The Enquirer reports from Ohio. "Liberty Township, once billed as one of the region's fastest-growing suburban communities, has seen a sharp decrease in new-home construction. In Hamilton Township in Warren County and Fairfield Township in Butler County, housing starts have been sliced in half or worse. In West Chester Township, a center of growth along the interstate corridor between Cincinnati and Dayton, housing permits plummeted from 434 in 2005 to 154 last year."

'"West Chester is not immune to what's going on in the housing market. No one is,' Trustee George Lang said. 'We're just as susceptible as any community in America.'"

"In Warren County, there has 'absolutely' been a slowdown in housing starts, County Commissioner Dave Young said. Housing starts have come to a standstill in pockets such as Clearcreek Township and South Lebanon, he said."

"A huge supply of houses for sale in Butler County could be a big reason for the decrease, says Dan Hendricks, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati. 'I can only assume that the higher inventory of homes in Liberty Township may have contributed to less housing starts last year,' Hendricks said."

"But the slowdown isn't a crisis yet, said Liberty Township Trustee Pat Hiltman. 'There'll continue to be activity here; it just won't be at the same feverish pace that it has been,' Hiltman said. 'If buyers are waiting for lower prices, now might be the time to jump into the market.'"

The Toledo Blade from Ohio. "With the area housing market mired in a slump for much of 2007, it was no surprise that home sales fell 13 percent in Lucas County and 10 percent in northwest Ohio last year, according to the Toledo Board of Realtors."

"Available houses and condominiums remained almost too plentiful. Board officials said the local supply rose from just over 15 months' worth of inventory to nearly 18 months' inventory."

"Mary Ann Coleman, treasurer of the local Realtor board and an agent, said people had trouble selling houses in certain locations where home values declined. 'Some areas are doing quite well,' she said. 'Others are drastically slow.'"

The Indystar from Indiana. "After a year with sales of existing homes dropping about 10 percent, Indianapolis homeowners shouldn’t expect things to get better anytime soon."

"A year-end report released Tuesday by F.C. Tucker Co. shows the Indianapolis area suffered its second year in a row of declining home sales after five consecutive years of record-breaking sales."

"'It’s a very competitive market,' said H. James Litten, who heads Tucker’s residential division. 'It’s definitely a buyer’s market. The inventory (of homes for sale) outruns absorption.'"

"Veteran broker Tom Mattingly said he would remember 2007 for being the toughest year for selling houses since 1981. 'You see more buyers walk away from deals than ever before. Buyers are thinking, 'Maybe I left some chicken on the bone. Maybe I paid too much.'"

"Mattingly said he is currently involved in a pending sale for $142,000 of a Northside home that sold last April for $175,000. 'That’s pretty ugly,' he said of the home’s plummeting price over just eight months. In this market, 'You just have to get real creative' to sell a house."

The Beacon News from Illinois. "Realtors are not the only ones fighting for home buyers in a relatively stagnant housing market."

"Some home builders in the Fox Valley are showing that they, too, have the sales pitch, charm and incentives it takes to lure buyers who have been scared away by mortgage rates and lagging sales on existing homes."

"Selling off current inventory takes eye-popping incentives, over-the-top service and sales strategies not commonly used by home builders, those in the profession say."

"Two weeks before Christmas, Louise Bouret, a sales consultant with Kimball Hill Homes, was throwing a holiday party for government officials, community members and business people -- mainly of Sugar Grove -- to highlight what is expected to be the crown jewel of this village: Settlers Ridge near routes 56 and 47."

"But even with meats, cheeses, fruits, a vegetable and dip platter, and even hot cider to sip as visitors view model homes, the party didn't go as expected. Out of about 175 invitations, about 10 guests showed."

"At RA Faganel, a home builder in Batavia for 75 years, the strategies include handsome incentives like cathedral ceilings, upgraded cabinets and granite countertops, all within the base price. The included options have a value of $20,000 to $50,000."

"Now might be the best time for builders to become vocal in the real-estate market. More and more, Realtors are leaving the profession as the number of Realtors was expected to drop at least 4 percent in 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors."

"'We no longer can pan our side of the fence,' said Jim Janik, VP of sales and marketing at RA Faganel homes. 'We need to cross over.'"

The Naperville Sun from Illinois. "Rick Klau was sure that lowering the price of his Naperville house by $26,000 would reel in a buyer."

"Desperate to get out from under two mortgages, he had already rolled back the price from $489,000 to $425,000. After he told two interested buyers that he would drop the price again, to $399,000 on Jan. 1, he expected someone would seal the deal."

"But neither buyer bit. 'We didn't even get a call back from either agent,' said Klau."

"After Google bought his company last year, Klau accepted an offer to transfer to San Ramon, Calif. Because he wanted to give his wife and their three children enough time to get settled before school began, he bought a house in San Ramon and put his Naperville house on the market June 1."

"He wanted to sell the house as soon as possible, so he listed it for $10,000 to $15,000 below other homes in his subdivision. 'The first news of a mortgage crisis really hit at the end of June,' Klau said. 'It was after that we noticed there wasn't a lot of activity on the house.'"

"Klau began dropping the price and offered to cover the closing costs, but he is still the unwilling owner of two homes."

