The Miami Herald reports from Florida. "The nation's largest home-loan lender, Countrywide, told its brokers in a memo last week to immediately raise the down payment required for all loans made in the tricounty area by 5 percent. For a median-priced $362,500 home in Miami-Dade County, this requirement means buyers have to cough up an additional $18,125 to obtain a home loan."

"Countrywide and other lenders' directives likely come in response to new lending guidelines from government-sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae that took effect Jan. 15. Others like Chase and Citibank, brokers say, enacted similar policies months ago."

"For Coral Gables investor Efrain Osorio, desperate to sell three condos bought in 2005, the trend spells more bad news."

"'I'm not going to be able to find buyers for my properties,' Osorio said, adding he had dropped the price of one condo in South Miami from $347,000 to $299,000 in recent months. 'We haven't even gotten an offer, so how are people going to finance that property?'"

"But Ralph Peña Jr., a Miami-based appraiser who has been watching values drop, said banks are now just behaving responsibly."

"'Was it fair when they gave borrowers 120 percent' of the sale price? Peña asked. 'No one was putting any money down, so they could walk away and let the property go into foreclosure.'"

The Naples News. "They signed for homes costing hundreds of thousands of dollars two years ago, and then the market went bust. Now...buyers who signed contracts for pre-construction condos and homes in the booming market are suing developers under a federal statute to avoid closing and to get their deposits back."

"Others are just walking away from the deposits, usually about 20 percent of the purchase price."

"'Buyers want out ... because the economy is bad,' said Richard Inglis, a lawyer (in) Fort Myers, who has handled many such cases. 'It’s hard to think about buying a second home if you’re laid off or if your economic situation has changed substantially, ... especially in Southwest Florida where we’re selling make-believe and sunshine.'"

"'Two and a half years ago, it was just the opposite,' Inglis said. 'It was developers trying to get out of deals and stiffing customers because they wanted to sell (the homes) for more. It’s so incredible what a sea change there has been.'"

From WBBH-TV. "It is early in the year for such a high number of foreclosures and Jeff Tumbarello, of the Real Estate Investors Association, says the group never saw it coming. 'I don't think the legal system was ever prepared to do this many foreclosures,' said Tumbarello."

"Of those 1,833 foreclosed homes, not every house had a family in it. In fact, only three of every 10 foreclosed homes were owner-occupied. Most belonged to what Tumbarello calls 'speculators.' He says most speculators never even made a payment."

"'The delinquencies are really coming down, but what's left is getting through the people that have quit paying,' said Tumbarello."

"For example, we found on Cape Coral house that neighbors say has been sitting empty for years and the bank just recently foreclosed on it."

"'Southwest Florida is affordable again. We were always affordable and we're back to that. It's quite affordable to live in the North Cape now,' said Tumbarello."

The News Press. "Foreclosures in Lee County surged in January to a record 1,833 - and some home buyers are reaping the benefits as banks increasingly put the foreclosed houses back on the market at fire sale prices. The foreclosures in January eclipsed the previous record of 1,538 set in October."

"'I'm smiling all over,' said Diane Keene, who just bought a three-bedroom, two-bath foreclosed house with a pool in Cape Coral for $135,000." "But as lenders sell the houses they've taken back, experts say prices are likely to plunge even further after a long slide dating to January 2006."

"Keene's agent, Christine Million, said the bank sales are going fast because they're realistically priced - lenders want to dispose of the houses and are willing to take what the market will bear. That's not always true of individual sellers who still hope for the lofty prices of two years ago."

"'You've got 300 properties in a category and only the lowest three or five are getting any action,' she said. 'What are the guys at the top of the market even doing there?'"

"Cape Coral real estate agent John Valdespino saw the housing crash coming in 2006. He got out while the getting was good. Valdespino went through a 10-week 'boot camp' training program to become an Embarq telephone system installer. He now works for the company in Naples."

''People were buying $500,000 homes in middle-class neighborhoods, that doesn't add up to me,' he said. 'I said, 'This isn’t going to keep going.' I said, 'You know, before all these other out-of-work Realtors jump, I’ll beat them to the punch.'"

"He’s not alone. The number of Realtors in Lee County dropped 16 percent in the last year, from 5,157 to 3,959 members of the Realtors Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach, Lee County’s largest association."

"And it’s down 28 percent from the record 5,993 two years ago, when median price of a single-family home shot up 47 percent in a year’s time and real estate was a burgeoning profession."

