What do you see in your local housing market? Construction trends? "With house prices softening, there is less of an incentive to remodel, said Kermit Baker of the Remodeling Futures Program at Harvard's Joint Center for Housing. The return on remodeling dollar spent has dropped from 80 percent to 70 percent. 'Since the first of the year, it is almost as if someone unplugged my phone,' said Alan Hanbury, owner of House of Hanbury Builders in Newington, Conn. 'In 31 years of business, I've never had the phone not ring, and I can't explain it.'"

"'Now is a great time to remodel,' Hanbury said, trying to change the mood of his potential customers. 'You might even get the boss on the job.'"

"The sluggish construction industry continued to sputter last month as building activity slowed to a standstill in nearly every sector, an ominous beginning to a year many hoped would mark a fresh start."

"The Lake Havasu City Development Services Department reported four single-family building permits were pulled in January, the fourth consecutive month of single-digit totals. Nonresidential construction was even worse. No commercial or industrial building permits were issued last month."

"'It’s rock bottom,' said Bud Schulz, executive director of the Colorado River Building Industry Association. 'We have an industry that’s struggling.'"

Or foreclosures? "Austin and Travis County have a lot of reclaimed real estate -- and you can see some of them by taking a tour. Realty Trac says there are more than 2,200 homes in Travis County facing foreclosure."

"'Be ready if you want to buy a foreclosure because everybody else is going to want to hop on it,' said Gina Warrington with Keller Williams Agency in Round Rock. 'It's going to be there today and gone tomorrow.'"

"Hendry Street is just the tip of the iceberg in Boston’s foreclosure crisis. As City Hall turns its attention to the Dorchester street that’s been devastated by foreclosures and boarded up homes, there are about a dozen more clusters of abandoned and foreclosed homes in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan."

"'It has just exploded,' said John Anderson, a Dorchester-based housing expert. 'Low and moderate income neighborhoods that were highly dependent on subprime lending, their values are just collapsing. The mortgage (products) that fueled this appreciation just don’t exist anymore.'"

Pricing plans? "Wisconsin is not experiencing the downturn in housing that other states are weathering and Sheboygan County's Realtors are reporting that business is good. One adjustment sellers have had to make is on the asking price they put on their houses, said Realtor Linda Buchmann."

"'People were so used to putting whatever prices they want on their houses,' she said. 'Our market was hot for so long, (sellers) just were spoiled … they still have to price their house fairly but they're not losing money. They're still making money on their homes.'"