The Nightly Business Report on Florida. "Whether the owners of modest homes in working class suburbs or condominium towers still under construction, Floridians are being squeezed by decisions of their own making, as well as economic circumstances beyond their control. The impact can be seen in cities like Lauderhill, a Fort Lauderdale suburb."

"Dale Holness, a realtor and Lauderdhill town councilman, says the city has seen its share of foreclosures and steep price declines."

"'In Lauderhill, in a condo development called International Village, last January, we had a sale of $192,000. Today, there's a property on the market there for $89,000,' he said. 'That's a big drop and it's all over. I handle quite a bit of (inaudable) now for Freddie Mac and it's sad to see how much foreclosure there is out there and how it affects peoples' lives also.'"

"You wouldn't call Sandra Sanchez a real estate speculator. Two years ago, with a daughter headed off to college and the real estate boom in full swing, she purchased this house as an investment property. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"'I'm looking at the ins and outs. Maybe this would be a good idea. But unfortunately, of course, the market took a dip not for the better, but for the worse,' Sanchez said."

"Sanchez, struggling now to make payments on two homes, thinks the GOP and Democratic candidates are beginning to pay attention. 'I think they're seriously thinking about the matter...You cannot sit back and let things happen to people.'"

The Orlando Sentinel. "International buyers have become the best hope for Central Florida's beleaguered condo-hotel developers, many of whom have truncated or indefinitely delayed their once-ambitious building plans."

"Projects totaling nearly 15,000 rooms were proposed throughout the region, and developers launched upbeat sales campaigns that promoted hotel rooms and suites as second homes with cash flow attached. But only a handful of the projects have broken ground."

"'We had an incredible window open for 12 or 18 months where it seemed like the sky was the limit,' said Larry Cohen, VP of Lake Buena Resort Village & Spa. 'It used to be you could get people to just walk in and sign a contract. Now it takes two or three visits and a lot of questions.'"

The Tampa Tribune . "Live Oak Preserve developer TOUSA on Tuesday joined a growing list of South Florida homebuilders to file for Chapter 11 restructuring. The company, which operates in 10 states, lost $818 million in the first three quarters of 2007."

"Spokesman Tom Becker said its subsidiary, Engle Homes, plans to continue building and selling homes and pledges to honor new home warranties for 10 years, but those decisions are up to a bankruptcy court judge."

"Live Oak homeowner Sheldon Cohen said residents are unsure of how to take the news. 'I see a lot of positives,' he said. 'There's active construction; they're selling houses. Are we going to get stuck paying the bills? I don't know.'"

"Florida's new property tax amendment should give a boost to the state's housing market and economy, but won't spark a major turnaround, economists and real estate professors said Wednesday."

"David Denslow, an economist at the University of Florida, said some people may be encouraged to move now that they can transfer their property tax savings under Save Our Homes. But, in a down real estate market, many of them may fear that they won't be able to sell their homes."

"'Now you know you can take it tax savings with you, but you remain insecure about whether you can sell your house,' he said."

The St Petersburg Times. "For all the hoopla surrounding tax relief, St. Petersburg Realtor Nancy Riley compared it to the joy of giving birth, few view Amendment 1 as a magic elixir for a housing market sickened by plunging sales and prices."

"Typical of industry opinion was Jim Knetsch, owner of Tampa's RE/MAX Realty Associates. 'It's not perfect, but it's a start,' Knetsch said. 'Is it going to be a dramatic enough boost to see the benefits through the static of the negative market we're in? The question's still out on that.'"

"Opponents of Amendment 1 vow to challenge the measure in court, arguing it discriminates against out-of-staters moving to Florida, who can't use portability."

The News Press. "Don’t expect to see a turnaround in Southwest Florida’s housing market for at least two years, a business data expert said at a construction forum in Estero."

"'It may be into 2010 by the time the single-family-home market turns around here,' said Cliff Brewis, senior director editorial for McGraw-Hill Construction. 'The single-family home market got way out of line' in terms of prices and the numbers of homes built here, he said."

