The News Press reports from Florida. "Foreclosure actions stayed high and single-family-home building permits stayed low in Lee County in February, statistics showed. Foreclosures were being filed at a rate of 83 per day, according to data released by the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investors Association. One thing association president Jeff Tumbarello said he's noticed, is foreclosure has lost some of its stigma as so many people do it: 'In '05 you were a leper. Now it's cocktail party talk: 'I had to let something go.' 'Oh, so did I.'"

"The bright-green foreclosure bus pulled up Sunday afternoon to the bedraggled little house on Apple Street in San Carlos Park, victim of a real estate boom turned bad. In May 2005, near the height of Lee County’s real estate frenzy, it had sold for $153,000 — a bargain at the time."

"Now the bank is asking only $59,900: 38 cents on the dollar."

"For the most part, the houses he showed the investors were being offered by a bank at about 50 cents on the dollar for the prices paid in 2004 or 2005."

"'They’re driving prices down,' said Marc Joseph of Marc Joseph Realty in Fort Myers. 'The banks are able to compete' because they simply want to sell quickly and aren’t burdened by having to meet the price of an existing mortgage like many private sellers."

"Joseph said that as more homes are taken back by lenders and put back on the market, they’ll be a bigger and bigger part of the action. Some people trying to sell and pay off a mortgage may be out of luck, he said. 'Those sellers cannot compete with the banks.'"

The Tampa Tribune. "Mark Spector liked the Bridgewater community so much he convinced his in-laws to buy a house down the street. That was in 2004 when Lennar Corp. was in the early stages of developing the 760-home community just east of the Wesley Chapel school complex."

"'We were expecting a real nice, clean community,' Spector said. 'We'd moved from California, and we were expecting the planned communities to be similar to the planned communities we'd lived in in California.'"

"Spector says what he got instead was a community dominated by renters and out-of-town investors. Residents say the community is plagued by drug dealing, gang graffiti and poorly maintained properties."

"'It looks very much like an apartment complex on the weekend where you see a lot of rental trucks moving in and out,' Spector said."

"Binge-buying investors, many of them now stuck with homes they can't flip and can't afford, are either filling those houses with short-term tenants or simply abandoning them. 'My wife and I would love to move,' said Jim Martin, Spector's father-in-law. 'We can't sell our house. I don't know if we could give it away.'"

"Lennar sold Bridgewater as a great place to raise a family. They sold quickly, even as prices passed $300,000. At the time, Spector said, Lennar's sales staff promised no more than 30 percent of the homes would go to investors. The sales contract required buyers to promise they would live in their house for at least a year before selling."

"'The reality, though, is that Lennar sold to a lot of investors,' Spector said."

"County property records shows that nearly two-thirds of Bridgewater's 760 homes lack homestead exemptions - a key sign they're owned by non-residents. Californians, New Yorkers and other Floridians did most of the investment buying, property records show."

"Cory Jarriel, a Hillsborough County firefighter, bought his house in 2005 with plans to live in it for a year then sell it. The deterioration of the neighborhood and the housing market has foiled those plans. Now Jarriel lives next to one of Bridgewater's empty houses."

"'It's never been lived in as long as I've been here,' Jarriel said."

"He's weighing his options. 'I have perfect credit,' Jarriel said. 'I thought about letting the house go back [to the bank]. It wasn't worth letting my credit go to hell.'"

"Standing in his driveway on a bright afternoon, Bobby Martin, 29-year-old financial planner, says half-jokingly that he enjoys the quiet provided by the empty investment properties on either side of him. But more seriously, he notes: 'The only thing you worry about is the fact that they're basically abandoned.'"

"The HOA took down basketball hoops at the community park on Wells Road after the park became a site of drug dealing and alleged gang activity. 'Roughly 130 homes in a community of 763 homes have never paid a single penny towards our dues,' Spector said. 'It's been difficult to maintain solvency because of that.'"

"Spector tries to be upbeat. He hopes the collapsing housing market will drive out investors in favor of more owner-occupants."

"'These are the people who are going to move in and actually live in the community,' Spector said. 'These are the people who are going to take care of the community. It doesn't matter if they had a $200,000 discount from what I paid.'"

"At the peak of the housing boom, Lennar Corp. was building more houses than anybody else in Pasco County. At Bridgewater, homeowners like Bobby Martin live beside empty houses, some apparently abandoned by their overextended owners."

"'They fooled a lot of people,' Martin said of Lennar. He and his wife were first-time homebuyers in 2004 when they bought their 1,700-square-foot home."

"Lennar still owns hundreds of acres...in central Pasco. It also owns dozens of vacant lots that are ready to build on in town house communities near Zephyrhills. In November, Lennar sold its Epperson Ranch project to Tampa-based Metro Development Corp. Epperson was the largest chunk of 8,300 potential home sites Metro bought from Lennar in November."

"Metro has yet to say what it will do with the 1,700-acre Epperson family homestead. The same day, Lennar sold another 11,000 home sites across the country to Morgan Stanley. The two companies created a development partnership, according to documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Lennar sold the land to Morgan Stanley at a 60 percent loss."

