The News Leader reports from Missouri. "After several years of construction boom, the brakes hit the local home building industry in 2007. Builders in Greene County took out a little more than 1,000 single-family home building permits — down from nearly 2,000 in 2006. 'Basically, we built too much,' said Tom Wyrick, professor of economics at Missouri State University. 'We're now working the inventory off.'"

"Greene County resource management director Tim Smith sees it differently. 'This is a subset of problems we're seeing nationwide,' Smith said. 'The housing market hit the skids in 2007, making it very difficult to move new homes to buyers. As a result, builders — not sure if they can sell — stop building.'"

"Recent homebuilder association shows sold out its booths in record times. 'Let me say, in 2005 and 2006 we were celebrating. Now it is the opposite of the coin,' Wyrick said."

"After continued feverish growth between 2003 and 2006, the county had expected a slowdown in homebuilding but the landing was a little too harsh, Smith said. Eddie Castleberry, the city's building inspector, said the troubled financial market is to blame. '2005 and 2006 were really fantastic years, and the money was there. Now the money got a little tighter (than we had thought),' he said."

The Chicago Tribune from Illinois. "Sales of new condominiums are falling while inventory, especially downtown, is rising. Last year buyers agreed to purchase 3,783 downtown condo units, down from 5,783 in 2006 and 8,162 in 2005, according to a presentation by Appraisal Research Counselors."

"Construction is slated to be completed on 6,000 downtown condominium units this year, double the number completed in 2005, the peak sales year."

"'New projects are outpacing sales and the gap is continuing,' said Gail Lissner, VP of Appraisal Research Counselors. 'We'll see more auctions as an exit strategy.'"

"Now 5,814 condominiums are for sale in recently completed projects, still in construction or being planned. But the weakening job market is likely to dampen 2008 sales."

"Commercial building in the greater Chicago region will muddle through 2008 at a slower pace than last year, and construction of condominiums will fall sharply, according to a report."

"'Total construction will decline 8 percent, to just under $18 billion,' said the McGraw-Hill Construction Outlook for Chicago. 'Residential construction will continue to be the major drag.'"

"'Most analysts now agree that if Chicago had one construction market that would be considered in a bubble, it was the condo market,' the report said. It used the word 'dive' to describe condo construction starts this year."

The Times Herald from Michigan. "For two years, a 'For Sale' sign has hung in front of Debbie and Steve McCartney's home in Port Huron. For much of that time, the house has been advertised 'REDUCED.'"

"'We hesitated buying it (five years ago), but we did because we didn't know if we'd find anything as nice,' Debbie said."

"The couple have had five appointments to show the house in the past two years, and the home that once was appraised at nearly $150,000 is now on the market for $129,000 and poised for another price drop. They paid $132,000 for the home."

"The McCartneys' story has become all too common. Their real estate agent, Buzz Stanko, said more and more homeowners are bringing their own money to close sales."

"The McCartneys are on their third real estate agent, and Stanko won't distort the reality: They likely will drop their asking price below $120,000 before they attract a buyer."

"'I don't think we're ever going to see housing prices like this for the rest of my lifetime,' he said."

"Proportionally, the number of home sales throughout the Blue Water Area has fallen by a much greater percentage than the sale prices. In 2002, more than 90% of the houses listed on MiRealSource in St. Clair and Sanilac counties sold; five years later, only about 20% of the listings sold."

"Patricia Burden, an associate at Regional Realty in Yale, said a closer look reveals the houses that are selling are the ones at the lowest price."

"'I think that part of this entire scenario is that at the present time there are very few buyers even looking to purchase homes in the higher price ranges,' she said. 'Of the 110 homes sold since the first of the year, 82 sold for under $150,000, (and) only 28 (are) selling for over that amount.'"

The Grand Rapids Press from Michigan. "The growing number of foreclosures flooding the housing market is sparking real estate agents to get creative. Following the lead of others across the country, Five Star Real Estate's James Goetzka is renting a bus and signing people up for a 'foreclosure tour,' complete with snacks and drinks."

