The Beacon Journal reports from Ohio. "A three-year slide in the sales of existing homes in the Akron area accelerated dramatically last year, with 20 percent less money changing hands in 2007 than in the recent peak of 2004, according to the Akron Area Board of Realtors. 'The housing market did well in 2003 and 2004. They were good years for us,' said Marc Hustek of a Realty One office on Graham Road in Summit County. 'Has this area been affected by the downturn in the market? Yes.'"

"'The real estate and housing market will face challenges this year and we will have to do everything right,' said Jim Camp of Cutler Real Estate. 'Sellers have to be more careful in pricing their homes and keeping them in condition and we have to make sure we market the homes properly because of the huge influx of homes on the market.'"

"Camp had another explanation for the market's behavior."

"'Some homeowners were using their home-equity loans like ATM machines,' he said. 'Say a home was purchased for $170,000 and was appraised for $200,000 and now we're telling them their home is only worth $175,000. They feel they can't move because they don't want to lose money.'"

The Toledo Blade from Ohio. "Whacked by speculators, job losses, and other troubles, the northwest Ohio housing market generally staggered to higher levels of foreclosure activity last year."

"Hardest hit among nine Ohio metro areas was Lima, where foreclosures increased 499 percent last year from 2006, according to RealtyTrac."

"Among counties in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, Putnam had the largest jump, at 878 percent. Allen County was next, at 499, and then Williams County at 271 percent, the report said. Williams had the biggest jump among 16 counties from 2005, up 666 percent."

"Mike Sheeran, a broker in Bryan, said the 130 filings last year in Williams County was tied to subprime lending. 'I think … some of these people were going out and getting financing with no money down and the sellers paying closing costs, with a variable rate mortgage. The rates went up and they were out.'"

"In Lima, Larry Vandemark, owner of Prudential Vandemark Realty & Associates, said, 'In 2006, our area was rated as most affordable in the United States. Right afterwards, we had a lot out-of-state investors come into the area and calling, asking if we knew of available properties.'"

"Many defaulted when adjustable mortgage rates rose and they couldn't refinance, he said."

"Mr. Sheeran in Bryan said, 'This whole situation damaged our market. It brought down the prices of existing homes and you've got potential buyers for medium-priced homes that aren't there any more because they can't sell their existing homes.'"

The Detroit Free Press from Michigan. "The days of zero-down mortgages, which helped to fuel the real estate boom, are coming to an end in Michigan. The change means thousands of 'for sale' signs in metro Detroit aren't going to disappear anytime soon as tougher loan qualification requirements reduce the pool of potential buyers, leading to further erosion of home prices."

"Kelly and Nicole Shannon had to rush to close on their three-bedroom Westland home, but they made it just under the wire to get a mortgage without a down payment."

"Kelly said he and his wife had been renting a townhouse for three years. The huge array of homes at falling prices was motivation. 'It was like a candy store, and we could pick out anything we wanted,' he said."

"The Shannons ended up getting their first home in Westland for $34,000 off the original listing price of $162,900. They were set to close Feb. 15 on their 1,190-square-foot house across the street from an elementary school. But their broker at Citizens First Mortgage called last week and said if they didn't close by Jan. 31, they would lose the zero-down option."

"The rush to close on zero-down deals is the result of a letter that mortgage backer Fannie Mae sent to lenders in December reiterating its rule that requires a minimum 5% down payment on homes sold in declining markets."

"'Lenders got pretty loose with their money in the past couple of years. They are retightening their standards,' said John Mechem, spokesman for the Mortgage Bankers Association. 'No down ... is going to be a very difficult loan to obtain in the future, if it ever comes back.'"

"'We are missing an opportunity to slow down the depreciation we are facing. You have a lot of people who would buy right now because the prices are declining,' said Drew Sygit, a certified mortgage and equity planner in Bloomfield Hills. 'They know it's a great time to buy, but they don't have the money.'"

The Sun Times from Illinois. "Associations are beginning to feel some pain over fallout from the subprime mortgage debacle."

"'Foreclosures are a problem for some of our client associations,' said David Sugar of the Chicago law firm of Arnstein & Lehr. 'Newer associations and associations with many first-time buyers have been hardest hit because so many of their unit owners purchased their units with little or no money down and now have little or no equity in their units.'"

"With small to nonexistent financial stakes, they simply choose to let their loans go to foreclosure, he said."

"Jordan Shifrin, a principal in the Buffalo Grove legal firm of Kovitz Shifrin & Nesbit, would not describe the situation as a crisis. Not yet, that is. 'There are looming crises that haven't blossomed yet,' he said. 'It's still too early to tell.'"

"Shifrin places a good part of the problem at the feet of property-flippers, especially in Chicago. 'A large number of units were purchased by investors with no money down, intent on selling for a profit before or just after they closed,' he said. Now they can't find buyers because the market has softened."

"At the same time, the rental market has a surplus of vacant units, so leasing is not a promising option."

"'Some of these subprime purchasers will walk away from their properties and their loans and leave associations with big deficits until the lender takes them back and starts paying assessments,' Shifrin said."

"But, again, these are circumstances that have not reached their most serious point. 'This is forecast for the next six to 18 months,' he said."

"Evidence of the growing number of foreclosures hitting associations was provided by Stacey Johnson, executive VP of E.L. Johnson Investigations in Chicago. Thirteen years ago, the firm began to specialize in the foreclosure process service for lawyers employed by mortgage companies to go after nonpaying borrowers."

"'In the last few months, our volume has at least tripled from last year,' said Johnson. At least 30 percent of the homeowners to whom they serve notices are condominium residents."

The Sauk Prairie Eagle from Wisconsin. "South Central Wisconsin Realtor's Association Executive Vice President John Deininger, said the local real estate situation has not followed the greater national trends. Deininger said that home prices in south central Wisconsin have not increased as much as in past years, but still were up 1 1/2 percent through November."