The Sun Sentinel. "A California company today is auctioning roughly 100 foreclosed homes in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, with starting bids from $25,000 to $625,000. All the properties are vacant, and some are in rough shape. In each case the lender is looking to unload and move on."

"'The banks are very, very motivated to sell,' said Rhett Winchell, president of Kennedy Wilson Auction Group."

"In this depressed market, the glut of available homes, exacerbated by the foreclosure crunch, means that one doesn't stand out from another. Frustrated owners who list their homes for sale the traditional way sometimes sit for weeks, months and even years waiting for offers."

"Tom Granata, of Venice, auctioned his mother's two-bedroom Plantation condominium on Friday for $110,000. He said he first considered selling it through a real estate agent, but those he interviewed insisted on him listing it with them for a year."

"'The property already has lost value, and I didn't want it losing any more,' he said of the condo, which was appraised at $134,000. 'I think this was the way to go.'"

"Bidders also can choose from among houses and condos in Palm Beach County, including a 5-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath home with a pool in Wellington's Black Diamond development that once was listed for $474,900. The starting bid today is $205,000."

"Paul Bannister is one of the registered bidders for today's auction in Fort Lauderdale. He scanned the list of available properties and is eyeing a three-bedroom home in Lauderhill with a minimum bid of $170,000. It originally was listed at $393,900."

"'This might be a better way to get a good price,' he said. 'I'd like to get it for $250,000. If it goes much above that, I'm going to put my hand down.'"

"Real estate agents are trying to capitalize on the trend and become accredited auctioneers, said Chris Longly, spokesman for the national auction group. 'I think people are starting to see the benefits of the whole process,' Longly said."

The Times Union. "Redeveloping downtown Jacksonville was rife with risk when Cameron Kuhn and his helicopter swooped in. He leapt into Jacksonville ready to buy - gobbling up three buildings and a lot in late 2005 and a crumbling trio of buildings about a year later."

"In all, he paid $55 million - not including any money he'd need to overhaul the structures. 'FOR US, THIS IS NO RISK.' Cameron Kuhn to the Times-Union shortly after buying his second downtown Jacksonville building in less than a month, Oct. 30, 2005."

"'WHEN I COME INTO A MARKET, I MAKE IT SNAP, CRACKLE AND POP.' Kuhn to the Times-Union, Dec. 16, 2005."

"'I NEVER HAD ANY DOUBT. I DON'T FUNCTION IN FEAR.' Kuhn, after reaching a preliminary deal with the city and the Landing on parking spaces, to the Times-Union, March 24, 2006."

"The days ticked off the calendar. And, unbeknownst to Kuhn and other developers, so did the profitable days in Florida's real estate market. 'I WILL LOSE SOME BUILDINGS.' Kuhn to the Orlando Business Journal, Jan. 24, 2008."

"The souring real estate market certainly didn't help Kuhn, observers say, and he's not the only developer in a crunch these days. 'MY EGO WAS TOO BIG ... QUITE FRANKLY.' Kuhn to Orlando News 13, Feb. 7, 2008."

"Kuhn's offices in Jacksonville are gone. He sold the helicopter. Kuhn moved out of the prime offices on the top of the Plaza in downtown Orlando, even though the address is the same on the company Web site."

"And, from a trip to the 21st floor last month, it's clear others have been looking for him there, too. A woman just off the elevator directs another visitor to Kuhn's new offices, where all but one of the handful of entrances was bolted shut last month."

"'124 West Pine Street,' she says, the way a flight attendant rolls through another pre-flight message."

The Pensacola News Journal. "A single mom with a 2-month-old infant called the other day with a question. She was confused and looking for some advice. Seems the young woman, a Warrington resident, wanted a home equity loan to add on a bedroom, consolidate credit card debt and buy new furniture."

"But, as it turned out, she was in for a shock. 'Someone told me I couldn't get a home improvement loan because I was upside down,' she said over the phone. 'What does that mean?'"

"I tried to explain that her house is now worth less than what is currently owed on the mortgage."

"'But I still don't understand,' she said. 'I put $20,000 down on my house when I bought it. I've been making my mortgage payments every month for the past three years. How could I have lost all that money?'"

"In her case, the bank lost business and she'll continue paying 19 percent on her credit card debt. Plus, the carpenter didn't get a job adding on the new bedroom and the local furniture store still has that new bedroom suite she wanted."

"The Federal Reserve announced this week that Americans' percentage of equity in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time since 1945. And economists expect this figure to drop even further. All of which brings up the question that's on the lips of nearly everyone, especially Realtors: 'Where is the bottom to this housing free fall?'"

"I turned to resident housing guru Al Muller, whose Metro Market Trends Inc. tracks residential and commercial sales data in the Pensacola Bay Area. 'To me, the bottom isn't when things turn around and start getting better,' he said. 'It's when things stop getting worse and basically stay there for some period of time.'"

"And the way Muller sees it, there's a lot more downside to come. But if you think it's bad here in the Pensacola area, Muller suggests spending some time in Miami. He says it's the worst housing market in Florida, and one of the worst in the nation."

"One can only take so much bad news, so I asked Muller to lay some good on me. Anything will do, I pleaded."

"'The good news for Pensacola is that the typical median price of a single family home is now selling for about $185,000,' he said. 'We're getting much closer to being affordable.'"