"'This is only the first one,' Goetzka said. 'My goal is to continually run these because it's obviously going to be a big dilemma here in 2008 and in 2009.'"

"Goetzka said the tour will consist of homes he has researched and believes to be good buys. All are vacant and owned by a bank or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The four-hour tour's route will be based on customers' desires, but it will focus on Kent County."

"'I'm getting everything from the inner city at $8,000 or $10,000 all the way up to $150,000 or $200,000,' he said."

"Sue Harder was looking through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Web site when she spotted an opportunity. The director of Holland's Ourstreet program saw HUD was making some foreclosed homes available to local governments to buy for the measly sum of $1."

"The homes had been foreclosed on at least six months ago, and HUD hadn't been able to find buyers for them. 'This one is a rarity in our community,' Harder said. 'With the (large number of) foreclosures that have happened, this presented a unique opportunity.'"

"The City Council agreed, voting unanimously Jan. 30 to buy the 76-year-old house at 946 Lincoln Ave for $1 plus closing costs. The 1,086-square-foot house has three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a basement and a one-car garage."

"Holland city tax records showed the Lincoln Avenue house had been owned by HUD since September 2006, and for six months before that by Wells Fargo Bank. The home had been purchased in April 2005 for $104,000 and was foreclosed on just less than a year later, according to records."

"The city may work with a nonprofit agency to renovate the home and sell it to a family who otherwise might not be able to buy a house."

"In Zeeland, city officials did likewise, with the City Council voting Feb. 1 to buy a HUD-foreclosed home at 40 N. Jefferson Ave. for $1. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 966-square-foot house is on 0.12 acre and is listed at $61,200, with an appraised value of $99,000, according to HUD."

"The 87-year-old house's state-equalized and taxable value dropped from $51,900 in 2005 to $39,600 in 2007, according to Ottawa County tax records."

"'What we're looking at is putting it up for bid for some agency that wants to go in and fix it up' and sell it, Zeeland City Manager Tim Klunder said."

"With foreclosures skyrocketing, HUD is finding itself with homes that it can't sell. 'It's given us an inventory that's at an all-time high,' said Louis Berra, field office manager for HUD's Grand Rapids office."

"In the case of the Holland house, HUD hadn't gotten a single offer, even at a list price of $63,000, well below the appraised price of $89,000, city officials said."

From WZZM 13 in Michigan. "With all of the foreclosures on the market, people trying to sell their homes face some tough competition. Many foreclosed homes are for sale well below the market value."

"Tony and Sue Hinojosa are enjoying their first home. Brand new contruction with three bedrooms and one and a half baths...and they paid only $87,000!"

"For the seller it was a big loss. The Hinojosa's got their deal because the house was foreclosed on by the bank."

"'Our goal is to get individuals onto a tour to look at the foreclosure homes. Hopefully, they buy those and get those out of the marketplace because we're finding that the home seller such as your neighbor, friends, co-workers they're having the toughest time selling in this market place because they can't drop their price low enough to compete with the banks,' said James Goetzka, the real estate agent who helped out the Hinojosa's."

"A similar house accross the street from the Hinojosa's sold for $170,000 two years ago. They paid about half that price, forcing future sellers to lower their asking price."

"Goetzka thinks the best way to raise listing prices is to sell foreclosed properties as quickly as possible. But, for now new home buyers are getting a great deal and they're still helping the market with their investment."

From Kiplinger on Minnesota. "Minneapolis real estate agent Cotty Lowry says that until it slowed down in 2006 and ground to a halt in 2007, the Twin Cities market was infected by what he terms a herd mentality, and 'everybody and his brother' owned at least one rental unit."

"But as happened elsewhere, the market turned and investors bailed. In November, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, the backlog of unsold condos rose 25% over the previous year, sales fell 20%, and the average selling price dropped 5%."

