The News Press reports from Florida. "Homeowners threatened with foreclosure could get a 30-day reprieve under a Bush administration initiative announced Tuesday. But people in Lee County, where the number of foreclosures jumped to a record 1,833 in January as prices have plunged over the past two years - had little good to say about the proposal. 'This new plan doesn't address people like me who can't or won't just walk away, people who feel a sense of responsibility but who are stuck in a bad loan due to unforeseen circumstances,' said Kathy Reed, a former real estate agent."

"Now she finds herself paying two mortgages: one on her old house in Alva that she's unable to sell and another on a house she bought in November 2006 in the Cascades subdivision in east Lee County."

"Reed is unable even to refinance the new house because banks tightened their credit standards and won't lend to a self-employed person. The situation is aggravated by the bankruptcy reorganization filed Nov. 9 by the builder of Cascades, Levitt & Son, she said."

"'I'm one of the lucky ones - they finished my house,' Reed said."

"Ed Bonkowski, a Fort Myers-based real estate broker, said the initiative will have little effect and is targeted at helping the wrong people. 'It's not going to do one iota of good,' he said. 'What's 30 days? The people are in, they signed it and they should pay.'"

"If anything, Bonkowski said, 'It's just going to forestall what's going to happen in the marketplace.'"

"Banks need to take back the houses and put them on the market at a deep discount, he said - as little as 10 percent of the loan value. Then, he said, 'The investors will absorb the inventory and the crisis will be over. The money's on the sidelines waiting for this to happen.'"

"Prices have fallen steeply in Lee County since the market peaked in December 2005. Zillow.com, which tracks home prices, released a report Tuesday saying that the median price of all homes in Lee County was $201,723 in the fourth quarter of 2007: down 20.1 percent from a year earlier."

The Sun Herald from Florida. "Less than a week after Sarasota County spokesman Bob Reddy helped reporters prepare articles about layoffs, he became part of the story. In mid-August of last year Reddy was telling the media that remaining employees would have to pick up the slack. Reddy's last day was Aug. 21."

"Five months later Reddy is still looking for a new full-time position -- and local governments are still reeling from property tax cuts."

"'I had never heard of anybody getting laid off from government before, until I did. It's been terrible,' he said of his job search. 'There are jobs out there but there are thousands of people applying for single jobs. I'm willing to relocate anywhere.'"

"North Port City Manager Steve Crowell says the state cuts in property taxes and the national economic slowdown have created the 'perfect storm.' When Crowell began his tenure in North Port in July of 2005, when 'the revenues were strong, the local economy was strong. We were hiring people.'"

"Before Crowell arrived, in 2003-04, 'Things ramped up pretty quick,' he said. After his arrival the real estate bubble burst, revenue from building permits plummeted and city officials reevaluated their plans."

"'I didn't expect there to be a dramatic decrease in building permits,' Crowell said. 'It happened pretty quick.'"

The Miami Herald from Florida. "Aldo Roldan, an economist with a prominent investment firm, spoke to about 450 members and guests of the Executives' Association of Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday at the Broward County Convention Center."

"He said this recession is being led by consumers, who represent two-thirds of the economy and whose confidence is at its lowest point in years. The housing market remains flooded with homes no one is in a hurry to buy, consumers have virtually no savings, banks have little money to lend, and what they have they're reluctant to part with except for the most reliable of borrowers."

"Meanwhile, with house prices falling, millions of homeowners will find themselves owing more on their homes than they're worth, Roldan said."

"'A consumer-led recession is a nasty recession,' he said."

"Ralph A. Marrinson, president of the Marrinson Group of retirement centers and assisted-living facilities, called the speech 'realistic' because real estate, in particular, has been overvalued."

"'We've been nuts paying some of the prices we've been seeing,' he said. 'But I do see lights at the end of the tunnel.'"

The Orlando Sentinel from Florida. "Florida is most likely already in a recession and will see a net loss in jobs this year, the top economist for the Portland Cement Association said in a report that will be circulated this week during the International Builders' Show in Orlando."

"Edward Sullivan, chief economist for the nation's leading cement industry trade group, said the housing crisis and general economic slowdown 'is expected to spread to nonresidential and public construction in 2008 and 2009 -- adversely affecting cement consumption.'"

"'PCA believes that Florida has already entered a recession or soon will,' Sullivan said in a report completed last week in preparation for the National Association of Home Builders' annual convention. 'The housing crisis has temporarily put Florida's economy into reverse.'"

"He said the cement association projects that Florida will see as many as 40,000 net jobs lost during the year, with net growth of only 20,000 jobs in 2009. The last time Florida recorded a net decrease in its total employment was the recession year of 2001, when 28,000 jobs were lost."

"Orlando's resale housing market continued its downward spiral in January, as sales fell to a 12-year low. The 756 single-family homes and condominiums sold by members of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association last month was the smallest monthly total since January 1996."

"The sales count was down 30 percent from December's revised total and 48 percent from January 2007."

