The Marin Independent Journal reports from California. "The median price of a single-family home last month was $862,500, down from $965,000 a year earlier, and just 110 single-family homes were sold - about half as many as the 218 sold in March 2007, DataQuick reported. Sales totals 'were easily the slowest March in Marin,' said John Karevoll, a DataQuick analyst, who noted the research firm's records date back to 1988."

"'This is a pitifully low sales count is more of an illustration of what is not going on, rather than what is going on,' Karevoll said, noting March figures were a record low for the Bay Area as well."

"'Sellers are still trying to overprice their homes and nobody is falling for it any more,' said real estate agent Celine von May."

"The county's inventory of 1,401 homes for sale is up from the 1,087 properties on the market at this time last year, said Levi Swift, president of the Marin Association of Realtors."

"Buyers remain hesitant, Swift said. 'They want to make sure they're not catching a falling knife.'"

"The 213 properties in default in March is up 14 percent from February and 167 percent from a year ago, according to ForeclosureRadar."

Bay Area Newsgroup. "Economist Christopher Thornberg said that prices falling across the coastal Bay Area is the last part of the housing bubble bursting. Unfortunately, that area has been most resistant to the idea that their values may drop."

"'It's not only Marin and San Mateo counties having this illusion that it won't happen to them, it's also Newport Beach,' Thornberg said."

"Instead, Thornberg said that the first signs of the housing bubble started in inland areas and are slowly moving outwards to the Pacific. 'You can't have plummeting prices in San Joaquin and East Contra Costa counties that don't affect Western Contra Costa and Alameda counties,' he said. 'And you can't have plummeting prices in Alameda and Contra Costa counties that don't affect San Mateo and Marin.'"

"Foreclosures have become a larger part of the market in the Bay Area, making up 76.2 percent of home sales in San Joaquin County, 49.7 percent in Solano, 26.1 percent in Alameda and 12.3 percent in San Mateo."

"Kari Clouse, a certified mortgage planning specialist in Benicia, said that although government-sponsored loans now exist, their terms aren't very attractive. Still, without 10 percent down, most potential buyers won't be able to afford a home."

"'Right now you need more money down and we live in a state where people don't save,' Clouse said."

"'People don't have the money to get these jumbo loans,' she said. 'Who has 10 to 20 percent down on a $500,000 to $700,000 house?'"

From ABC 7 News. "The Bay Area was suppose to get some relief when Congress redefined conforming loans in high cost regions. Experts say lending polices are simply unpredictable."

"Doug Jones has been in the mortgage business for 40 years. 'I've seen higher interest rates but I've never seen such instability and where even the banks don't know what they're going to do tomorrow,' said Jones.'Today, I can start down a road with a customer and that loan may not be there next week.'"

"'We certainly thought if it was at the conforming rate, you could get a six percent loan for what was considered a jumbo loan in the past that we thought it would help stimulate the housing market and that hasn't happened yet,' said Cathy Warshawsky from Bay Area Loan."

"In Rachel Zamora's case the lender required a second appraisal on her refinance application. It came in $150,000 dollars less then the first appraisal."

"'That means we can't do all the things we planned to do. It's just a shock to find out your home isn't worth what it used to be and it dropped so much,' said refinance applicant Rachel Zamora."

The San Francisco Chronicle. "The more foreclosures that sold in a county, the faster its prices plummeted. For instance, 44.7 percent of the March sales in Contra Costa County were foreclosures and the median price there fell by about a third to $409,000 from $614,500 a year ago, according to DataQuick."

"Richard Lee, a Realtor in Dublin, told the story of one listing that exemplifies how home values are spiraling down. On Aug. 15, he placed a San Leandro two-bedroom, one-bathroom home on the market. Initially he listed it at $499,950, which he said was exactly in line with what comparable homes in the neighborhood had sold for in midsummer. But the house did not draw any offers."

"As the weeks and months have gone by, he has continued to drop the price. The home received some offers around $300,000 but because it was a short sale, the bank had the final say and it did not accept those offers. As of Tuesday, the price was down to $229,950, more than a 50 percent reduction."

"Mona Koussa, a Realtor in San Ramon, agreed that foreclosure sales hurt values. 'It's tremendous downward pressure' on price, she said."

