The Valley Sun reports from California. "As prices dip and California soars to the top of the list in the nation for real estate foreclosures, Realtors in this little hamlet are holding their collective breath for 'the other shoe to drop' — but, as yet, prices and sales don’t appear to be affected by national, or local trends, said Carey Haynes, Realtor in La Cañada Flintridge."

"'It’s a different buyer here, and a different world,' Haynes said. 'We’re a separate entity, like an island. We don’t feel the things other cities do. We’re a different animal.'"

"She told of another couple who hoped to move back to La Cañada but were afraid to become involved in a bidding war on a home they liked, since that was the way of the market a year or so ago."

"'They were scared the home would have multiple offers, so they did nothing about it. Two weeks later, the home was still available so they made an offer, along with a nice letter to the owners of why they wanted the home,' she said."

"At first, the homeowners said they weren’t interested, but after thinking about it, they called back and said they’d take the offer. 'The only difference I’m seeing [in sales] from a year ago is that there were more multiple offers. Now, there’s time for people to think on things and not just run on emotion,' Haynes said."

"'A year ago, people would leave gifts on the front door step, give their children away, anything to get the owner to sell them the home they wanted. Now, it’s not run off of emotion so much,' she said."

"This isn’t to say that some homes in La Canada Flintridge haven’t been on the market for a few months, and may not remain there for a while yet. While driving down La Cañada’s Oakwood Avenue Tuesday morning, Haynes pointed out one home...listed with a different Realtor, that’s been on the market for several months."

"'If they’d been more realistic on the price it probably would have sold by now,' Haynes explained."

The Ventura County Star. "Obtaining a jumbo loan to refinance his home has been a challenge for Mike Brennan. Instead of selling and trading up, the Camarillo resident decided three years ago to use his equity line to make several home improvements."

"He did not anticipate the housing crash, which has swallowed much of the equity in his home of 21 years."

"In Ventura County, sales for existing single-family detached homes dropped 38.2 percent in December from the same month the previous year, the California Association of Realtors reported."

"The median price fell to $604,730 in December, down 3 percent from $623,510 in November and a 9.9 percent decline from $670,830 for the same month a year ago. The last time the median was at this level was in November 2004." "'

"I think there needs to be something to light a fuse and blow up the dam that's stopping the market from flowing,' Brennan said. 'Something has got to loosen up.'"

"Prices are falling, but Ventura County's median is still three times that of the nation, said Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist at CAR. 'You still have a situation where buyers are not yet convinced that the market has bottomed out, rightly so, and therefore they're content to sit and watch the developments,' he said."

"Some buyers might be scared by reports of a rapidly declining median that has occurred even in high-cost areas such as Santa Barbara. For the first time since December 2004, Santa Barbara's South Coast median fell to less than $1 million, to $925,000. "

"It's difficult, but not impossible, to get a jumbo loan, Ventura County mortgage brokers say. 'They're available, but they are harder to qualify for,' said Scott Friedman, a mortgage broker in Camarillo. 'Prior to August, if you had good credit and any equity, you could probably get a jumbo loan.'"

"Now that the standards have changed, potential borrowers have to demonstrate that they can pay the loan back. This means a good credit score, equity in their homes and a minimum 10 percent down payment."

"'We're looking at tax returns and pay stubs, things that were not looked at as much prior to August,' Friedman said."

From ABC 7. "There's been a new surge in foreclosures in California. According to RealTytrac, which keeps tabs on foreclosures, default notices, auctions and bank repossessions, activity shot up 33-percent last month."

"And that brings the total number of foreclosure filings in California for the year, to more than 2.2 million. That's a 238-percent increase from 2006. The Bay Area numbers were only slightly better-- 200-percent higher than 2006."

"The most increases are in Contra Costa, Napa, and Solano counties. Foreclosures in Alameda County are up 545 percent over the past two years."

"Perry Vittoria, a real estate agent in San Leandro says many of these homes were purchased with 100-percent financing. Most of those loans adjusted to amounts buyers could no longer afford. He says these homes could now sell for 25-percent or more below the asking price in a short sale."

"'It could take up to three months to get a decision back from the bank if they're going to accept the offer,' said Vittoria."

"George Tribble is the former president of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers. He says approval delays by lenders are understandable."

"'The loan may not be their loan. They're servicing...it's sold through securities on Wall Street. So you have many investors, many are foreign governments that own these mortgages,' said Tribble."

"Tribble says these short sales may prevent some foreclosures but he believes many more are on the way. 'Right now were probably not halfway through the foreclosures. I think there are many more on the way,' said Tribble."

The Voice of America. "Welcome to the foreclosure bus tour. For $20, potential buyers will tour and bid on as many as 10 homes in just under four hours -- all of them at fire sale [very low] prices."

"It is an opportunity Mike and Mary Hays did not want to miss. 'We're recently married and are looking for our first -- well, our dream home,' Mike said."

