Wink News reports from Florida. "The housing market. It's been a dirty word in Southwest Florida as the insatiable appetite for real estate hits starvation mode. 'It's always on your mind. Is it going to sell and when is it going to sell?' said Rachel Hilsmann. 'We originally started at about $315,000 and this is the 3rd time we've had it in the market and we're now at $199,900.'"

"They're questions that Hilsmann hopes to soon get answers to. She and her husband bought a condo as an investment more than two years ago. $30,000 in upgrades later, still no luck with selling it."

"Numbers from the Realtor Association show that the percent of sold to active listings in the greater Fort Myers area, has nearly doubled in the past 12 weeks. And buyers are getting some pretty good deals. Some agents also say they're seeing three bedroom, two bath houses under $200,000."

"'A couple years ago, It was up to $200 a square foot. I just saw something today that was $63 a square foot,' said Realtor, Jen Buffington."

The Tampa Tribune from Florida. "Bill Lee, a top executive with Sabal Homes in Lithia, always assumed he would bring his son Brian into the family business. But now that Brian is in college and thinking about a career, Lee has had to pass on some unpleasant advice instead: Better get a Plan B."

"The reason: Brian Lee is about to enter the work force at a time when small homebuilders are weathering one of the toughest housing markets in decades. It's forcing some builders to consider closing."

"'It's a tough time to get into this business,' said Bill Lee, vice president of operations at Sabal Homes."

"During Florida's recent housing boom, Lee said, his list of competitors grew. 'A lot of people jumped into this business who shouldn't have,' he said. 'They went from foreman to owner-operator. Some of those folks aren't making it now.'"

"Some of the newer builders, said Sunrise Homes VP Bob Appleyard, were quick to build as much inventory as possible to meet the expectations of buyers. When the demand began to wane, they were left with too many empty homes they couldn't sell."

"'It's what some people called the greed factor,' Appleyard said."

"It's a tough lesson to learn, he said. 'I suspect next time we have a run-up home cycle, builders will get stuck with too much inventory again.'"

The Sun Sentinel from Florida. "Some South Floridians who lose their houses to foreclosure try to get even. They'll strip the plumbing, ruin the carpets and rip out doors."

"Jim Banford, broker-owner of Real Estate Asset Disposition Corp., saw roofing tar in the toilet of a house in West Palm Beach. A 2-foot fish and cement were poured down the toilet at another of his listings nearby."

"'I've seen everything, but that was pretty memorable,' said Banford, whose West Palm Beach-based firm markets and resells foreclosed properties across Florida."

"Exasperated lenders are getting wise to the ruse and offering 'cash for keys' deals, essentially paying homeowners as much as $2,000 not to take out their frustrations on their properties before leaving. Roughly half of all foreclosed properties are returned to the bank with substantial damage, according to a national survey of 1,500 real estate agents."

"'Unfortunately, it's always the bank's fault,' said Wes Yancsurak, an agent in Jupiter. 'In a lot of cases, we have to bring in big dumpsters to clean these properties out. It's just an absolute disaster.'"

"A North Palm Beach house sold recently for $225,000 in a neighborhood where homes are valued at $300,000 or more. A Cooper City house had been appraised at $349,000 but likely will go on the market for $225,000 because it's in such poor condition."

"Some owners skip basic maintenance once it becomes clear that Foreclosure is inevitable, said Terri Gerlach, an agent in Plantation. 'People have fallen out of love with their homes, and they treat them badly,' Gerlach said."

The Montgomery Advertiser from Alabama. "Last month, only about 3,500 of the 43,000 homes on the market statewide found buyers, according to the Alabama Center for Real Estate at the University of Alabama. The time it's taking to sell a home and the prices being paid are well off what they were just a year ago in the River Region, just as they are across the state and the nation."

"Sandra Nickel has been a fixture on the local real estate scene for nearly 27 years. In the last three years, she has watched the housing inventory in the River Region more than triple -- from 1,800 to 6,000."

"Leonard Zumpano, chair of real estate and professor of finance at the University of Alabama, estimates it would take 12 months to clear the inventory. At this time last year, there were 20 percent fewer homes for sale in Montgomery."

"'We had an irrational market that was skewed by easy credit,' Zumpano said. 'And sooner or later, it's kind of a greater example of a fool theory -- you think you can afford it, and the market conditions change and you're stuck with this property.'"

"Catharine Olson put her home in Prattville's Kingston Oaks subdivision up for sale a year ago February, hoping it would sell by the time she moved in June to join husband Daniel in Mississippi."

"The house didn't sell before the Olsons moved, saddling them with the $900 mortgage payment for another five months. Fortunately, the family didn't buy a home in their new community of Columbus."

"'It was stressful every month,' Catharine Olson said in a telephone interview from Mississippi. 'You keep playing a head game with yourself, and keep thinking this month it will sell.'"

The Sun News from South Carolina. "Tough times in the real estate market means many Realtors are calling it quits, according to the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors."

"About 963 members of the association decided not to renew their membership this year, bringing the number of Realtors on the Grand Strand to about 3,100, said Charlie Brindel, the association's executive VP."

"The decline is a change from the days of the housing boom when there were 80 to 100 new Realtors on the Grand Strand every month. The number of Realtors doubled between 2004 and 2006 when home and condo sales were skyrocketing."

"That was when it was a sellers market. Realtors got multiple offers on any given property, and offering prices were often higher than what sellers asked. 'People would line up,' said the association's market analyst Tom Maeser. 'They didn't even have to run ads.'"

"Now, buyers have the upper hand because there's a surplus of inventory that sellers are trying to unload. That also means Realtors have to work harder to make a sale."

"'I think a lot of people got into real estate when real estate was easy. Anybody could have sold real estate in 2005,' said Travis Miller, broker in charge of Exit Realty. 'Now it takes skill and perseverance and determination. You've got to take it seriously.'"

"Penny and Michael Mims, who became full-time Realtors in 2007, said that even the most aggressive of marketing plans weren't enough for them to break even selling real estate. They decided to get new jobs in December after losing about $9,000 on advertising and spending more than 40 hours a week trying to make a sale."

"'We ended up listing about five houses and sold one,' Penny Mims said. 'You just can't make a living doing that.'"