"'We bought the home in San Ramon for a lot more than I care to tell anybody,' Klau said. 'It is certainly a whole lot more than we are selling our home in Naperville for. We're hoping we can find a price point that attracts buyers.'"

"The subprime mortgage crisis is the result of lenders giving loans to higher-risk borrowers with lower income or a weaker credit history over the past 10 years, said Eileen Landau, a real estate agent who has sold homes in Naperville for 30 years."

"'Lenders were very fast and loose,' Landau said. 'If you fogged a mirror, you got a loan.'"

"In December 2007, 853 Naperville homes were on the market, not including new homes. In December 2005, 546 homes were for sale. Landau said the current inventory of homes would take eight or nine months to sell. A year ago, it wasn't unusual for a Naperville home to sell in 30 days."

"Naperville residents who bought their homes three or four years ago and are now trying to sell are sustaining the greatest loss, said Susan Ganden of Re/Max of Naperville."

"'People who bought in a hot market three years ago paid top price for their home,' Ganden said. 'Now we have so many houses on the market, they can't sell it for the price they paid for it.'"

The Gazette Extra from Wisconsin. "The number of foreclosures in Rock and Walworth counties has risen steeply over the last two years, indicating that the subprime mortgage mess afflicting most of the country has at least brushed southern Wisconsin."

"'You can’t attribute it all to one thing, but I think the major factor is subprime lending,' said Janesville attorney Vicki Schleisner. 'Most of the clients who walk through my door asked key questions like, ‘What will it cost a month?’ But they don’t think to ask what will it cost me a month in two or three years.'"

"Schleisner cited two examples: a monthly mortgage payment that started at less than $600 a month but mushroomed to $1,500 monthly in three years and an interest rate that started below 8 percent but could rise to almost 18 percent over the course of a few years."

"'It cuts both ways,' Janesville attorney Jim Fowler said. 'I suspect a lot of people didn’t fully appreciate the implications of a floating interest rate. They assumed their (houses’) value would continue to appreciate and they would be able to refinance.'"

The Pioneer Press from Minnesota. "Dozens of area homes are heading to the auction block this month, but this time, they're not foreclosures - they're brand-new construction. And builders are looking at discounts of up to 45 percent to move the merchandise."

"Local contractors are sending some 200 newly built houses, townhomes and condos scattered across the greater Twin Cities to a public bidding block at the Minneapolis Convention Center Jan. 26 and 27."

"Most were built on spec, meaning buyers hadn't been lined up beforehand, and some were model homes that builders showed as samples, said Lisa Berry, a spokeswoman for the real-estate auction marketer promoting the event."

"As of October, there were 3,548 new single-family houses and townhomes sitting finished and unsold in the 13-county metro area - down from a peak of 4,452 last August, according to MarketGraphics. There should probably be only about 2,400, given the level of closings of new homes, said MarketGraphics VP Todd Bjerstedt."

"In addition, there are about 2,000 new condos, either finished or under construction, that have no buyers yet, according to Metrostudy."

"Auctions are something of a mixed bag, Bjerstedt said. 'If it gets inventory off the market, that's good,' he said. 'I think the fear we have is, at what price?'"

"Deep discounts at real estate auctions add just that much more downward pressure on already sliding property values."

"Berry, the spokeswoman for the auction marketer, would only say that the discounts would be 'very steep.' A local construction finance company with several properties in the auction estimated homes will sell for 25 percent to 45 percent off the original list prices."

"'We hand-picked the ones that would sell,' Berry said."

"Her company had hundreds more to choose from but couldn't auction off homes from builders in bankruptcy or from those who owe their subcontractors too much, she said. Some properties they considered didn't have clear titles."

"The auction follows October's mass foreclosure auction in Minneapolis where shoppers bid on more than 300 bank-repossessed homes. "

"Unlike the October foreclosure auction, where there were set minimum bids for each property, 50 of the houses in this auction have no minimum bid or reserve amount set."

From KARE 11 in Minnestoa. "Homes that originally listed for half-a-million are expected to sell at a significant discount. The homes are located all over the metro area are brand new, never been lived in, award winning and headed for auction."

"'It's not business as usual, the way we were all doing business over the course of the last two, three four years it's not working anymore,' said Construction and Development Finance banker David Buelow."

"Buelow teamed up with builders and contractors to auction off properties that have sat idle for months. 'Work for free or lose money on it, we have on some projects,' described builder Pete Lewis of Lewis Builders."

"In his nearly three decades of building, he says he's never seen the market come to a standstill like this. He's making payments on homes that haven't sold, he's laid off his workers and has quit building."

"'In the last year we've done nothing, it's just dried up, there's so much inventory out there,' Lewis said."

"His 2007 Parade of Homes signs still sit in the front yards and now along side of them, signs that describe the upcoming Real Estate Auction in Minneapolis."

"The discounted auction price will be a loss for the banker, the builder and the contractor. 'Nobody's ever lived in this house and it's going to go, pretty cheap,' said Berry."

"If this auction business works it's likely to stick around for a while, not only are there a lot of houses on the auction block, there are a lot of empty lots that are available and are next to hit the auction block."