"The median price of the homes sold in January slipped to $222,250, down 1.2 percent from December and 11 percent from January 2007, the Realtors reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, the number of homes on the market through the Realtors' listing service rose by 1,426 properties to total 25,724, a record 34-month supply at the current, slow sales pace."

"'It's the law of supply and demand. This is a down market, a buyer's market,' said Steven Moreira, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association."

"January's median price was the lowest since the $215,000 recorded in April 2005, when prices were moving upward at double-digit annual rates. In terms of sheer volume, the local sales frenzy peaked in August 2005, when 3,134 homes and condos changed hands in a single month in the Orlando Realtors' core market."

"Homes in mid-2005 spent less than a month on the market before selling."

The Sun News from South Carolina. "With the housing market lagging, Georgetown County expects a $600,000 to $700,000 shortfall in projected revenue and is working to balance its budget, Finance Director Scott Proctor said. That slowdown also has Horry County making budget trims."

"In the Grand Strand area, sales fell 45 percent for single-family homes and 55 percent for condos in 2007 compared to 2006, according to statistics from the MLS released in January."

"The drops follow the 2005 housing boom, when condo sales jumped 48 percent and single-family home sales rose 27 percent."

"'Building permits are down, documentary stamps are down, recording fees are down,' Proctor said. 'It's not just for 2008. It will affect our fiscal process as we look toward our next budget. We'd love for it to turn around.'"

"Already the County Council has made several budget reductions. In January, the council cut the appropriations to the general fund by $180,000 because of the possible shortfall from building permit fees, decreased the Midway Fire fund by $100,000 because of expected shortfalls in impact fee revenue and lowered the environmental services fund by $150,000 because of projections of less landfill-tipping-fee revenues."

"'Even since then, it looks like we're going to need to reduce it even more,' Proctor said."

The Star News from North Carolina. "Marcia Threewitts took a different route from most newcomers to get to Brunswick County: She drove north. This retail sales consultant moved from Sarasota, Fla. Actually, she's staying in Little River, S.C., and working in Calabash, but she hopes to buy a home north of the state line soon."

"She said aspects of Brunswick County's growth remind her of the tremendous boom she saw on Florida's west coast. But she hopes that this area can avoid the pitfalls she saw down there."

"Threewitts is a consultant for Portrait Homes, selling homes in a new development called Calabash Lakes. With the nation in a well-publicized housing slump, she said sales aren't as brisk as she'd like to see. 'Many people who come fall in love with the community, but they have a home up north that they must sell,' she said."

"She said Brunswick County's current real estate market is far more active than Florida's, where a land rush from the mid-1990s until 2006 abruptly ended."

"'When the crash-boom-bang happened, it wasn't a soft landing,' she said. 'It was a crash.'"

The Chattanooga Times Free Press from Tennessee. "In 2007, John Buechner bought into what he thought would be a dream retirement home in a condominium complex off Mountain Creek Road."

"Instead, Mr. Buechner and the other 27 buyers at the Village at Greenway have found themselves surrounded by unfinished condominiums and empty lots."

"Although he says he is happy with his own home and his neighbors, Mr. Buechner and others in the stalled complex say they are eager for the other 49 planned units — and a neighboring 100-lot subdivision that has only cleared lots and dirt streets — to be finished and occupied."

"'The people here are great, but we obviously hope that the rest of the project can get back on track,' Mr. Buechner said."

"The Village at Greenway, a 76-unit project begun two years ago, was one of a record number of properties faced with foreclosure in Chattanooga during 2007. Last year, Hamilton County Register of Deeds records indicate home foreclosures rose by nearly 11 percent to a record high of more than 1,000 houses."

"The slowdown in home sales has hit home in Chattanooga with several projects stalled by financing or foreclosure problems. Sales at two downtown condominium projects stalled late last year, and each face lawsuits in Hamilton County Chancery Court from condo buyers upset that the projects didn’t provide all that was promised."

"The Clark Centre was forced into an involuntary bankruptcy in December. An auction is scheduled for March 22 to help sell the rest of the unsold units, auctioneer Henry Glascock said."

"'The market has certainly slowed, and some of the inflated prices are coming down,' said Mr. Glascock, who also appraises real estate."

"With more sellers than buyers, another condo development next to the Village of Greenway — Wellstone Creekside — had its development loan yanked out last year by the lender and site work halted, said developer Rusty Criminger. The lender, which Mr. Criminger declined to name, decided it had too many outstanding loans on its books."

"'The public doesn’t need failed housing projects,' Mr. Criminger said. 'All the banks are taking such a hit. It’s not just subprime loans but banks that were faced with reduced limits on how much their portfolios could make.'"

"First Volunteer Bank, which provided some of the construction financing for the Battery Place condos, is offering special loan incentives to qualified buyers at the March auction, Mr. Glascock said."

"'Lenders are being more innovative,' he said. 'Flippers aren’t able to turn properties for quick profits like they did in the past.'"

"One real estate agent said she blames the mortgage crunch and foreclosure fallout on lending practices in recent years."

"'In all honesty, banks were willing to give money and were not concerned about how they (clients) could pay it back,' said broker Teresa Boyer. 'People got in over their heads and couldn’t make payments.'"