The Daily Business Review reports from Florida. "Another major West Palm Beach project is facing foreclosure. The developer of the Sail Club at Clear Lake, who has abandoned plans for the 10-acre residential project, was hit with a foreclosure lawsuit late last week seeking more than $19 million. Robert Kohn, Wellington-based president of Homes for America, says the foreclosure is an aftershock from the collapse of USA Capital, a Las Vegas company that represented thousands of investors and lent more than $900 million to developers across the country during the peak of the real estate market."

"The developer was also the victim of timing. At the height of the residential market, it paid $14.5 million for the aging apartment complex that was to be the site of the Sail Club. The seller had purchased the property about 15 months earlier for $8.08 million."

"'The Sail Club project was well received and had the lender not breached its obligations, the project would have preceded long before the Florida real estate market entered its own period of contraction,' Kohn wrote in (an) e-mail."

"Kohn stated the 'the developer invested millions of dollars in this project that are now lost.' He added 'the developer maintains cross-claims against the lender and its underlying investors for the loss of business advantage and the costs incurred from this failure to fund.'"

The Wall Street Journal. "The condominium market is about to get worse as many cities brace for a flood of new supply this year, the result of construction started at the height of the housing boom."

"Developers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are readying nearly 10,000 total new units in a market already struggling with canyons of unsold condos."

"Lenders of all sizes have $42 billion of condominium debt on their books, according to Foresight Analytics. In just three months -- between the third and fourth quarters of last year -- the delinquency rate rose to 10% from 5.9%, says the research firm."

"In Miami, only 57 units in the 118-unit Onyx on the Bay have closed since August 2007, leaving the remaining 61 units in the possession of the developer, according to Miami-Dade County records."

"The deteriorating economy isn't helping. 'When the world goes to hell in a handbasket, the last thing anyone wants to buy is a condo,' says Cathy Schlegel, a mortgage-loan broker in Fort Worth, Texas."

"Cancellations are rising, meaning developers may not be able to pay back their banks. Peter Zalewski, founder of Condo Vultures Realty LLC in Miami, says condo developers he is working with are expecting 20% to 40% of buyers who put down deposits to walk away from the deal. In some areas, such as inland buildings and new projects along the river in Miami 'walkaways' are expected to be even higher."

The Miami Herald. "First, it was mortgage lenders who began requiring bigger down payments from borrowers in South Florida, ostensibly making it harder to buy and slowing recovery of the housing sector. Now, mortgage insurers are delivering a new blow to a market that is already down."

"Over the last several weeks, the nation's mortgage insurers have been unrolling their own distressed market policies in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, eliminating certain loans from coverage and requiring higher credit scores and more upfront money from borrowers."

"'Historically, real estate has been a down-payment game. We are going back to what we've grown up with,' said Mike Pappas, CEO of The Keyes Company."

"'People are in foreclosure and their houses are not selling because nobody can get loans to buy them,' said Alphoncia Lafrance, president of Midas Lending in North Miami."

"To get loan insurance from MGIC Investment Corp., the country's largest mortgage insurer, South Florida borrowers with a 620 credit score have to put down 10 percent on loans of $650,000 or less."

"Milwaukee-based MGIC reported a $1.47 billion-dollar loss in the last three months of 2007. On Monday, PMI Group of Walnut Creek, Calif., reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1 million. And the No. 3 insurer, Radian Group, booked losses of $721 million in the same period."

"Robert DeLoach, a securities attorney with Fort Lauderdale-based Ledbetter & Associates who closely follows the real estate market, said it's unfair to make qualified borrowers pay for the excesses of the boom years."

"'When I was in my 20s, I got a 95 percent loan. I paid it off. The mortgage insurers are picking on qualified borrowers, even when they have good credit scores, good payment histories and good jobs,' DeLoach said, 'It will hurt us, and it's too bad they singled out South Florida.'"

The Herald News. "Dear Mr. Berko: I own a three-bedroom home in Boca Raton, Fla. It's appraised at $211,000, and my mortgage is $133,000, so I have $78,000 equity. Because my equity is high, a new mortgage would lower my payments and eliminate the $76 a month for private mortgage insurance, saving me $300 a month. But they won't let me refinance."

"My problem is that an ex-friend ruined my credit, and I have a low credit score. I don't owe money to any company or any person. However, I don't have any reportable earnings and did not file a tax return in 2003 or 2004 or 2005 or 2006."

"I have an 18-year-old at home who pays $200 a week, and I made $23,000 last year. I tried to tell this to GMAC, but they told me not to call until I got myself a 'real job.'"

"I must lower my payments by at least $250. My home insurance has nearly tripled, and my property taxes went to $2,496 from $1,540. It's my fault that I bought a house, but I believed I would always be able to make the payments. When they gave me a mortgage, they knew that I had very low income."

