The County Sun reports from California. "Real estate agent Richard Kegley negotiates home sales all over San Bernardino County, but lately he's in the business of persuasion. Not persuading would-be homeowners to buy, but convincing sellers their homes are severely overpriced. '(Sellers) ask me what it would take to sell in 30 days, and when I tell them, they say, 'Come on, be realistic,' Kegley said. 'They keep reducing the price, but they're always too late.'"

"A real estate veteran of more than 20 years, he said the current housing meltdown 'has a different twist to it' than prior slumps. 'Last time we had some equity on properties,' he said. 'This time there's just no equity. The prices are much lower than what's owed on the properties.'"

"Six months ago, Josee Maclaughlin, a real estate agent in Upland, stayed busy advising sellers to spruce up their homes. Lately, though, she mostly deals with 'short sales,' where...the bank takes the loss."

"'They're trying to get all the bells and whistles on the home to get the most value out of their house ... but it's only helping a little bit,' Maclaughlin said. 'If there's a house going for $100,000 less than the one with green grass, it's not going to make much of a difference.'"

The Press Enterprise. "San Bernardino County sales fell the steepest in the region, plunging 53 percent from January 2007, for a total of 1,111 transactions, which DataQuick said was the smallest monthly count since the company began keeping track in 1988."

"The median home price in San Bernardino County slipped below $300,000 to $298,000, representing more than a 21 percent drop from an all-time peak of $380,000 reached in November 2006."

"Steve Johnson, a director of MetroStudy, said although home builders have cut their prices by about 25 percent to induce buying, there still are 5,400 finished and vacant houses in western Riverside and San Bernardino counties, twice the unsold inventory available two years ago."

"Also, at the end of January, there were 36,198 resale homes listed by the Multi-Regional MLS, which serves the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire. Spokesman Eric Turner said at the current rate of sales, it would take a record 20 months to sell those homes if no more properties came on the market."

The LA Daily News. "State officials launched a comprehensive educational program on Thursday designed to help slow the growing number of foreclosures. The '90 Days of Hope' program details steps that homeowners can take to avoid losing their homes if payments on their adjustable-rate mortgages become unmanageable."

"'We want them to check their paperwork. Some of them don't even know what kind of agreement they got into. They don't even know that their rates will be resetting,' said Rosario Marin, secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency."

"In last year's fourth quarter, a record 4,536 homeowners in Los Angeles County lost their homes to foreclosure, and the outlook remains grim, according to DataQuick. 'There is a good chance we will pass that record in the first quarter of 2008,' DataQuick analyst John Karevoll said."

The Fresno Bee. "Sales of new and used houses in Fresno County fell 36.2% in January compared with the same period a year earlier, and the median price fell 13.8% to $250,000, according to DataQuick."

"Cliff Lloyd of London Properties predicts more houses will be sold this year, but said an abundance of bank-owned houses will push values down more than they should be because panicky lenders are slashing prices too much."

"'It's not fair for our market,' he said. 'I'm seeing situations where something is on the market for three weeks and instead of going from $230,000 to $225,000 they are going to $199,000. Of course that will create multiple offers and a quick sale.'"

"In Fresno County, nearly 74% of the families who bought their houses in 2006 and 55% who purchased them in 2007 owe more on the house than it is worth, according to RealtyTrac."

The Modesto Bee. "Rents are flat, sales are scarce and values are way down for apartment complexes and rental properties throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley, landlords were told at a Modesto luncheon."

"John Citrigno, who specializes in multi-family housing sales, said 'historically unprecedented' competition from single-family rental homes is holding down apartment rents. Citrigno said typical three-bedroom home rents in Stanislaus County two years ago were $1,200 to $1,500 per month. Now they're $900 to $1,200 per month."

"Gary Kirkpatrick, an investment property specialist in Modesto said small complexes report having more vacancies, fewer qualified applicants and falling property values. 'Those who bought in 2005 and 2006 are all upside-down (with expenses exceeding revenues), and they can't sell their properties for what they paid for them,' Kirkpatrick said."

