The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "More than a couple of e-mailers to the newspaper can't discuss the recent housing plunge without cackling with pleasure. They've got some support for their schadenfreude. In the past 18 months, the Tampa Bay area's median home price has dropped 21 percent, from $239,600 to $189,100."

"Naples, where median prices topped $500,000 in the fall of 2005, watched prices plunge to $415,000 a year later before shell-shocked Realtors stopped publishing the data."

"But don't expect a steal of a deal on every block. Subtract the speculators and inflation runs about 3 percent a year. Incomes have climbed over the years in Tampa, albeit slowly. Tens of thousands of people are locked into homes bought at boomtown prices. They won't give away their money without a struggle."

"I have a name for house hunters counting on a return to 1998 prices: lifelong renters."

The Orlando Sentinel. "With four mortgages and six mouths to feed on one shrinking paycheck linked to the weakening Florida real estate market, Amy and Randy Rainey need to make dramatic money moves fast. Like a lot of families who were swept up in the real estate boom, the Raineys are faced with a need to sell some assets at a time when property values are falling."

"And their situation is compounded because Randy is a construction worker who has seen business drop off sharply. 'We need a way to survive and it looks like we have no options,' the couple wrote in a letter requesting a Money Makeover."

"Central Florida's economy will be tested in 2008, and the battleground is close to home -- in fact, is the home. Home sales, home construction and all the ancillary businesses and job generated by both, will shape much of the outcome of this pivotal year."

"The trend lines coming out of 2007 are not good. 'The eagle has now become an albatross around Florida's neck,' said Orlando economist Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness."

"Central Florida's housing market will continue to snooze and wait in 2008. That's the sober forecast from a number of local experts, including Frank W. Herring, one of the area's veteran community developers."

"'We have a lot of inventory to work through,' Herring said. 'We've built more houses than we need.'"

"He predicted that, at least until 2009, the region's home markets will see 'lower prices, slower sales and more multi-family rental communities.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "For the second quarter in a row, Ameribank, which has an office in Palm Beach Gardens, received a two-star problematic rating from Coral Gables-based BauerFinancial."

"Troubled loans at the bank showed no sign of easing. They increased from 11.2 percent of total assets at the end of the second quarter to 24.5 percent of total assets at the end of the third quarter, or from about $15 million to about $33 million in a three-month period."

"Bank spokesman Tom Hartman said Ameribank's problems stem from making one-year home improvement loans to investors who would renovate a house and then 'flip' it for a higher price to a seller in a short time."

"Hartman said the practice only worked in a booming real estate market. As the real estate market declined and house prices dropped, the flippers were unable to make a profit on the houses they renovated, he said."

"'We made a bad investment,' he said, but added he is confident Ameribank can work through its problems and persuade many borrowers to pay back their loans."

"It seemed a good idea at the time: rent their house because the market wasn't yielding buyers, and then move on with plans to move on with life. But it backfired because of delinquent renters and artificially inflated home valuations."

"Now, facing foreclosure, David and Yvonne Hill are willing to sell the house they've owned a dozen years in Royal Palm Beach for just about anything - a short sale, as it's known."

"The Hills saw an opportunity in rising real estate values to use their home's equity to pay for life's surprises. Despite having bought low and long ago, the market fall still left them in a lurch because they speculated on the boom too - in this case, after they had bought the house."

"'We gambled on the fact that the house value would go up,' David Hill said. 'They dangle this money in front of you, and you need this money. It's like a downward spiral once you get stuck into it.'"

"The house went on the market in early 2006 for $380,000. All year, not a nibble worth entertaining came in,They found renters who signed a two-year lease for the Royal Palm Beach house."

"But the Hills never ran a credit check on their tenants. The future unfolded badly from there. Rent came late and only twice. Code enforcement visited a few times. The Hills tried to evict the renters, but it took months for that to go through."

"Now the house is for sale for $248,000. Real estate agent Marianne Cojocar said she showed it about a dozen times in December. 'The market is really soft,' Cojocar said. 'It has nothing to do with their house.'"

"During the housing boom, home builder Standard Pacific snapped up commercial land to build townhouses. Now the troubled builder is dropping those projects and selling land to - will the irony never end? - commercial developers."

From Florida Today. "Regular customers of Mark Kirschner are accustomed to having the owner of Melbourne's Magick Movers regale them with classical arias while moving their furnishings. Kirschner doesn't have much to sing about these days, however."

"'People are staying put,' Kirschner said." "With the housing slump, Kirschner knew that many people wouldn't have need for moving services. But he thought at least some customers might need a mover for help with downsizing. It hasn't happened."

"'We expected a lot of moves from houses into apartments, but we haven't seen a lot of that, either,' he said."

"'In 18 years in the business, I've never seen it like this,' said Chris Foti, dispatcher for Suddath in Palm Bay."

