The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "Priced out of buying a house in 2003, Santiago Avila-Gomez and Stephani Crespin rented all through the housing boom, then waited out the bust until the closing days of 2007. That's when they finally scored the house of their dreams. The house was built in 2004 in a new community just outside the Pocket in south Sacramento. It had been repossessed by the lender and cost the married couple $214,500. The original price four years ago: $455,000."

"The two said the bank paid their closing costs on the four-bedroom house on a 6,000-square-foot lot. It then wrote them a $4,500 check to replace the air conditioning unit that had been stolen during the year the home sat vacant."

"In Sacramento County, 45.9 percent of December sales were properties marketed by banks and loan servicers."

"'What you're starting to see right now with the foreclosure inventory swelling is the banks are getting aggressive,' said Lincoln-based real estate agent Mike Toste. 'They're the ones wheeling. If all their competition is bank-owned and they drop prices 30 to 40 percent, then they've got to do the same thing. If they can't sell within 60 to 90 days, they're getting extremely hungry. I think 2008 is going to be a year to remember.'"

"The prospects for another tough year have some of 2007's buyers already re-examining their decisions. John Reed moved to Sacramento last year from Portland. He bought a new home in West Sacramento last July."

"'I have a lot of second thoughts now,' Reed said. 'I knew the prices were dropping a little, but I didn't expect them to go down so much. They've probably gone down 10 percent in six months.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle. "Bay Area median home prices and sales volumes experienced significant declines in December, according to a report released Thursday."

"Realtor Melody Grandell has had a three-bedroom Redwood City house listed since August 'just as the market started to tank.' Despite cutting $149,000 off the price to its current $760,000, and investing in painting, staging and new doors, the owner has not had an acceptable offer, possibly because the home still needs some work, she said."

"'It seems like home buyers are waiting for the ideal property; something that doesn't need any upgrading,' Grandell said."

The Mercury News. "The housing slump continued to spread throughout the Bay Area at the end of 2007, as sales dropped for the 35th month and prices fell to 2005 levels, Dataquick reported."

"Sonoma median home prices also dropped the most, from $525,000 last year to $410,000 this year. Contra Costa dropped down 11.3 percent to $505,000, Solano County dropped 15.8 percent to $370,000 and Alameda fell 8.3 percent to $540,000."

"In December, jumbo loans dropped 80 percent in Alameda, 78 percent in Solano, 68 percent in Contra Costa and 52 percent in San Mateo counties, said Andrew LePage, an analyst with DataQuick. 'You just can't ignore the incredible drop-off in jumbo loans,' he said. 'It's like a switch was flicked in August.'"

"'I think there will be more seller acceptance ... starting now and in February,' said Patrick Lashinsky, president of ZipRealty. 'More than 50 percent of homes in Contra Costa County had price reductions. That means the seller came in too high.'"

From NBC 11. "A new movement, dubbed 'Acorn,' is underway to prevent buyers from scooping up the dozens of foreclosed Bay Area homes during the state's real estate slump."

"At an auction Thursday, protesters rallied on the steps of the Alameda courthouse bellowing, 'No foreclosures, no bids,' in hopes of discouraging people from purchasing the foreclosed property."

"Alma Reyes nervously watched as her home went up for bidding after her monthly mortgage payment increased by $1,300 just six months after she had refinanced with a broker who she said never informed her of the consequences."

"'I don't think it's fair that I have to lose everything and these people have their homes in the hills and luxury cars and I am losing my house,' Reyes said in Spanish."

"Reyes' home went unsold, giving her and her family a temporary furlough to stay in the house."

The Bethel Island Press. "If the value of homes in southeast Antioch significantly plummets at the same time that the number of home-owners behind on their tax payments significantly increases, the Mello-Roos Board could find itself in the unpleasant position of foreclosing on homes in the district."

"'At this point it does not seem to be a realistic prospect. But you always have to plan for disaster scenarios,' Dan Bort, legal counsel for the Mello-Roos District, told the board."

"Prices have dropped on the homes in southeast Antioch, as they have elsewhere. Gary Agopian, who is both a new Mello-Roos board member and a real estate agent, said some homes are selling today at 2004 prices."

"But to put that in perspective, during the height of the real estate bubble, 'for about two or three years, we had run-ups of over 20 percent appreciation per year,' he said."

"'The current housing prices would have to drop 75 percent before you ran the risk that you would hold a tax foreclosure sale and no one would come and no one would bid,' said Bort. 'The county’s risk is that the real estate values will go so low that it will become uneconomic to bring taxes current on the delinquent homes and the homes will simply be abandoned.'"

"'In other words, the county would essentially be saying to the public, 'You can have this house if you’re willing to pay the taxes on it.' And the public would collectively be saying, ‘No thanks, it ain’t worth it.' Currently, the county does not see that happening. But of course, conditions could change and the county could change its mind,' he said."

"Audience member Norma Hernandez was also concerned about the district getting bogged down in foreclosure proceedings."

"'Foreclosure isn’t easy,' she said. 'You will be in court for the rest of your life doing foreclosure. We have 1,400 homes on the block right now in foreclosure in Antioch, and that number is going to continue to grow. I suggest you watch your reserves.'"

The Santa Cruz Sentinel. "First come the foreclosures, then the lenders take ownership, and now come the auctions. Six Santa Cruz County properties will go on the block Feb. 23 in San Mateo. Locations include Aptos, Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz and Watsonville. All of these are properties taken back by the lender after foreclosure."

"Starting bids range from $29,000 for a 320-square-foot cottage, 1513 Jackson Ave., Ben Lomond, to $269,000 for a 1,370-square-foot house at 229 Market St., Santa Cruz."

"Are prices coming down? You betcha. The Ben Lomond property sold for $220,000 in 2005. The Santa Cruz house sold for $765,000 in 2006."

"Year-end statistics show 2007 was brutal: 993 defaults, 506 foreclosures and 253 sales. In 2006, there were 452 defaults and 146 foreclosures; in 2005, even fewer -- 333 defaults and 109 foreclosures. Liese Varenkamp, editor of the Santa Cruz Record, didn't track foreclosure sales by county before because there were so few."

"I don't see any relief yet. For the first week of 2008, there were another 44 default notices -- three times as many as in 2007."

The Modesto Bee. "Dismal figures on valley real estate sales and prices released Thursday for December marked the end of a tough year for the industry, professionals acknowledged. The best they could say about 2007 was that there are a lot more affordable homes on the market now in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and interest rates are low."

"In Stanislaus County, sales were down 38.8 percent last month compared with December 2006. San Joaquin County's sales volume dropped 37.2 percent and Merced County's 56.8 percent."

"The median price for Stanislaus County homes sold last month was $281,250, while San Joaquin County's was $320,000 and Merced County's, $257,000. San Joaquin and Merced counties' numbers were down from December 2006 by 24.7 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively."

"For the year, the median price fell by $73,250 in Stanislaus County, $80,000 in San Joaquin County and $68,000 in Merced County."

"'Brutal. Just brutal. Short sales are what's causing us grief,' said Realtor Rob Ellett in Modesto, when asked to sum up 2007. 'The good side is that prices are coming back to reality.'"

"The fallout led to sharp job losses in real estate, said Ninon Lapan-Dalman, a Realtor in Modesto. 'I've seen a tremendous amount of agents get day jobs and now do real estate on the side,' she said. 'And I've seen mortgage lenders just disappear.'"

"Broker Larry Matos (said) investors must make 20 percent to 25 percent down payments. He said that keeps out speculators who pay little up front and try to sell quickly."

"'We're beyond a transitional market,' he said. 'Buyers now are just cautious, not cautious and nervous.'"