The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "ResMAE Mortgage Corp.'s job posting, widely advertised just a year and a half ago, promised account executives with experience selling subprime home loans and a high school degree '7-FIGURE POTENTIAL.' Those were the heady days of the real estate boom, and account executives at Orange County-based ResMAE and five other lenders identified by The Bee were getting paid big bucks to do something that seems a little crazy outside that context:"

"Issue subprime loans to almost everyone who wanted one, turning down fewer than 15 percent of Sacramento-region applicants."

"Property owners who took out their loans were up to seven times as likely to face foreclosure during the past year as the rest of the region's owners, according to a Bee comparison of property records and data from Foreclosures.com."

"Most of these six liberal lenders now are history, killed or severely maimed by the housing market plunge."

"Those miserable with their loans typically had held on a little too long and gotten burned. Many felt they had been suckered into a bad deal. The out-of-the-blue personal letters, the unsolicited phone calls – all were full of breathless promises and muted caveats, they said."

"'They betrayed me,' said Morris Abee, who refinanced with ResMAE in 2005."

"A 79-year-old veteran, Abee's most valuable financial holding was the house near Auburn he has owned for almost three decades. Lenders seemed to know that, too. 'Every day, I got about 20 calls from different mortgage companies,' he said."

"One broker made a pitch and Abee bit. It took only about two weeks for the $566,000 refinancing at 6.25 percent with ResMAE to go through, Abee said. Most of the transaction, he recalls, happened through the mail."

"After a few months, ResMAE sold the loan to another lender. Abee kept up his payments. Then, in October, his rate adjusted, boosting his payments from $3,500 to $4,100 a month. Though Abee knew the adjustment was coming, 'it surprised me how much of a jump it was.'"

"The statistical fallout from ResMAE's business practices speaks for itself. At least 14 percent of Sacramento-area properties financed with ResMAE loans during 2005 and 2006 fell into foreclosure during the past year, about seven times the region's average, according to a Bee analysis."

"Abee says there is a strong chance he will lose his home, too. 'If they don't reduce the payments, I'm going to,' he said. 'I've got no choices.'"

"In one Flexpoint Funding commercial still viewable on YouTube, cameras pan across snowy hills, sandy beaches and rugged trails while an enthusiastic narrator offers a three-day, two-night vacation simply for calling to discuss refinancing."

"'A $100,000 loan, only $253 per month,' he urges. 'A $200,000 loan, only $506 per month; a $400,000 loan, only $1,011 per month; a $500,000 loan, only $1,264 a month.'"

"And, Flexpoint's ad assures, neither bad credit nor no credit rating at all would get in the way of loans issued after as little as 'a 17-minute application process.'"

"Bill Brashear, 79, needed extra cash after a hospital stay, so he decided to refinance his Del Paso Heights home last year. He lives off $2,259 in monthly pension and Social Security; his house payment is now $2,037."

The Merced Sun Star. "Not many new homes are being built in the Merced area these days, a trend also seen throughout the state, according to California Building Industry Association figures. The builders' group said building permits were pulled for only 3,151 single-family homes statewide in November."

"Total housing starts in California, as measured by building permits issued, dropped 45 percent in November compared to the same month a year ago to 5,498, according to the Construction Industry Research Board."

"Last month in Merced County 35 building permits were issued for new homes, four more than October but 48 fewer than in November 2006."

"Don Gray, president of the Merced chapter of the Building Industry Association, said homebuilders have recognized the lack of demand for new housing and won't build new dwellings unless there is a demand for them."

"'Builders are pulling in their horns. There is a glut of excess inventory, mostly used homes. It will be some time until the market comes back,' Gray said."

"The standing inventory of new homes in the Merced area is around 70 units, some of which may be display models. Most of the glut in existing inventory includes used homes. Merced City Manager Jim Marshall said new building starts have been affected by vacancies in existing housing and available stock that hasn't been sold. He estimated there are about 800 vacancies in existing houses."

"The city of Merced issued 10 building permits for single-family homes last month; from January through November of this year 168 permits were issued for single-family homes. In the same period last year, 937 single-family home permits issued, Marshall said."

"Gray, a land-acquisition specialist with Summerton Homes, said in a boom market, homes were sold as fast as they were built. Even with homes built on speculation, most were bought before they were even finished."

The Recordnet. "Joseph Anfuso, president of Stockton-based Florsheim Homes, said he's been seeing slow sales and increasingly scarce buyers all year. 'With new home building, it's tough in this market,' he said."

"Developers also don't want to build homes to risk having the completed projects sit empty in a slow market. 'You really have to watch your construction very closely to make sure you're not over extending,' he said."

"New home sales were flat in San Joaquin County, too, with 82 transactions in October sales a tick up from September sales of 81. It was off nearly 55 percent from October 2006, when the county registered 182 sales."

"Long gone are the days of the first half of this decade when builders quickly sold every home they built as well as many they hadn't built yet. 'To get somebody to sign a contract to wait out construction is very difficult in this market,' Anfuso said."

The North County Times. "New home sales nationally in November dropped to their lowest level in 12 years, a trend mirrored locally. Local new home sales numbers were not available, but the number of building permits for new homes issued through November in San Diego County has fallen by 25.9 percent from last year to 3,290, according to the Construction Industry Research Board."

"Building permits for new condominiums have tumbled even more, dropping 40.1 percent this year to 3,474, according to the group."

"Builders said they have already lowered prices on new homes to the point where they lose money on the price of construction. Some said they would rather hold onto the properties than slash prices further."

"'If you're in a position where you have to lose even more money just to get cash, you're not going to do that,' said Paul Tryon, president of San Diego's chapter of the Building Industry Association."