"Metrostudy said the inventory of finished, vacant houses declined slightly from 2,096 at the end of the third quarter of 2007 to 2,066 at the end of the year. By the end of 2007, there were 1,181 units under construction."

"In Lee County, the inventory of vacant developed lots declined from 8,228 in the third quarter of 2007 to 8,207 at the end of the year — a 50-month supply of lots, according to Metrostudy."

"Collier County’s vacant developed lots decreased from 5,444 to 5,437 in the same time period. That’s a 39.5-month supply."

"Some of those attending the conference said the foreclosure crisis has already hit home. 'Don’t even talk about a profit margin right now,' said Dianne Miller, who works in sales at Fort Myers-based Meridian Construction, the lack of work has residential contractors competing at rock-bottom prices with commercial builders like Meridian."

"In the long run, Brewis said, the construction industry won’t recover until housing is priced more realistically. 'Prices have to come down — they shot up too dramatically.'"

"TOUSA Inc., the Hollywood-based parent company of Engle Homes, is seeking to reorganize under federal bankruptcy laws. Engle attracted some attention late last year with its advertising campaign and attention-grabbing slogan — 'The End is Near.'"

"The message, on billboards and television commercials, was that the days of declining prices for homes were reaching an end."

"TOUSA, the largest builder to file bankruptcy and at least the 14th since June, missed three interest payments this month as home sales and prices fell in Florida, where the company does most of its business."

"Cookie Shepard puts a face on the housing market’s brutal impact on local government. The 27-year Lee County employee wheeled personal belongings from her office to her car in downtown Fort Myers."

"With a co-worker’s help, she stuffed her SUV’s trunk, one victim of 29 layoffs within the Community Development Department announced that morning. 'It was kind of like a public hanging,' Shepard said, fighting emotions as she climbed into the driver’s seat. 'I am raw right now. I really feel like human garbage.'"

"'It is a difficult day,' said Joan LaGuardia, department spokeswoman. 'These are our co-workers; some of them have been with the county for such a long time. I don’t know what the alternative is. We don’t have the revenue coming in to pay them because things aren’t getting built. There just isn’t work.'"

"LaGuardia said 51 single-family home permits have been filed this month in unincorporated Lee County, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach. That includes North Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres. 'At our peak we were doing 1,000 a month,' she said."

The Naples News. "In 2005 — the peak year for Lee County building — the county issued 45,026 permits, 10,221 for single-family homes. By 2007, those numbers fell to 27,769 total permits, 2,393 for single-family homes."

"'It’s with a heavy heart that these layoffs have to occur at all,' Commission Chairman Ray Judah said. 'But it’s with the understanding that these particular jobs are fee-supported. Because of a significant decline in permit applications it is necessary. The work is not there.'"

"'We’re looking at people working directly for the building industry,' said Mary Gibbs, community development director, who must deliver pink slips to employees today, some of whom worked for the county for 25 years. It’s the first county layoffs Gibbs remembers for over a decade."

"'It’s terrible to have to lay people off,' said Michael Reitmann of the Building Industry Association. 'The building industry had to lay off 50 percent of their workforce in some cases.'"

The Herald Tribune. "Countrywide Financial Corp. says Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties are among the riskiest communities nationwide in which to make mortgage loans. The nation's largest mortgage brokerage listed the three counties, along with nearby Collier County, among 22 communities with serious mortgage problems."

"'If you're a lender, this data is telling you that these are the weakest housing markets in the nation,' said Ken Thomas, a Miami-based economist who specializes in analyzing the banking industry."

"'If you know they are the weakest, you won't want to lend at 6 percent, you'll want to lend at 6.25 percent,' Thomas said. 'Instead of 20 percent down, you'll want 25 percent down. It will definitely make it more difficult for people in these markets to get credit, and those trying to sell will find it more difficult to sell.'"