"At Brevard Movers in Melbourne, manager Doug McClure seems to be fielding as many calls from job-seekers as from customers. 'We get a lot of calls from people looking for work,' he said. 'The problem isn't just in Florida. It's everywhere.'"

The News Press. "Supporters say it’s the magic ingredient that will put back the fizz in Florida’s stagnant real estate market, and ultimately, the state’s economy. Portability, the catchphrase in Florida’s latest taxpayer revolt, is the great unknown."

"But critics say the theory is shaky at best. Portability applies a solution to the wrong end of a real estate transaction, said at least one expert."

"'If the market is depressed and there are homes for sale and nobody’s buying them, you can’t simply expect that offering more homes for sale will make a difference,' said veteran Florida economist Hank Fishkind."

"Fishkind isn’t a professional pessimist. He predicted in August the real estate market had already bottomed out and was showing signs of a turnaround. He has since revised that prediction, in light of the subprime mortgage lending crisis, and now predicts the turnaround will begin later this year."

"Most of the media attention related to the real estate debacle focused on stratospheric pricing, speculator greed, unfair tax burdens and an insurance crisis, creating what some would call the perfect storm."

"I'm convinced the cleanup will take longer than most category 5 hurricanes. I believe the reason, and the one most often swept under the rug, is the egregious debt level of most individuals and families."

"I recently asked an owner who was losing his house how the job market looked, because he said he was out of work. His reply, as he took a drag of his $4-a-pack cigarette, was 'nothing has come my way.'"

"Remember the ads: No money no problem, bankruptcy OK, repossessions, 'Come on down.'"

"There used to be a stigma against bankruptcy. Your signature was something you took pride in. People that get ahead in life have, and keep, good credit. They do not have credit card debt. They do not buy 'toys' unless they can pay cash. They understand depreciation and inflation. They save 10 percent a year. They have a rainy-day fund. More importantly, they defer gratification."

"The glut of available homes in Gateway has increased the need for Realtors to prevent cases of TMI — too much information — among home shoppers, according to Jennifer Buffington, a Realtor in Fort Myers."

"Q: What advice do you have for sellers?"

"A: Lower the price or take it off the market. Think like a buyer. If you were out looking for a home to buy, you would try to get the deal of a lifetime. Most sellers are also buyers — once they sell they will most likely become buyers. It’s a buyer’s market. Think like a buyer."

"Construction of the 104 Prentiss Pointe coach homes in Phase One was completed in July, said Mark Naumann, president of the Fort Myers-based Carlton-Naumann Homes, the development’s builder. He said work on the 36 homes in Phase Two is slated to begin in the second quarter of 2008 and be completed by the third quarter of 2009."

"Sales have gone well at Prentiss Pointe, especially after prices were reduced over the summer, according to Patti Testa of Coldwell Banker, the listing agent for the development."

"First-floor residences now start at $339,900, down from $399,000, Naumann said. Second-floor units...were as high as $489,900 roughly one year ago and now sell for $389,500, he added."

The News Journal. "Home builders and city officials in the Volusia-Flagler area are riding out a slumping real estate market in hopes demand for new homes increases some time this year. 'Obviously, we all hope the market will get better,' said Bob Razler, president of Orleans Home Builders' Florida division."

"'We're hoping for a couple of hundred homes coming in, but I don't know if that will happen,' said Mark Rakowski, New Smyrna Beach's development services director."

"Razler said Orleans' inventory peaked around July 2006, but has been worked down a bit since then. It will take increased demand from buyers to lower inventory levels much more. 'I would imagine inventory levels will stay elevated through 2008,' he said. 'We just have to get used to lower levels of demand, and we've done that by cutting our overhead.'"

"'We're still seeing a lot of construction going on, but I don't know what to expect,' said Dale Arrington, DeLand's community development director. 'I think probably we'll continue to hold steady because we're still permitting new houses and new subdivisions.'"

"'Certainly, sales are down . . . and margins are less,' said Jerry Johnson, CEO of The Johnson Group and developer of the Venetian Bay community at New Smyrna Beach. 'We're not eating filet mignon, and maybe we're eating chopped steak, but at least we're eating.'"

"Johnson said sales have dropped from five or six units a week during the 'crazy period' to two or three units."

"SeaGate Homes, which builds in Palm Coast, Daytona Beach, Edgewater and St. Augustinem has been successful because of its ability to offer a lot of value and to be flexible in its pricing, said Mike Sawdai, VP of operations."

"'A lot of builders have come and gone in this market,' he said. 'But we're a local builder, and we really try to focus on affordability and quality.'"

"SeaGate will build more spec homes once it determines what the market will be able to accommodate. SeaGate has models that start as low as $99,900, not including a home site. And the company, which recently bought additional land in Palm Coast for future development, has some lots under $30,000, Sawdai said."

"'We're optimistic we'll be able to sell more homes in 2008,' he said."