"Kirkpatrick offered this example to demonstrate the market shift: A duplex on Gemini Court in Modesto resold four times in three years. It sold for $159,000 in 2002, $218,000 in 2003, $316,000 in 2004 and $400,000 in 2005. He estimated the current owner, however, is losing about $11,274 a year."

"Citrigno said some Merced apartments can be purchased for $45,000 per unit. He said that's a bargain because building com- parable units would cost more than twice as much."

The Recordnet. "San Joaquin County real estate brokers say the sales predominantly are foreclosure homes, with most of those selling at less than $250,000. As expected, sales prices continued to slide, falling to a median of $283,000 last month, a 33.4 percent drop from a peak during the housing boom of $425,000 in July 2006."

"Frank Orello, sales manager for Coldwell Banker Grupe in Stockton, said foreclosure homes are attracting so much attention from buyers that it's getting competitive. 'There are multiple bottom-feeders out there, and they are raising the bar,' he said. 'It's a little surreal. We're getting the same kind of action we got in 2004, but the prices are a little wholesale.'"

"Ben Balsbaugh, residential sales manager for PMZ Real Estate in Stockton, said most of the houses selling are foreclosure properties - about 77 percent of January's sales. Most home are selling below the $250,000 mark, he said."

The Sacramento Bee. "The regional 2008 real estate season opened in the winter cold and stayed there: January saw nearly as many people lose their homes as buy them. A near-tie between foreclosures and home sales represented the grimmest indicator yet for a housing market now 30 months past the peak of a five-year boom in which loans came easy and home prices doubled."

"Bank discounts and low interest rates are sparking multiple bids now for houses priced from the $100,000s to the $800,000s, said Kevin Coates, president of Sacramento-based Avalar Real Estate and Mortgage Group."

"'The reality is that $700,000 house was a million or a million-one when this started,' said Coates."

"As foreclosures continue to grow in the capital-area real estate market, Sacramento and Elk Grove are copying a trend launched last year in Stockton: bus tours of bank-owned homes."

"'This office lists a lot of foreclosure properties, and we want to get them sold,' said Keller Williams partner Lori Mode. 'I've lived in Elk Grove for over 30 years and I hate to see it like this.' Nonetheless, the sooner they're sold, the faster it's back to normal."

The Press Democrat. "Sonoma County home prices have fallen 19 consecutive months. Hitting $500,000 in January, the county's median home price has dropped 19.2 percent since the market peaked in summer 2005 and is down 8.3 percent from a year ago, according to The Press Democrat's monthly real estate report prepared by Coldwell Banker."

"A record number of Sonoma County residents lost their homes to foreclosure in 2007. Even more are in danger with default notices also at record levels. In response, lenders have been tightening once-lax loan standards that helped juice the housing market."

"Purchasing the typical $500,000 house in Sonoma County with a jumbo loan today likely would cost a buyer about $400 more in monthly mortgage payments compared with a conforming loan, said Maia Lomax, co-owner of a Santa Rosa mortgage brokerage."

"To get the lower loan rate the buyer must make an $83,000 down payment, compared with the more typical $50,000 down payment in a jumbo loan, she said. 'If you have the money and you can do it, this is definitely the time to buy. But you've got to have the money to get a good loan,' Lomax said."

The Santa Cruz Sentinel. "Robert Bailey, a regional VP for the National Association of Realtors, knows a Santa Cruz couple who refinanced their way to foreclosure. The couple bought a house in 2004 for $486,000, refinanced in 2005 for $535,000, refinanced in 2006 twice -- for $600,000 and then $700,000."

"Now the bank owns their home -- because they couldn't refinance again. The time of double-digit home appreciation is over."

"Yes, there were 'gross abuses' and 'actual fraud' but those aren't the only reasons the housing bubble burst, Bailey said. 'A lot of this issue was created by us,' said Bailey. 'We've turned our homes into investments where we live. The ATM mentality has to go.'"

The San Mateo County Times. "Foreclosure auction sales more than tripled in San Mateo County in January compared with the same period last year, a new real estate report revealed. In San Mateo County, many of the foreclosures are in low-end markets such as Daly City, South San Francisco, East Palo Alto, East Menlo Park and San Bruno, said Don McFarland, an independent real estate broker in Burlingame."