"Please explain why GMAC won't make me a new loan at a lower interest rate, but they will continue the current loan with $76 a month PMI that I don't need now. I could really use the extra $300 per month."

"Dear L.R.: Suffice it to say that you can't refinance due to the lupine greed of Merrill, Citigroup, Bear Stearns, UBS, Bank of America and other brokerages warmly embraced by the New York Stock Exchange. Their feral appetite for money, like greed on speed, has contaminated the low-income mortgage markets."

"No matter how significant your equity or how compelling it would be for GMAC to refinance -- they won't. GMAC is as flexible as a cement block. Today, banks insist on a credit score above 640, a respectable reportable income and at least two years of prior tax returns."

"During the past five years, home prices have doubled and some tripled, yet personal income for most Americans has declined...if you are offered $184,500 or even $181,000, jump on it like a duck on a June bug, because prices are still going lower."

"You might consider leaving the state of Florida. The costs to raise a family and maintain a home are so much less in other states and many residents are now leaving the state."

"Florida wages are much lower than the national average, Florida's education system is probably the worst in the nation, the legislature is as crooked as a shillelagh, gridlock is unbearable, the health care system is broken and crime (especially violent crime) is epidemic."

"The sunshine is wonderful, but it doesn't put bread on table, pay the mortgage or educate your children."

The Sun Sentinel. "Trying to make something good out of a bad real estate market, city officials want to buy foreclosed properties and turn them into affordable housing."

"Officials are proposing to directly buy foreclosed homes at bargain prices, fix them up and resell them to qualified buyers, who would get up to $40,000 in down-payment help. Hallandale Beach officials are still trying to determine how the program would work and who would benefit."

"City Commissioner Keith London said he knows of three investor-bought homes being foreclosed in his affluent Golden Island Safe Neighborhood District. 'My question is how we're going to pick the winners and the losers,' London said."

"Hollywood spokeswoman Raelin Storey said her city is considering a similar initiative, but has only a 'few hundred thousand dollars' to spend. She said city commissioners would have to approve any purchase and homes could not exceed $200,000."

"According to public records, there are 1,497 homes scheduled for foreclosure sales in Broward this month. Of that number, 201 are in Fort Lauderdale; 148 in Hollywood; 135 in Miramar; 126 in Pembroke Pines; 125 in Coral Springs; 109 in Pompano Beach; 79 in Margate; and 77 in Sunrise. North Lauderdale has 38 Foreclosure sales."

"Every week, 500 to 700 people call for foreclosure assistance, according to Sue Fejes, assistant director of the Broward County Housing and Community Development Division. She said most are from Miramar, Pembroke Pines and North Lauderdale."

"She said the Broward County Housing Authority, which helps homeowners in distress, is 'so backed up, they're making appointments for June right now.'"

"In Hallandale Beach, 30 homes are listed for foreclosure sale this month. The city had 333 foreclosure sales last year, most in the city's more affluent eastern section, although the problem is citywide."

"'I know one guy, right now he has a Foreclosure and he's now renting his own house [from the investor who bought it] because he doesn't want people to know about it,' said Josh Brown, of northwest Hallandale Beach."

The Herald Tribune. "While today's dour economy certainly stings everyone, retired seniors reliant on investments and older Americans on fixed incomes are being especially squeezed in the current bout of inflation."

"As oil has blown past $100 a barrel this year, gas has risen to around $3.35 a gallon. By contrast, in January 2004, gas cost an average of $1.45 a gallon in Southwest Florida, according to AAA Auto Club South."

"Regional food prices have risen higher. Further increases are expected throughout 2008, experts predict. The same could be true for homeowners insurance, prices for which since 2004 have surged an average of 49 percent in Florida, according to the state's Office of Insurance Regulation."

"Martin and Lorraine Henes know the trend well. They have essentially become prisoners of their waterfront Laurel Lakes home. The couple wants to move back to New Jersey to be closer to children and a granddaughter. They have even put down a $25,000 deposit on a new place in a 55-plus condo community."

"But until their spacious four-bedroom, three-bath home with the pool, Jacuzzi, fireplace, tall ceilings and rich wood cabinets sells, the Heneses are stuck."

"'We can't afford two places at the same time,' said Martin Henes, 83. 'We didn't figure the market would tank like it did.'"

"They are asking $540,000, still hopeful that they will be able to relocate sometime this summer. Their house has been on the market since last year."

"The Heneses are not alone, of course. Three years ago, the median sales price of a residence in Sarasota and Manatee counties topped $350,000. Today, the same gauge is $100,000 less, a drop that has left bottom-seekers wary of committing."

"Some analysts believe the Fed will shave short-term interest rates further by year-end. Although that might stimulate a weakened economy, economists say such a move would be bad news for those who count on interest from CDs, money market funds and other accounts."

"'It's a killer for fixed-income people,' said David Voigt, chairman of the Bank of Venice."