"'Was there a housing bubble? In certain markets there was — areas where prices were doubling every couple of years had a real problem,' he said. 'In Wisconsin, prices have risen at a moderate rate.'"

"The perceived problem by homeowners struggling to sell their property is the result not of a decrease in home sales, but that of a significant increase in homes on the market, Deininger said."

"'In 2005, sellers had to beat them back with a stick there were so many buyers,' he said. 'The buyers are still there, the sellers are just competing against a lot more properties.'"

The Wisconsin State Journal. "The second phase of Downtown Madison 's largest private housing project is in default to the tune of more than $26 million, its lenders said in court documents that seek foreclosure of its three mortgages."

"The fate of the newly completed Metropolitan Place II, a 164-unit condominium tower, could indicate that national housing trends are reaching Madison, thought by some to be more immune than most places to twists and turns in U.S. economy."

"'This shows that the national foreclosure crisis has hit Downtown Madison for the first time in any meaningful way,' said Ald. Mike Verveer, whose 4th District contains Metropolitan Place II."

"Construction of several ambitious condo projects and conversions of apartments to condominiums in recent years have flooded the market, developers and the real estate industry say."

"'There 's certainly a significant inventory that will have to be absorbed,' said John Deininger, executive VP of the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin. 'I anticipate we 'll see fewer (condo) projects come to the drawing board.'"

"On the East Side, Todd McGrath has delayed construction of his mixed-use Union Corners project, and at the Capitol West Downtown and Hilldale on the West Side, developers have revised later phases from condo towers to hotels."

"Developer Cliff Fisher 's attorney, Tim Homar, said Fisher will oppose any move to put the project into receivership. Without receivership, he said, Fisher could continue to sell units and make his payments. But under receivership, Homar said, the banks could sell off condos at 'bargain basement prices.'"

The Capital Times from Wisconsin. "Knowing they'd be moving into a new house in the fall, Al and Aly Wendorf put their home up for sale last February. 'We were thinking that would give us more than enough time to get it sold,' said Al Wendorf, who works in the construction industry and had been through the process five times before."

"Since then, they've been through two Realtors and dropped their asking price from $324,900 to $294,900 without receiving a single offer on the eight-year-old, 2,600-square-foot home on the southwest side."

"And they've been paying for both homes since September. 'It's not fun,' Wendorf said with a wry chuckle. 'You're working your tail off to pay two mortgages, and you have nothing to show for it.'"

"Such is life in a housing market gone stagnant: After a long boom that peaked in 2005, sales of homes and condominiums in Dane County fell 10.4 percent in 2006 and another 6.3 percent last year to their lowest level since 2002."

"Wendorf doesn't feel the market 'tanked' until last summer and believes that if they had initially listed the home at $294,900 it would have sold. They took the home off the market last month to have it painted and the carpets professionally cleaned and plan to put it back on the market this month as a FSBO (for sale by owner) at $273,000."

"'I won't have to pay commission, so we can lower the price,' said Wendorf, who has used FSBO for three of his five previous home sales. 'I think price is driving this market more than anything else. Everyone has the mind-set that there are bargains out there, and everyone is thinking price, price, price.'"

"Although the Wendorfs' house is out of Nick and Liz Schultz's price range, that sentiment is music to the ears of the couple, who have been trying to buy a house for about a year."

"The Schultzes, who rent a house in the town of Primrose and have no pressure to move, have grown frustrated with what they see as unreasonably priced homes for sale in their $200,000 price range."

"'It's just crazy,' Nick Schultz said. 'People have been used to this bubble around here for so long...they still think you can buy a house and two years later sell it and make $50,000 on it even though the market is terrible.'"

The Hastings Star Gazette from Minnesota. "In 2003, Hastings’ biggest year of growth in recent history, almost 150 single-family homes, and more than 200 townhome units, were built in the city. In 2007, however, those numbers were down to nine and 54, respectively."

"The slowdown in residential construction in Hastings is part of a national trend, Hastings Planning Director John Hinzman said."

"Just nine single-family homes being built in one year is at least a 17-year-low for Hastings, according to Hinzman. Before 1990, the city doesn’t have good records on residential development statistics, Hinzman said."

"Hinzman said between 2000 and 2003 the city annexed a good amount of land, and residential development began quickly in those areas. The Century South neighborhood in south Hastings simply wasn’t there in 2000."

"It was originally thought it would take five to eight years to build out Century South, but between 2001 and 2003, sales were good, so homes were continually being built. The development was finished in about half the time it was originally thought it would take."

"Also during those three years, average housing prices jumped from about $154,000 (in 2000) to more than $222,000 (in 2003), according to numbers from the Regional MLS of Minnesota. Yearly growth averaged almost $23,000, or 11 percent."

"Shelly Kidd, a realtor in Hastings, said 10 to 15 percent yearly increases in average sales prices are not normal. She said they rose so quickly because there was rising demand in the city, as more people moved here."

"'People were willing to pay more for properties,' Kidd said."

"Lance Twedt, a realtor with Midwest Realty, said growth rates like the city saw from 2000 to 2003 simply cannot be sustained over a long period of time and that the 'correction' that’s occurring now is healthy."

"Twedt said when the large build-out of townhomes was occurring in the early 2000s, trends were saying that retiring baby boomers wanted to move out of their single-family homes and into townhomes and condos."

"At the time it seemed like a sure bet, but in retrospect, Twedt said, Hastings may have over-built townhomes."

"The large supply of townhomes today has driven prices down, Twedt said. Today sellers trying to put their townhomes on the market for what they paid for them six or eight years ago aren’t finding much success because the market simply won’t allow for it, Twedt said."