"Fear of the unknown pervades his market, says Lowry, driving qualified buyers into high-end rentals -- 'what they think is the safe route,' he says. Suburban empty-nesters who had planned to move downtown have decided to sit tight for now."

The Star Tribune from Minnesota. "For Twin Cities-area real estate agents, last month was the slowest January in more than a decade."

"The number of closed home sales in the Twin Cities metropolitan area fell 21.3 percent compared with January 2007, and the median sale price fell 8.9 percent, according to data released by Twin Cities-area Realtor associations."

"Slack demand and an oversupply of unsold homes pushed the median sale price down to $205,000 -- a 10 percent decline, or $20,000 lower -- than in the same period two years ago."

"'We're all paying the price for rapid growth,' said Tom Musil, director of the master of science in real estate program at the University of St. Thomas. 'People made a lot of money and realized a lot of gains, and now we're seeing an adjustment to those prices.'"

From Finance and Commerce in Minnesota. "The Beard Group has reached a turning point. The 18-year-old real estate development and management company is about to assume a new name and a new business profile, and it starts that new chapter with a new round of financing behind it."

"'We’ve been gearing up for all this for over a year,' said Tom Gump, one of the co-principals at Beard, whose new operating name is Neighborhood Development Partners, LLC. Those changes will...shift the company away from the mixed-use redevelopment and infill projects that have long been its specialty."

"Instead, it’s turning its attention to land development for residential and mixed uses. 'Probably 70 percent of what we do will be raw land from now on,' Gump said."

"And for the foreseeable future, the firm’s major targets in the land market will come from the ranks of the failed residential developments that dot the region, many residual fallouts from the foreclosure crisis that has hammered the housing market locally and across the country."

"The company made its first acquisition in that distressed market last Thursday when it closed on the unsold portions of Inspiration, a 242-acre development in Bayport."

"A Brooklyn Park-based residential firm had lost Inspiration in foreclosure late last year to M&I Bank after the developer was unable to repay $9 million of a $14.65 million development loan. Neighborhood Development obtained the foreclosed project, which includes 133 undeveloped lots, for $4 million, according to Washington County records."

"A project with big debt-service bills but little hope of selling new homes in a deeply slumping market – means promising opportunities for a well-capitalized, experienced developer like Neighborhood Development, Gump said, and the opportunities should continue to grow during the year."

"'Many banks have been holding loans in forbearance, hoping the housing market would turn and their customers could get their projects back on track,' he said. But with job creation flat and few signs that the economy will rebound this year, 'a lot of loan committees are going to decide that they need to move those non-performing loans off their books.'"

"But despite the glut of remaining unsold homes and residential communities, always getting generous discounts in the distressed land market isn’t a certainty yet, according to one of Neighborhood Development’s erstwhile competitors."

"Mark Petersen, who was regional acquisitions manager for homebuilder Lennar Corp. until early 2007, founded Sawbill Cos. last spring hoping to find bargains in the local residential market."

"But Petersen said that distress hadn’t yet translated into significant price reductions, and he and his partners decided to close Sawbill early this year. 'We looked at a lot of properties, but [sellers] were asking prices that didn’t seem realistic,' Petersen said. 'I just wasn’t willing to pay those prices.'"

"Historically, land prices are slow to adjust to depressed housing markets, according to Tom Musil, head of the real estate master’s degree program at the University of St. Thomas. Owners who are leveraged and strapped for cash will reduce prices if they need a sale, but longtime owners often try to maintain the price, believing that markets will return to peak prices, and that limits the potential size of the market."

"Land buyers are also deprived of another benefit that helps other investors in a risky, transitional market, Musil said: Unlike other real estate investments, the cost of land can’t be depreciated, eliminating the small but reliable return other buyers enjoy."

"By buying at the discount they achieved at Inspiration the company can offer attractive prices to builders, according to Gump, and that will be key to succeeding in a soft market. 'What kills a community is when builders back away, properties sit unsold and values get depressed,' he said."