure sales today (Wednesday), and they all went back to the lender,' said Debby Morgan, public trustee for Larimer County."

"Mortgage lenders and servicers, buried under a rising mountain of delinquent loans, are taking three weeks to a month to approve 'workout' plans designed to keep borrowers in their homes or allow them to arrange a voluntary sale. 'We were driving more people to the hotline. And those counselors weren't able to get answers out of lenders,' Wil liams said. 'The value of the property continues to deteriorate, so the workout doesn't work anymore.'"

The Rocky Mountain News from Colorado. "'Last year, we had a small-city worth of foreclosures,' said Zach Urban, who runs the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline. 'It's a crisis without end, it seems like.'"

"On Thursday, ForeclosureS.com reported that in the first 11 months of the year, Colorado had 16.3 real estate owned, or REO, filings per 1,000 households, down more than 22 percent from the same period in 2006."

"But if that number is correct, it is because lenders are so swamped with foreclosures they can't process them in a timely manner, said Urban and other experts."

"'I don't think any dip in those numbers indicates a relief of the crisis,' Urban said. 'It's an indication of how bad the crisis is. The scariest part is that if the mortgage lenders were more efficient, we would have even more people losing their homes.'"

The Coloradoan. "'I don’t think anyone is prepared for what’s to come in the next year,' said Urban. 'This is something that’s a slow moving storm; it’s taking a lot of time to see the damage uncovered.'"

From Arizona State University. "In an environment of heightened economic uncertainty and continuous financial issues, the local resale housing market remained anemic at 3,280 sales, in comparison to 3,610 recorded sales in October 2007 and last year’s 5,040 sales."

"The month of November brought the year-to-date total to 47,690 sales, which is well below the 62,415 for 2006 year to date and 104,360 sales for 2005 year to date."

"'Although there is a large inventory of available homes, buyers appear reluctant to take advantage of the market,' said Jay Q. Butler, director of Realty Studies. 'Many of the vacant homes are in submarkets that current buyers do not want...Thus, the 2007 resale housing market continues to show signs of increasing weaknesses that are well below the expectations of even a few months ago.'"

"The Scottsdale resale home market declined from 400 to 240 recorded sales, the median sales price decreased from last year’s $630,000 to $544,645. Glendale decreased from 350 to 235 sales, and the median sales price decreased from $247,000 to $215,000."

The Arizona Republic. "Median prices fell to their lowest level in 2½ years as the number of housing resales slowed to a crawl in November."

"The median price in the Phoenix area fell 7 percent to $240,000 in November, compared with $259,000 a year earlier. That's the lowest median since $235,000 in May 2005, according to ASU."

"'When there is a lot of uncertainty, people become reluctant to make major commitments,' said Butler. Would-be buyers fear they can't sell their homes. They are waiting for prices to drop or can't get financing, he said."

"One bright spot is that homes continue to get more affordable, and the market for houses priced at $200,000 continues to increase. The percentage of homes sold at $200,000 or less increased from last year's 16 percent to 29 percent in November."

"Not under the Christmas tree this year for Southeast Valley homeowners: a deal to sell their homes."

"November resale numbers show...sale prices also continued to fall throughout the Southeast Valley, except south Tempe. December is expected to be equally slow."

"Butler said he wasn't surprised by the ongoing market weakness but that most economists had thought that 2007 would be a better year at its outset. 'It's continuing to be a lot lower than we thought at the beginning of the year,' he said. 'We thought the year would end up a little bit better than it is.'"

"'It's the growing economic uncertainty, all the talk about 'Are we in a recession or aren't we in recession?' Butler said."

"Hub Blanchette saw this coming in July. Blanchette, Chronic Car Audio's CFO, was walking out of an East Valley box store in the middle of the morning this summer and noticed the parking lot was deserted, save the employees' cars."

"It was a sign to Blanchette that the state's surging economy was about to hit the skids. 'The next day, we cut payroll by $100,000,' Blanchette said. 'If we hadn't done that, we'd be under right now.'"

"The company has cut payroll twice since then, and plans another 25 percent payroll cut before the end of the month, Blanchette said. 'If you don't cut costs, you're not going to have a job anyway,' Blanchette said. 'That's the reality of the situation right now.'"

"It's a reality born out each month in Mesa, as the city releases statistics that show sales tax revenue continuing to slip."

"'It started out with the housing mortgage thing,' Blanchette said of the off-cited root of Arizona's economic problems. 'With the pay cuts and a lot of the 're-fis,' their payments are up.'"

The Havasu Sun News from Arizona. "The already grim housing market suffered yet another setback Tuesday as officials announced that home construction plunged even further last month, sinking to its lowest level in nearly three decades. Officials says the downturn in building activity has begun to seep into other parts of the economy."

"The latest snapshot of the city’s building activity, released Tuesday by the Development Services Department, showed that only three single-family building permits were issued in November, the lowest monthly total in at least 27 years."

"Officials said city permit records only stretch back to 1980, making it difficult to pinpoint the last time construction was this stagnant."

"'I don’t even need to say anything,' said Bud Schulz, executive director of the Colorado River Building Industry Association. 'The numbers speak for themselves.'"

"Nonresidential construction, the lone bright spot for builders the past several months, fell dramatically in November. Commercial projects totaled about $1.4 million last month, down from $12 million in October."

"Home construction has been in a tailspin since 2006, with single-family building permits hitting a 25-year low this past fiscal year. Those figures have tumbled even more in recent months, falling from 17 to 7 to 3 since September."

"'If this trend continues, then it will affect the entire economy of the city,' Schulz said."

In Business Las Vegas. "It was not a happy day. Mark Stark, CEO of Prudential Americana Group, one of the largest real estate brokerages in Las Vegas, said he was discouraged when he realized he had no alternative but to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy if he wanted to save his firm, which continues to operate while it reorganizes it debt."

"'I was bummed,' Stark said. 'I was bummed.'"

"When he took over 100 percent of the ownership of the brokerage in 2004 from his 25 percent stake, Stark said he never envisioned the Las Vegas housing market tanking like it did and making it impossible to make payments on one of the two loans totaling $22.5 million he took out to buy out his partners."

"That's quite a contrast from three years ago when Prudential Americana had an offer from Warren Buffett's HomeServices of America to buy the firm. Stark matched the offer."

"'I would have gotten a huge check and with bonuses — it would have been $12 million to $15 million at the time,' Stark said. 'I said no, and the reason being is I had a belief as I do today. That is why we have done well in a tough environment, and we have hung in there.'"

"When he acquired the firm, Stark said he had a plan that if the market adjusted 30 percent, the brokerage would still be fine."

"'The market adjusted more dramatically than we anticipated,' Stark said. 'If you would have told me, this market would have gotten hit 67 percent in two years, I would have said you have no idea of what you're saying. No one expected two-thirds of the market to go away.'"

"'I don't see what if anything we could have done differently to protect the company,' Stark said. 'We didn't add a lot of bricks and mortar. We didn't waste dollars. We were healthy. We were very profitable until the market went away.'"

"'We have a core economy that is healthy, but we now have a timing issue,' Stark said. 'We have to work through this slop that has created challenges. This inventory will be eaten up because we have a core economy. This is not Detroit, Michigan.'"

"The No. 1 problem to deal with is perception, Stark said. There are great deals to be had in the market, but the perception of many is that prices will keep falling."

"'If you are waiting until the market gets better, then sellers have the idea of things getting better and they can hold more firm,' Stark said. 'Today, you can go out there and sellers aren't so sure. If you wait, you are going to pay higher prices.'"