"With nationwide default rates skyrocketing, bus tours like this one are becoming popular across the country. Realtors say in some cases, homes initially valued at $650,000 have sold for under $450,000."

"Potential buyers Sandy and Jim Fisher say there is only one problem. 'No one knows what they're going to be asking in two to three months. That's where the problem comes in,' said Jim."

"The market's uncertainty has created hardship for Mike and Dawn Lembeck. Their four-bedroom, three-bath home has been on the market for nearly a year. Home seller Dawn Lembeck says she is optimitic about selling her home. 'Well, we expected to have this house sold before we moved. We refinanced this home to move into our new home.'"

"The Lembecks are prepared to hold on for a year. But housing analyst Karen Weaver predicts tough times ahead for people trying to sell their homes in expensive markets like California."

"'It's going to be three years before we even have flat home prices, or stability in home prices. We just have this tsunami of defaults facing us and that's driving down prices -- it's inescapable,' Weaver said."

The Recordnet. "Foreclosure activity in San Joaquin County is still on the rise - just at a slower pace."

"A total of 3,746 notices of default were filed countywide in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to DataQuick. That was a 189.7 percent year-to-year increase, compared with 2,961 default notices in the third quarter, up nearly 230 percent year-to-year."

"'We're seeing a steady stream of foreclosure listings,' said Jerry Abbott, president and co-owner of Coldwell Banker Grupe, Stockton. 'We're not seeing any let-up in it at all. We've still got a lot in the pipeline. It's going to be a tough two years.'"

"This year, foreclosures will continue to swell the for-sale inventory throughout this year, but sales are finally on the upswing, said Larry Matos, broker based in Modesto."

"Beginning in the fourth quarter, asset managers of repossessed houses began to aggressively cut prices, putting them more in line with the market, he said. 'They're not as unrealistic as they were last year,' Matos said. 'We saw a fundamental change.'"

The Desert Sun. "As of Tuesday, roughly 4,500 homes were in various stages of foreclosure across the Coachella Valley, according to RealtyTrac. 'They bought high and their homes are not worth what they paid,' said real estate agent Ernie Moreno."

"Meanwhile, many homes now weaving their way through the foreclosure process are vacant and neglected."

The Press Enterprise. "Riverside and San Bernardino counties last year posted among the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, according to a report."

"Riverside County recorded 57,241 foreclosure actions in 2007, including notices of default, foreclosure and trustee sales, and bank repossession, said RealtyTrac. That was up 228 percent from the previous year and 827 percent from 2005."

"San Bernardino County recorded 45,265 foreclosure-related filings last year, up 246 percent in a year and 680 percent in two years."

"RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist said high levels of foreclosure activity also are expected in 2008 when new waves of adjustable-rate mortgages are scheduled to reset at higher interest rates."

"'That would point to at least another year of fairly tough times,' he said."

"Blomquist blamed the willingness of people to take on such mortgages several years ago while speculating that property values would continue to rise."

"'Eventually the booming market hit a ceiling and those people were left with payments they couldn't afford and didn't have the option to refinance or sell,' he said. "

The New York Times. "Look around at the still-life of half-built neighborhoods and red-tiled roofs, all so new, planted during the Miracle-Gro years when homes became A.T.M.s."

"Look closer and you think you’re staring into a ghost exurb – empty homes left to bankers."

"This is the new America, Southern California’s affordable edge city, drowning in a sea of debt. In the Inland Empire, the eastern-most suburbs of Los Angeles, one out of every 43 households is facing foreclosure proceedings."

"Peek behind the palm trees and there you see the most shocking sight: abandoned swimming pools. Thousands of people have walked away without even draining the water. Mosquito control agents now patrol these murky pools, treating them with pesticides to keep disease-carrying larvae from forming."

"'With the skyrocketing foreclosure rate, the problem is compounding daily,' said Jared Dever, a spokesman for the government district that monitors insect breeding grounds. He said about 2,000 abandoned swimming pools would have to be treated in just one part of Riverside County."

"Is this the image of our consumptive age: the empty swimming pools of Riverside County? Or maybe we should look just to the west, to Orange County and beyond, to the half-empty glass hulks of the banks that changed the rules of lending, now being picked over by federal investigators and civil litigants."

"I knew something had drastically changed a few years ago when I saw a man with an advertising sandwich board standing at a busy intersection in Los Angeles; the board said, 'Re-fi now – guaranteed low rates.' The banker as virtual squeegee man."

"Now, you sense a meanness around the abandoned swimming pools of Riverside County."

"'Perhaps now we’ll see a removal of the low-class types,' wrote one man in a reader post for the North County Times. 'Too many house-flippers. Maybe they’ll be burger-flipping now,' wrote another."

"People who bet their pensions, their savings, their college funds on something that seemed so safe now look at these wrecks on the banking frontier and wonder: what were we thinking?"

"It’s obvious what we were thinking, all of us – homeowners, appraisers, brokers, buyers, bankers. We were all in on the bet."