The Plain Dealer reports from Ohio. "The devastation extends far beyond Slavic Village, where 1,500 houses are abandoned. Nearly every one of the 59 communities in Cuyahoga County, along with many cities in neighboring counties, have taken a hit. More than 120 houses in Cleveland are being offered to the city for a buck apiece because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development can't find other buyers."

"The homes have been on the market for more than six months with no takers. All told, the federal agency owns more than 1,000 houses in Cuyahoga County, two-thirds of them in Cleveland. Lenders are stuck with thousands more unwanted properties and are willing to unload many of them for pennies on the dollar."

"A California investor, shopping via the Internet, bought a four-family house in Slavic Village for $1. Texas investors scooped up 90 houses -- primarily in Cleveland -- for prices as low as $750."

"During the first nine months of last year, nearly 1,000 parcels in Cleveland traded hands for less than $10,000 each."

"'The market is tanking,' says Dave Sarver, a real estate agent who specializes in lender-owned property. 'We're giving houses away.'"

The Kentucky Post. "If you want to know how soft the home construction industry is in Southwestern Ohio, just ask contractors like Dave Conradi of KEP Electric in Batavia. 'I'm kind of busy still, but the company had to let people to go,' he said."

"Conradi's comments are the face between the latest roller coaster round of home building statistics from the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati."

"Association Executive Director Dan Hendricks says the boom years occurred from 2003 to 2006 with unprecedented growth each year. 'Those were such huge numbers,' Hendricks said. 'Nobody thought they were going to be sustainable forever.'"

The Flint Journal from Michigan. "Hammers were rarely heard across the county last year as the number of new houses dropped at staggering rates. 'It's scary,' said Ted Henry, building inspector for Clayton Township."

"According to Barry Simon, consultant with the Builder's Association of Metro Flint, new houses countywide is down 80 percent over 2004, a peak building year."

"'It's not just Genesee County,' he said. 'It's from Clio to the Ohio border.'"

"Adam Zettel, assistant city manager of Swartz Creek, said subprime lending and the economy likely are affecting the construction of new houses locally. 'In our area I suspect the economy is bigger than foreclosures, however, there are a lot of foreclosures,' he said."

"And although Genesee County may seem worse off than its counterparts across the state, it's not. 'We're on life support,' Simon said. 'Oakland County is in rigor mortis and Livingston County already is decomposed.'"

"But Simon said there is an upside to the current market conditions. 'You can get your dream house for pennies on the dollar.'"

The Kalamazoo Gazette from Michigan. "Steve Starbuck's four-bedroom home in Portage has been on the market since February 2007. He's dropped the price twice in the past 11 months and, at $189,900, it's listed at the same price he paid in 2001. 'I guess it's been a nice house to rent,' he said."

"According to the latest figures from the Greater Kalamazoo Association of Realtors, Starbuck isn't the only Kalamazoo-area seller who's felt the housing slump of the past year. Sales of residential properties by Kalamazoo real-estate agents in 2007 were down 13.5 percent compared to 2006."

"While part of the drop last year was exaggerated because of a runup in prices over several years, Matthew Maire, the association's CEO, said the fall wasn't far because the Kalamazoo market has held fairly steady. 'In Kalamazoo, we don't see the tremendous fluctuations you see in other markets,' Maire said."

"Starbuck said a combination of the overall market slowdown and an unrealistic original asking price probably kept his house on the market longer than it should have been."

Chicago Business from Illinois. "Sales of new homes in the Chicago area fell even faster in the fourth quarter, and with the economy on the brink of recession, homebuilders face another tough spring selling season."

"Builders sold 2,196 units in the quarter, a 51% decline from the year-earlier period and the biggest quarterly drop since the residential slump began more than two years ago, according to Tracy Cross & Associates Inc. Homes sold in the quarter at the slowest pace in 15 years, the firm says."

"'It's frightening, it's nerve-wracking — it's a lot of things,' says Jerry Thiel, president of a Rolling Meadows-based carpentry contractor that employs about 30 carpenters now, down from 275 in 2005."

"'We're quote-unquote not in a recession,' Mr. Thiel says. 'What's going to happen if we're actually in a recession? Our prospects aren't going to be any brighter.'"

"The market 'is probably worse than it was in the early '90s,' says Frank Libby, second VP of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters."

"'It's almost like a limbo pole that's almost on the ground and can't go any lower,' says Tracy Cross, president of the eponymous consulting firm. 'This is about it.'"

"About 3,500 unsold downtown condos are under construction and will be completed between now and 2010. 'Some of those buildings are going to have some trouble,' Mr. Cross says."

"Apartment rents are surging in the Chicago area, but that check to the landlord is still a lot smaller than a monthly mortgage payment."

"The average rent in the Chicago area represented just 60.0% of the after-tax monthly mortgage payment for the median home in the third quarter, according to a recent report by Deutsche Bank."

"The rent/buy relationship has taken on greater significance recently as analysts try to determine how much home prices — or interest rates — need to fall before the residential market returns to equilibrium."

"In Chicago, 'the gap has got to narrow,' says Deutsche Bank analyst Louis Taylor. 'Chicago is going to have an adjustment, and an adjustment that I don’t think is going to be particularly painful.'"

"Of the 58 U.S. cities Deutsche Bank tracks, Chicago falls in the middle of the pack at 60%. The Oakland/East San Francisco Bay area in California is the most expensive place to own a house, with the monthly rent representing just 26.9% of the monthly payment, which includes mortgage, property taxes, insurance and tax savings."

"Nationwide, the monthly rent represented 62.7% of the monthly payment in the third quarter, up from a low of 60.9% in second-quarter 2006."

"'With short-term rates falling along with home prices, there’s the potential for a significant (66%) portion of the country to return to affordable levels,' the Deutsche Bank report says."

"Unable to sell their condos, many owners are renting them instead and competing for tenants with traditional apartment landlords. Though this so-called shadow market has become a factor in Chicago as well, it’s not a huge concern, Taylor says."

"Including condos for rent, the Chicago-area apartment vacancy rises to 7.3% from 4.5%."

The Journal Sentinel from Wisconsin. "Bankruptcy filings jumped 39% in Wisconsin last year, an increase driven partly by adjustments in mortgage payments that were too big for some consumers to handle."

"Samuel J. Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, said he expects the number of bankruptcies to climb again this year as adjustable-rate mortgages reset at higher monthly payments."

"'Some of those aren't predatory at all - they're just adjustable-rate mortgages that people can't handle, largely because they are in homes that they can't sell or refinance,' Gerdano said."

"Milwaukee bankruptcy attorney James Miller said he is seeing more people here 'just tossing their arms up' about their mortgage."

"Rather than try to keep their homes, more consumers - particularly those with little or no equity in the house because they put no money down or its value has dropped - are just assuming the home is a lost cause and asking the courts to relieve their other debts."

"'Before, if someone was behind on the mortgage payments, it was, 'What can I do to save my home?' And now, people are just so frustrated with the interest rates and with their climbing mortgage payments, it's, 'What can I do to get out from under my mortgage debt?' said Miller."

"Madison attorney Tim Peyton said his practice has been handling an increasing number of bankruptcy cases for people who were working in the mortgage industry - real estate agents, brokers, small developers. The retreat of the housing market and prices has put them out of business and into personal financial trouble, he said."

"For example, he said, construction workers who during the height of the housing boom started their own small home-building businesses now can't keep up with what they owe on lots they planned to develop or houses they intended to renovate and resell."

"'There are a lot of those out there,' said Peyton."

"Like the bankruptcy institute's Gerdano, Peyton said he expects the number of bankruptcies to rise again this year. 'I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg,' he said."