The Naples News reports from Florida. "The Cape Coral-Fort Myers area had the highest rate of foreclosures in the nation in January, a mortgage research firm said. Charlie Green, the Lee County Clerk of Courts, said there were 2,297 foreclosures in the county during January. During the first four months of fiscal 2008 — from October through January — there were 7,766 foreclosures."

"'For the first third of the year foreclosures were up 2,100 percent,' Green said. 'It’s insane.'"

"Tom Moss admits buying a condo in Estero was an ill-advised investment. The Naples resident bought the property two years ago with thoughts of turning a profit. He paid $232,000 for the two bedroom, two bath, 1,416 sq. ft. unit with a third-floor view of the sunsets. Now, Moss will be 'happy' if he can sell for $180,000."

"'I got caught,' Moss said. 'After years of complaining about the growth, I decided to buy into it. But I got in too late and now I’m getting smoked.'"

"He listed his condo on Craig’s List, and wants to limit his losses to just over $50,000. 'I don’t want to pay someone else money that I’m already losing,' said Moss about resisting to list the property with a Realtor."

"You could hear the despair about the market in Ray Garvey’s voice. The Realtor/investor has two homes in the foreclosure process and is trying to salvage a condo investment. Garvey admits the $239,000 asking price on his South Fort Myers condo might need some adjustment."

"But having plunked down $220,000 for it a year ago, he’s faced with a losing proposition."

"'I’d take any reasonable offer but I’m not getting even that,' said Garvey. 'Someone offered $160,000 via e-mail but that means I’m going to have to come up with $55,000 at closing and I don’t have it.'"

"'I don’t think you can find an enthusiastic Realtor right now,' said Garvey who moved to Southwest Florida four years ago from New York."

The News Press from Florida. "Lee County’s residential real estate market is in recovery as bargain hunters snap up great deals — but prices are likely to fall further before a huge backlog of homes is absorbed."

"That was the word Tuesday night from real estate broker Denny Grimes of Denny Grimes & Co. at The News-Press Market Watch annual real estate symposium. 'We are in recovery but that does not mean the bottom of the market,' said Grimes."

"Grimes said the sales price for houses is declining and likened a seller’s situation to somebody trying to catch a Slinky going down the stairs. Get ahead of the falling prices so you can sell the house, he urged."

"'It’s almost impossible to catch from the top,' Grimes said."

"He said there’s a silver lining to the cloud of falling prices, however: 'Lee County is becoming affordable again' with almost 3,000 houses for sale at $225,000 or less with at least three bedrooms and 1,500 square feet."

The Herald Tribune from Florida. "January home sales in Southwest Florida gave further credence to Realtors who contend that the market is ahead of the rest of the state if not the nation in recovery. The 4 percent increase in sales for Sarasota-Bradenton and the 13 percent increase for the Charlotte County-North Port marked 2 of only 3 sales gains for Florida's 20 largest markets."

"But the sales gain came at a cost, with the median sales price dropping -- 13 percent in Sarasota-Bradenton and 21 percent in Charlotte County-North Port."

"Robert Milligan, a 26-year-old broker in Sarasota, says he is convinced that the market has hit its nadir, a notion shared by some Florida economists like Hank Fishkind."

"'We have hit bottom in Sarasota,' Milligan said. 'I am eating my own cooking by purchasing property now.'"

"Milligan has bought six houses and plans to hold them as rentals. He has found single-family homes in Sarasota that sell for $150,000 or less, and can finance them as rental property for $1,200 to $1,300 per month to cover his expenses."

"'Rentals are more favorable in Sarasota than in Charlotte or North Port since they had such a huge building boom there,' Milligan said."

"Pricing remains the focus for most of the region's agents, said Brandon Kekich, a Lakewood Ranch-based team leader for Keller Williams Realty, who added that the current environment is testing the skills of Realtors, separating the 'the pros from the Joes.'"

"'We are having a big push of proper-pricing clinics because a Realtor is not not doing his client any good by wearing rose-colored glasses,' Kekich said. 'He should be telling his sellers to drop the prices' to a realistic point 'or get out of the market.'"

The Sun Sentinel from Florida. "Prices and sales of existing homes plummeted last month as South Florida's housing downturn stumbled into a third year. Palm Beach County's median price fell 12 percent in January, to $343,200 from $388,000 a year ago, the Florida Association of Realtors said Monday."