"Elizabeth Casella came here with her husband 16 months ago, after Hurricane Katrina clobbered her real estate brokerage in New Orleans. But Casella soon realized the market wasn’t the vibrant one that had existed even a few months earlier."

"'I went for an interview with a real estate agency and I was there 40 minutes,' she said. 'The phone didn’t ring. I asked them about it and they said, 'It’s a slow day.' I said 'A slow day means it rings every four minutes.'"

"As a result, Casella stopped the process of transferring her license and is now pondering her options."

"Gordon Koschtial, an agent in North Fort Myers, came here from Detroit and got his license in ’05, just at the peak of the market. He also started Odyssey Homes, which is finishing up some partly-built homes for financial institutions."

"But after that, Koschtial said, there’s likely little work for him here. Home permits are at a crawl: Only 57 were issued countywide in December. If nothing else comes along, he said, 'I’m heading back to Michigan in five or six months to a job that’s waiting for me.'"

"There’s no sense in waiting for the market to come back. 'I’ll be dead and broke by the time that ever happens,' Koschtial said."

The St Petersburg Times. "Supersized Tampa Bay area houses are going on a steady diet. Decades of gigantism in housing sizes have struck head-on the reality of the housing slump."

"Builders are doing what used to be unthinkable: They're shrinking home square footage and cutting amenities for the first time in decades. 'People are rethinking whether they need an indoor swimming pool in the bathroom,' said Joe Narkiewicz, executive director of the Tampa Bay Builders Association."

"Such streamlining is happening with a vengeance at KB Home, which is returning to its roots as a provider of homes for first-time buyers. After inching up to 2,200 square feet in 2006, KB's average home size in Tampa has shrunk to 1,800."

"The company even reintroduced two-bedroom houses scaled not much larger than apartments at 1,033 square feet. Such downsizing allows the builder to offer attention-grabbing prices 'starting from the 130s'. 'It's really helped us get to a price point people can afford,' spokeswoman Cara Kane said."

"The size reductions stem from a confluence of two factors. Locked into pricey land deals negotiated in many cases during the housing boom, builders can't chop prices much more without going broke. At the same time, buyers can't get the big-money mortgages they once could."

"'Many, many builders sold at a loss last year,' said Marvin Rose, who's monthly newsletter Rose Residential Report is required reading for the area's top builders. 'They're cutting each other's throats to get a sale.'"

The Pensacola News Journal. "In concept, Bob Montgomery's plan for a downtown condominium on East Gregory Street has a lot going for it. Beautiful view of Pensacola Bay? Check. Convenient to downtown restaurants and entertainment? Check."

"Right time to sell it? Not so much. 'Two years earlier, it would have been done and gone,' Montgomery said."

"Investors who once jumped into a lively housing market are now waiting for prices to bottom out and inventory to diminish. 'You just have to wait,' Montgomery said, adding he has shelved at least three strong local projects."

"There are nearly 6,800 homes listed for sale in the Pensacola Bay Area, not including for-sale-by-owner homes. Before the local housing market improves enough to make way for projects planned by Montgomery and others, that inventory must come down."

The Times Union. "It was supposed to be the 'forever home,' as Kelly Estes called it. The 3,600-square-foot, five-bedroom, three-bathroom, two-story model in St. Johns County would be the nest for the stay-at-home mother of two and her husband to grow the family."

"But now the dream is an empty lot. A returned check. And yet another snapshot of the nation's slumping housing market."

"The home was to be among 350 single-family units and 100 townhomes in a neighborhood in Ponte Vedra Beach's massive Nocatee development. Centex Homes, which was building the village, confirmed rumors Friday that the company is pulling out of Northeast Florida."

"'We, as an organization, looked at Northeast Florida and determined it's not a community we need to invest in,' said division sales manager Brian Martin. 'It's a market thing.'"

"At first, Estes said she thought she was getting a good deal. She said she talked the price of her Willowcove home down $120,000 to about $446,000. When she found out Centex was ceasing Northeast Florida operations, she said her jitters about the economy became worse. She asked for her $5,500 partial deposit back."

"'We were fortunate in that we had not broken ground yet,' Estes said. 'We thought it would be a risky proposition to build. We didn't want to wind up living in a ghost town.'"

"St. Johns County Commissioner Ben Rich said he doubts Centex's decision will take any pressure off the county's housing debate. County officials have been criticized for poor planning and over-permitting."

"'Depending on who you talk to, we have anywhere between 64,000 and 70,000 homes approved for construction,' Rich said. 'This won't really give any relief.'"