"The Sarasota-Manatee real estate market now has a 2.4-year supply of homes on the market and a three-year supply of condominiums. Until those numbers drop to six- or seven-months' worth, builders will not start building again, and Southwest Florida's main economic engine will remain in the doldrums."

"'Things will not return to normal until 2010 or 2011,' Thomas predicted."

"'All the regular conventional loan products are still there,' said Amanda Painter, an agent in Port Charlotte. 'The only ones that have been hurt by all this are the creative mortgage companies. The days of creative financing are over.'"

"Also on the list were six counties from California, four from both Arizona and Nevada, and one from Michigan. They were all communities hot during the housing boom."

"'They are where the bubble got the biggest and where it has deflated most,' Thomas said, adding that Countrywide's data might offer the most complete picture of the speculator-driven run-up. 'There is no better database than Countrywide. It has the biggest market share in Florida and the nation.'"

"During the boom, Community Bank of Manatee was unwilling to compete with companies that were offering 100 percent or 120 percent loan-to-value and no-document loans. But now that rationality has returned to the market, the bank can compete, said Chairman Bill Sedgeman."

"'We will make loans on owner-occupied homes. But we're not going to loan on someone's fifth home,' Sedgeman said."

"Loans that are more than 90 days past due rose to $80.5 million for the 16 largest community banks in Southwest Florida during the three months ended Sept. 30, from $14 million during the same period a year earlier, a 474 percent increase."

"At the same time, those same 16 banks wrote off $7.9 million in bad loans, an increase of 1,162 percent from the $630,000 in loans they wrote off at the end of September 2006."

"'The time line shows loan problems getting worse and not better,' said Ken Thomas, a Miami-based bank analyst. 'Chargeoffs are increasing. Foreclosures are increasing, and the fourth quarter will be worse than the third. We're still on the downside of the economy and all signs point to recession.'"

The Sun Sentinel. "'At 16, I was making mistake after mistake,' Laura Richards said in the living room of her two-bedroom Boynton Beach apartment. 'By the time I was 21, I had three children and was on public assistance. A drain on society.'"

"Richards' voice shook. I wasn't certain whether it was from anger or sadness. 'I turned it around,' she continued. 'Did everything I was supposed to do. And now, I'm back full circle — at 37 — right back to where I started. Being a drain on society.'"

"Richards has spent most of her adult life working in the real estate business. In 14 years she had gone from receptionist to processor, and finally, a senior mortgage loan underwriter/analyst."

"She had hopes that perhaps she'd survive the unraveling of the housing market. 'I knew it would affect me,' she said. 'But I had 14 years ..'"

"The company she worked for began laying off workers in stages, in the hopes that the market would turn around before they had to make the next round of cuts. It didn't. Richards lost her job in the next-to-last wave of cuts."

"She and her three daughters had grown accustomed to a lifestyle based on yearly earnings of $80,000 to $100,000. 'And that wasn't enough,' she said, an ironic smirk briefly flashing across her face."

"Now Richards survives on $1,100 a month unemployment. She moved out of a $1,700-a-month three-bedroom apartment in Delray Beach to a two-bedroom place in Boynton that costs $1,100. No health insurance. No immediate prospects for another high-paying job. Her car, a Ford Freestyle, is about to be repossessed."

"She knows all too well how money works. And that's exasperation No. 1 for Richards. 'The irresponsibility of the government waiting this long to do something,' she said. 'I saw it coming. They had to know.'"

"She can't go back to school because she defaulted on her student loan. She has an idea for a small business: pooling other unemployed mortgage people into a group that would process loans. But she can't get a loan because her credit is shot."

"'And when I say ruined, I mean ruined,' she said. 'The next bit of money I borrow will be to file bankruptcy.'"

"The past week has been particularly galling as presidential candidates criss-crossed the state, making promises. 'They're spending millions and millions campaigning and I'm sitting here wondering how I'm going to pay my rent.'"