"There also are pockets of San Mateo and Redwood City where low-end homes are sold and foreclosures are occurring, he said. 'It's the low-end buyers who were in trouble,' said McFarland. 'They don't have any money.'"

The Mercury News. "For the first time since the housing downturn began in late 2005, housing prices in Santa Clara County dropped last month compared with a year earlier. And fewer homes sold in January than during any month in 20 years."

"As of Thursday, 5,935 houses and condos were for sale in Santa Clara County, he said. It would take 8 1/2 months to sell all of those properties at the recent glacial pace of sales."

"Alyson Abramowitz's recent experience shopping for her first house illustrates how tough it's been to get a jumbo mortgage."

"'Basically every mortgage company says I'm their dream client,' said Abramowitz,, who saved for years to amass a 20 percent down payment for a home in the $1 million range. But right after she agreed to buy the five-bedroom house late last month...lenders began saying her down payment wasn't high enough."

"'Suddenly everyone was going, '45 percent down,' she said."

The Alameda Times Star. "Developers and construction workers who say they have been hard-hit by the housing crisis have formed an alliance to oppose Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' proposed housing policy."

"Kathy Kuhner, owner of Dogtown Development, said Wednesday that small builders have had to put their projects on hold, because the economy and the foreclosure crisis means no one is selling, no one is buying and financing for new home construction has all but dried up."

"In an odd twist of fate, Kuhner said she is negotiating to sell the 34th and Hollis property to an affordable-housing developer, for 'pennies on the dollar.' 'Affordable housing is the only game in town,' she said. 'It's the only thing that's being built.'"

"Nicholas Dean, a surveyor, said most of his work involves condominium construction, and even that has been hit hard. 'Nobody's selling, nobody's buying,' he said."

The Bay Area Newsgroup. "Bay Area home sales fell in January for the 36th month in a row and four Bay Area counties saw median prices drop below $500,000 something not seen since 2005, DataQuick reported."

"'There was very little selling in those counties and significant chunks of it were foreclosure activity,' said analyst Andrew LePage. 'In Contra Costa, 33.1 percent of homes sold in January had been foreclosed on in 2007. In Solano County it was 43.2 and Alameda it was 24.9 percent.'"

"Foreclosed sales counted for 19 percent for the entire Bay Area."

"'I think prices are still too high, by at least 10 to 15 percent,' said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto. 'Too high means that they are unaffordable to people based on their current income. We were in a stage where housing problems got way out of line because lenders were not requiring income or assets.'"

"Lower interest rates for qualifying households between $400,000 and $700,000 would help but wouldn't be enough to offset the change in lending practices, he said."

"'Some people can buy a bit larger house, but I doubt it will have much effect until the price correction and houses become affordable,' Levy said. 'It doesn't make a difference if the house is still $200,000 more than you can afford.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle. "A total of 2,312 resale homes sold in the nine-county Bay Area in January, down 43.7 percent from a year ago and 24.2 percent from December, according to DataQuick. It's the lowest regional sales total in the two decades the firm has tracked the area."

"'We're going through the painful transition toward pricing that is realistic and we're nowhere near that (yet),' said economist Christopher Thornberg. 'Even though your local real estate agent will tell you, it's OK in this neighborhood or it's a wonderful time to buy because interest rates are low, all that's wrong. If you're buying into this market, you're overpaying.'"

"Annie Brown, a Realtor in Walnut Creek, said foreclosed homes in Brentwood that were $700,000 a couple of years ago are now selling for $450,000 to $475,000. 'The bank-owned homes are really being priced to sell,' she said."

"Genevieve and Matt Garfunkle bought and moved into a $1.7 million, four-bedroom Colonial home in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland a little before Thanksgiving."

"The problem is they haven't sold their three-bedroom Mediterranean on which they're still paying a monthly mortgage. It's been on the market since November and they lowered the price from $834,000 to $799,000 after New Year's. They've handed out many information packets at their open houses but still haven't received anything above what they consider lowball offers."

"'All my open houses are very well attended,' Genevieve Garfunkle said, 'but they're not ready to pull the trigger yet.'"