"Sales tumbled 26 percent, to 369 from 496. It was the fewest homes to change hands in any month countywide since the Realtors' group started releasing monthly housing statistics in 1994."

"Last month, 1,746 Palm Beach County homeowners were notified by their lenders that they intend to take back the properties, more than double the 634 from a year ago, according to Realestat.com."

"Palm Beach County's existing condominium market also is in free fall. The median price slid 26 percent in January, to $157,700 from $213,100. Sales declined 20 percent, to 303 from 381."

"Ken and Mindy Rohlman recently sold a Boca Raton condo for $300,000 and bought a four-bedroom house with a pool nearby for $375,000. The house was priced at $450,000 after the owner had turned down a $550,000 offer last year."

The Atlanta Journal Constitution from Georgia. "Home sales in metro Atlanta have slowed to a trickle and likely will remain sluggish until sometime next year, according to Roger Tutterow, professor of economics at Mercer."

"Monthly housing permits in metro Atlanta for single-family homes were 31,029 in December, a nearly 50% drop-off from June 2006. There were 3,244 housing starts in north metro Atlanta in the fourth quarter, down 49.4 percent from a year earlier. In south Atlanta, the tally was 1,661, down 65.8 percent."

"Builders have watched with concern as the region's inventory of unsold houses has swelled to almost a year's supply in some areas. But Tutterow said the glut is partially responsible for a brighter consumer outlook."

"'It means there's tons of property for them to choose from,' he said."

"Consumers are beginning to feel empowered because of their bargaining power and wide selection, 'They know they have the upper hand in negotiations,' Tutterow said."

The Index Journal from South Carolina. "For home buyers, the time is now, but sellers might want to hold off putting their property on the market, officials said Tuesday in the wake of three reports showing large drops in existing-home sales."

"'I think this is a continuation of what we’ve seen in the past 18 months. We continue to see inventory increase and prices go down,' said Walter Todd, portfolio manager for Greenwood Capital."

"'I think all the areas around the lakes are going to continue to grow rapidly,' Tripp Whitmire, co-owner of Whitmire Real Estate Agency, said. 'The problem is all the people in Florida can’t sell their places down there. We see a lot of people who come here and say, 'This is where we’re going to retire as soon as we sell our house.'"

"Whitmire also said the coast is seeing a much larger price gap than the Upstate."

"'I do a little development down there (on the South Carolina coast), and it’s almost like the whole place is for sale,' he said. 'You just didn’t have the same number of investors down there that you had for a while. The prices on the coast spiked so rapidly in the '90s and again in 2003 and 2004, so it’s in the middle of a price adjustment.'"

"'I do see a lot of the prices dropping, but I think they were artificially high,' he said."

"Most local officials said the Greenwood market will continue to favor buyers as long as the supply of for-sale homes continues to grow. 'We’re seeing a significant decline in housing starts, and that’s a positive thing,' Todd said. 'We need to stop building houses before we can stabilize. It just takes time.'"

The Sun News from South Carolina. "The cost of living on the Grand Strand is rising, and some residents are getting squeezed at both ends by paying higher prices for necessities while their paychecks grow less. Staples such as groceries, gas and housing costs have risen over the past year and forced people to dip into savings or cut corners."

"Average wages in South Carolina grew 3.5 percent in 2007 to $37,246, according to Schunk. The most recent data for Horry County show average wages in 2006 were $27,905; the statewide average was $34,281; and the national average was $38,651."

"Home prices driven up by the housing boom of 2005 and 2006 are fueling the cost of living increases, said Coastal Carolina University research economist Don Schunk. The median price of a condo rose $7,148 in 2007 to $192,148, according to fourth-quarter statistics from the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. And single-family houses rose $9,455 to $216,500."

"That makes for a $93,648 spike in condo prices and a $79,550 increase in single-family house prices in the past five years." "'Homes are much more expensive,' Schunk said. 'We have problems with a lack of affordable housing in our area that feeds into a higher cost of living.'"

"'I basically turn [the electricity] off as much as possible,' said Christina Pullen, who lives in Carolina Forest. She said she had to find a way to curb the $50 to $75 per month increases she saw in her bill recently."

"That and pay cuts in her job as a flight attendant have made for tough times, she said. 'It's ridiculous. I took a home equity loan, and I'm living off my equity in my home. That's not right,' she said."