The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "The crowd filed in to the large white tent behind the Bahia Mar resort for Friday's real estate auction organized by Sotheby's and Daniel DeCaro Auctions as a four-piece jazz band played a peppy rendition of 'I Feel Good.' Only a handful of the properties would be selling absolute, where any bid would be accepted. The rest carried a non-disclosed reserve, or minimum bid. The auction, which was anticipated to take four to five hours, wound up clocking in at barely two."

"The first property out of the gate was not a good omen: auctioneer Daniel DeCaro tried opening the bidding for 1850 South Treasure Drive in Miami Beach, a waterfront lot, at $1 million. There was no response."

"He then tried to get something started at $500,000, but again, no dice. $250,000? Still dead air. $100,000? Silence. At that point, DeCaro threw in the towel and passed the property by."

"'Please come see us afterwards,' he told the crowd."

"By the time it was over, 67 of the 99 properties on the block had no bids. 'This was a disaster,' said Fort Lauderdale broker Paul Merlesena following the auction. 'They're basically going to have to give them away now.'"

The Bradenton Herald. "Realtor Don Schroder said some of his clients are floored by the prices currently available on Anna Maria Island."

"'If people haven't been to the island in two or three years, they are finding prices are way, way down,' he said. 'The prices on Anna Maria Island are down probably to 2002 or 2003 levels...Even the homes on water are starting to stabilize. I know there is a canal front property on the island that I saw the other day that is under $600,000, which is extraordinary.'"

"With approximately 575 homes and condos on the market on Anna Maria Island, broker Jesse Brisson said wealthy buyers have the opportunity to be more selective."

"'In the past, when a buyer would come in the door and say, 'I am looking for a three-bedroom house on the canal with a 10,000-pound boat lift and a pool,' it would be hard to find,' he said. 'But now, I can say, 'Here is six.'"

"Real estate broker Marie Franklin said she has seen a lot of changes in the market since she first began selling homes in 1974."

"'The condos that people are amazed they can now get for $200,000 to the mid-$200,000, do you realize that in 1973 when those things were built they were going for $8,000 and $11,000?' Franklin said. 'People don't realize it but we are just going back to where we should be. So have we increased in value? Of course we have. It is just that we aren't the inflated market we saw in 2004 and 2005 where people were going crazy.'"

The News Press. "The narrow slice of east Fort Myers is sandwiched in between Palm Beach Boulevard and the Caloosahatchee, stretching from Royal Palm Park to Riverside Community Center, near downtown. Eclectic is an apt description of U.S. Census tract 3.01's inhabitants and its homes."

"Rental housing is plentiful. Some of the empty rental units in the tract belong to Charlie Walters. Walters said he has apartments and single-family homes for rent in 3.01 and that his vacancy rate has skyrocketed over the last year, as the economy has faltered."

"'I've cut the rents on almost everything I have from $100 to $400 bucks a month and I've got more vacancies than I've ever had,' he said."

"'Roofers who don't have anything to do now, they're on their way to Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi,' he said."

"He has a building with seven, one-bedroom apartments on Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard where three of the units are empty, despite the fact he's lowered rent to $450 from $600. 'I've had it for about three years and I never had this problem before,' he said."

"Bonnie Gaschk and her husband Harry have lived in 3.01 for three years, in the gated-development The River. 'We moved here from Wisconsin and we think it's a paradise,' said Gaschk."

"She said they considered some of the waterfront high-rises closer to downtown, 'and for the value and the price, we could get three-to-four-bedrooms and four bathrooms, approximately 2,400-square-feet, with a boat lift on the river for approximately $300,000.'"

"Gaschk said they love life there, but have their home on the market for $289,900, so they can move to a single-family home they own in the Waterway Estates community in North Fort Myers. She said they plan to make their departure a temporary one, by selling the Waterway Estates house to purchase another unit in The River."

The Daily Herald. "With the nation's housing market in a slump and the mortgage market in disarray, many home builders are putting up fewer supersize homes and offering smaller floor plans. That seems to be what buyers suddenly want in an era of high prices and tougher financing."

"In some cases, home builders are making the shift to smaller, less costly homes in existing subdivisions, angering homeowners who bought large homes during an earlier stage of the project's development."

"David Raidman moved into his 2,760-square-foot lake-front home in Fort Pierce, Fla., last fall in the first phase of a gated community developed by Lennar Corp."

"Raidman said he was told that his home would be surrounded by similarly sized and priced homes. But when he heard Lennar was planning to build much smaller homes in his neighborhood, he and other homeowners fought the company's plans."

"'Our biggest concern is what it would do to the value of our homes,' said Raidman, who doubts he can sell his home today for the $300,000 he paid for it last year. Standing on his back porch, he can look out across the lake and see at least six newer, smaller homes. 'The garage looks bigger than the house,' he said."

The Miami Herald. "Seth Gissen is a process server, a sworn court officer called upon to deliver official notices to homeowners that their lenders have filed foreclosure. As the mortgage meltdown hits a critical mass in South Florida, it seems that his presence in neighborhoods throughout the region is becoming almost as common as that of the mail carrier or meter reader."

"About a year ago, business from foreclosures started to pick up. In the last two or three months, it has become a deluge. Last month, 7,499 foreclosure actions were filed in Miami-Dade and Broward counties alone."

"As the workload grows, the Gissen & Zawyer firm must hire. The firm is glad to be in a position to hire. Many recent employees have come from the real-estate industry -- agents, mortgage brokers, appraisers and support-staff members driven out of work by the slowdown."

"'We have people that were without jobs for six, seven months,' Sean Zawyer said. 'They were dying. I feel like a few of them almost cried when we offered them a job. They were so happy.'"

"'Most of them aren't surprised,' Zawyer said. 'Most of the time, they've already been sent letters or been contacted by the banks and I guess they know it's coming, or know it's inevitable.'"

"That's when the firm actually serves a homeowner, which has become increasingly hard to do in recent months. In eight addresses that Gissen visited Thursday night, three tenants were served, but not a single homeowner. A few of the properties seemed vacant."

"Census figures show that Miami-Dade County had among the highest home vacancy rates of major U.S. metropolitan areas at the end of last year -- about 4.4 percent, up from 1.6 percent in 2001. The national average is 2.8 percent. A lot of that is perhaps due to new construction."

"'Some of the people are walking away from their houses -- they're upside down,' Zawyer says. 'A lot of them were investors.'"

"When he steps into the lobby of Jade, a luxury condo building, Gissen says he is not optimistic about serving Raul Reina, who owes $1 million on a unit. Reina's listed phone number in New Jersey was disconnected."

"'This is about the eighth time we've come here,' Gissen says. 'The people in this building, they're never here. Everyone we've done here has been an investor.'"

"The concierge knows the routine; he answers no questions. The security guard, Yoel Estrada, also knows the routine. The man who works the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift does, too. He takes Gissen to the 45th floor. Gissen knocks. Nothing. 'It sounds empty. It sounds hollow,' Gissen says."

"Estrada nods. 'These people think they can live a lavish lifestyle, but they can't even pay the maintenance fees,' Estrada says."

"Gissen glances at the service papers. The party behind the foreclosure: Bear Stearns."