The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "Florida ranks behind only Nevada in the percentage of foreclosures fueling the current housing bust, Pasco County Community Development Manager George Romagnoli told about 120 people at the Richey Suncoast Theater. Some lost their jobs. Some got divorced. Others who attended the homeowners education seminar Saturday simply bought houses they could not afford."

"There were 630 foreclosure lawsuits filed in Pasco in January, and more than 75 percent of those cases involved homesteaded properties or owner-occupied homes, he said. 'Half of the loan failures have balances of under $150,000,' Romagnoli said. 'These are affordable homes.'"

"'In other counties, it might be speculators losing properties; but in Pasco, for the most part, it's homeowners,' Romagnoli said."

"Steve Masterson of Holiday is a bit of both. He said his wife sued for divorce two weeks after they bought what was supposed to have been an investment home, where he now lives. Instead of renting out the home to make a profit, Masterson said he is struggling to make mortgage payments that include spiraling insurance costs."

"Masterson said he used to make good money as a construction crane operator, but there is no work for him in today's depressed real estate market."

"'I got a raw deal, but I'm trying to dig my way out of it,' he said."

"Fred Sager of Shady Hills said he got into mortgage trouble after his son lost his job and could no longer make payments on a home in the Shadow Ridge subdivision. Sager was a co-signor."

"He said the seminar inspired him to try and renegotiate the loan terms, so he can sell the now-empty house at a reduced rate. 'I'm just a middle class guy trying to protect my good credit' rating, Sager said."

"Many of those in attendance did not want to be quoted by name. That is probably because they are embarrassed that they were talked into an adjustable-rate loan that has ballooned past the point they can afford, said mortgage broker Gene Cunningham."

"'What it comes down to is common sense, and there is a major lack of common sense everywhere out there,' Cunningham said."

"Real estate broker Len Trubia said he came to the seminar looking for solutions to share with clients. Trubia said he has refused to sell homes to people who obtained preapproval for subprime and adjustable mortgages he felt they could not afford."

"'Not everybody is innocent in this thing,' Trubia said. 'There has to be integrity in this business. I call it dirty money' when a home is sold to someone who will not be able to make the payments."

The Miami Herald. "Two condo developers filed for bankruptcy last week. The developer of Fort Lauderdale's Strada 315 condo filed for Chapter 11 despite selling about 40 percent of the 117 units in the two months since completing construction."

"Strada 315 LLC of Delray Beach couldn't persuade Regions Bank to extend a $34.8 million construction loan on the project in Flagler Village."

"Regions also put holds on any money the developer made on unit sales above the loan payments it owed, Strada says in court documents. Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach real estate analyst, said Regions' stance with Strada signals lenders are becoming more aggressive in collecting debts from developers."

"And Surfside-based Beach House Property sought bankruptcy protection. The 12-floor glass building was to break ground last year on the property of the Beach House Hotel. Beach House's 20 largest unsecured creditors are owed $4.6 million."

"At Strada, the condo has sales contracts on 51 of the remaining 69 units, but the developer admits it expects 'a large number' will not close and buyers will forfeit deposits because of the current economic conditions. Nevertheless, it adds it expects to close 'a significant number of units in the next two months.'"

"Regions apparently isn't as optimistic, McCabe said. 'There's good reason for that: We're seeing such a high percentage of walkaways,' said McCabe."

"Regions last month blamed slowing real estate markets in Florida and Georgia for quadrupling its reserve for loan losses to $360 million. The bank is 'acting quickly to address current areas of weakness,'' said Dowd Ritter, CEO of the Alabama-based bank, in a Jan. 3 statement."

The St Petersburg Times. "Mike Burgur returned from work last month to interrupt a break-in at his rented Clearwater Beach condominium."

"The intruders were stripping fans off the ceiling and the knobs off the doors. They had carted out the refrigerator and yanked up a toilet. They'd even pulled the plates off electrical outlets and unscrewed the faucet handles."

"Burgur had no trouble recognizing the culprit: It was his own landlady."

"'I'm going to strip this mother,' the 70-ish property owner raved to Burgur, as she ripped apart the 950-square-foot unit on Island Way."

"People who lose their homes to foreclosure and in a pique of revenge strip the homes before the bank takes them back. Local experts estimate such borderline looting occurs in roughly 20 percent of bank repossessions. But foreclosures are such an explosive growth industry in the Tampa Bay area that home stripping affects scores of properties."

"'She even took my shower rod and coffee pot,' Burgur said of his landlady, who hadn't paid her mortgage in full for more than a year before the bank seized the $300,000 condo in January."

"There's no denying that many strip jobs are deliberately destructive. Witness this single-story beige stucco house in St. Petersburg's Northeast Park neighborhood. The old owner bought the house near the peak of the market in 2005 for $152,800 and couldn't make the payments."

"Neighbors were shocked last month when, as the bank zeroed in on the house, the former owner leased a Bobcat excavator and uprooted the wooden privacy fence and five palm trees. Postholes still litter the yard."

"That wasn't the end of it. The ex-owner dismantled and removed the garage door and the double French doors in the rear, leaving the home exposed to the elements. 'They're mad at the property when they should be mad at themselves,' said Jerry Sigler, an agent specializing in bank-repossessed homes."

"Burgur said his former landlady has missed payments on other properties so he expects the stripping and ripping to continue across Clearwater Beach. 'I moved to a three-bedroom condo in Tampa,' he said. 'Hopefully the new landlord is better at making his mortgage payments.'"

The Herald Tribune. "James Russell Crain and his attorney, John Yanchek, developed a reputation for being inconsiderate property owners when they owned investment properties in The Landings, Bird Key and Deer Creek. Residents often complained that the two men failed to maintain the grounds around their empty houses."

"Now that banks have seized most of Crain and Yanchek's properties for their failure to make interest payments, one would think that problems with homeowners associations would disappear. But that is not the case."

"Thomas Frey, a member of the Deer Creek Homeowners Association, said Port Charlotte-based Peninsula Bank, which foreclosed on a $400,000 loan to one of Crain's corporations in April, is delinquent in paying association dues."

"Jeffrey Kalaman, a Peninsula loan officer who made two loans to Crain and Yanchek, said he was surprised that the dues had not been paid."

"'We've been taking care of the property and fixing the pool,' Kalaman said. 'So I don't know why the dues weren't paid. Maybe it's because they didn't get the check or something.'"

From Bloomberg. "St. Joe Co., Florida's biggest private landowner, said fourth-quarter profit fell as the company incurred restructuring expenses and land values declined. Revenue dropped 35 percent to $93.8 million."

"St. Joe is getting out of homebuilding to focus on planning communities that include residential, retail, commercial and industrial properties. The company had pretax expenses of $10.5 million in the quarter to write down the cost of home sites and exit businesses."

"The company owns 718,000 acres of land, mostly in Northwest Florida, an amount of property about the size of Rhode Island. Most of the land was purchased in the 1930s for less than $100 an acre, Chief Financial Officer William McCalmont said."

"For the full year 2007, JOE had Net Income of $39.2 million, compared with $51.0 million for the full year 2006. Full year results were affected by: Pre-tax impairment charges for the full year 2007 totaled $23.2 million after tax, which included: Approximately $13.6 million primarily related to a write-down of costs on homes and home sites in JOE's residential segment to approximate fair value."

"'This past year was clearly difficult,' said CEO Peter S. Rummell. 'As we prepare for the traditional spring selling season, Northwest Florida resort and residential real estate markets remain very weak...we will remain patient and disciplined in our approach to the sale of our assets with an eye toward maximizing the value of JOE’s land.'"

"On December 31, 2007, JOE owned approximately 700,000 acres, concentrated primarily in Northwest Florida. These holdings include approximately 310,000 acres within 10 miles of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. JOE also owns approximately 14,000 acres in southwest Georgia."

"On December 31, 2007, JOE’s land-use entitlements in hand or in process totaled approximately 46,000 residential units."

"As part of the October 2007 restructuring plan, JOE announced that it intended to accelerate marketing and sales of its inventory of existing developed home sites and homes. The JOE Board of Directors approved a succession plan that calls for the promotion of Britt Greene to president and CEO."

"'Despite poor market conditions, we have seen some demand for high quality product priced to the market,' said Greene. 'To that end, JOE closed on 134 home sites and 31 homes in the fourth quarter. To harvest our embedded investment in existing inventory, we are focusing our efforts to be in position for the traditional buying season that starts in the spring.'"

"'We are working on a number of strategic initiatives designed to stimulate demand as we put time back on our side; however, there are no quick fixes or easy answers,' said Rummell. 'We believe we are taking appropriate steps to improve JOE’s position to withstand these challenging market conditions.'"

"'Longer term we continue to like our position very much,' said Greene. 'JOE’s strategic position is one that cannot be duplicated: low basis land, a lot of it, in Florida.'"

The News Journal. "Mint juleps, eye-catching billboards and country star Travis Tritt's performance for an invitation-only crowd at the Saenger Theatre marked last spring's splashy rollout of the most ambitious residential project in Santa Rosa County history."

"The project called Jubilee promised a glorious new community with more than 500 homes valued at up to $1.5 million, a town center, a new school and a golf course designed by Pensacola's Jerry Pate."

"But the excitement was short-lived. Within months, Jubilee stalled because of unpaid debt, and celebration turned to uncertainty. Investor Barney Ng of California stepped in, taking over from the Atlanta-based Eagle Group, renaming the project Contrada Hills and vowing to press forward."

"But now he's facing a new hurdle that he expects will stall work again. Santa Rosa County resident Euby Black is suing Ng and other key players, claiming they deceived him and ultimately cut him out of the project into which he invested millions of dollars."

"Ng said he never intended to be more than an investor in the project, and now, he realizes he has inherited a development that is many, many millions of dollars over budget."

"'We gave them money to help them develop part of the property in order to bring some investors to the table. Then they overspent,' he said."