"'It's very frustrating if a seller is trying to do a regular sale that's not in this subprime mess to have to compete with a property that did get caught in the subprime mess (and foreclosed upon). I tell folks (in high-foreclosure areas), if you don't have to sell, take it off the market, rent it out and wait a couple of years until the market swings back up again,' Koussa said."

The Mercury News. "The Silicon Valley housing market got walloped in March, as median prices fell sharply and sales hit record lows for the month."

"Despite high hopes for change, rates for large loans have remained stubbornly high, thwarting some sales. Still, at least buyers now know what to expect of loan rates, said Lisa Blaylock, a Coldwell Banker agent in San Jose."

"'Two months ago, we were still in limbo with what was going to happen with lending,' she said. 'Now, we're not waiting for something to happen.'"

"Marc McIsaac put his nicely remodeled, four-bedroom South San Jose home on the market for $726,000 in February using Web sites. He since has dropped the price by $20,000. He said most of the potential buyers who have contacted him are looking for fire-sale deals for investment purposes."

"'The first question out of their mouth is: 'Is this a bank-owned or short sale?' he said. 'You know they're not necessarily interested in buying your house as a family or whatever.'"

"He and his wife don't really need to move, he said, though they had been hoping to. 'We might pull it off and wait awhile,' he said."

The Sacramento Bee. "Here's one thing you can take from the latest housing statistics: The $250,000 house is where it's at. In fact, you can easily buy for less. Almost half the new and existing homes that closed escrow during March in Sacramento County sold for $247,000 or less, according to DataQuick."

"That's the lowest median sales price in Sacramento County since May 2003. Yuba County saw median sales prices fall below $200,000 for the first time since January 2004. The Sacramento Association of Realtors also reported that homes priced under $180,000 accounted for 23.3 percent of March sales in Sacramento County and West Sacramento."

"These numbers confirm the obvious: After more than 15,000 foreclosures since January of last year in the capital region, bank repossessions have become the house of choice for investors and first-time buyers."

"Bank-owned homes now account for more than half of real estate sales in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties, said Mike Lyon, head of Sacramento-based Lyon Real Estate."

"DataQuick reported Thursday that 2,522 buyers closed escrow during March in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. That was up from 2,162 closings during February, but it wasn't the usual spring leap."

"DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said that like most of California, the Sacramento market saw 'about half the increase we usually do between February and March. You're supposed to burst out of the winter doldrums, not merely accelerate,' he said."

"John and Toni Daniels of Sacramento are among those who scored a foreclosure deal. 'Ours is a Countrywide repo,' said John Daniels, now in escrow for a house in Elk Grove priced below $250,000."

"Their 1,935-square-foot purchase with a three-car garage, pool and spa was once priced at almost $400,000, said Daniels."

The Desert Sun. "More than 1,200 Coachella Valley properties were in some stage of foreclosure in March, according to RealtyTrac. That's more than double the 532 desert homes that were in foreclosure a year ago. And it's a 28 percent jump from February's figures."

"Mike Capizzi...the sales and marketing director of the Pacific Auction Exchange in Indian Wells said about 85 percent of the franchise's business now involves foreclosures."

"Capizzi said he expects to see even more auctions in coming months as summer nears, when Coachella Valley home sales are historically slow. 'It seems every house we show or sell is somehow bank-related,' Capizzi said."

The Daily Pilot. "Throughout the region, many Realtors and lenders said they had seen a leap in customers as housing costs fell and buyers who had been priced out of the market were finally able to close."

"The numbers for March, though, show another bleak month for the home industry in Southern California."

"The research firm DataQuick, which has compiled home statistics since 1988, declared Tuesday that Southland home sales were slower last month than in any March in the last two decades." 'The number of homes sold dropped 41.4% across the region and 46.9% in Orange County from the same month a year ago."

"Newport-Mesa, for the most part, was no exception. In four of the eight ZIP codes in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, sales fell even more steeply from a year ago than the Orange County average."

"'You’ve got everyone that’s reading the news and everyone’s freaked out,' said Steve Jones, a Westside developer who has tried for months to sell the last two condominiums in his 1.7 Ocean complex. 'What I keep telling people is that this is when you can get a deal. This is when people are willing to negotiate.'"

The North County Times. "Home builders requested the fewest number of permits on record during the first quarter of the year. The number of permits fell to 926 units in the first quarter, down 63.6 percent from the same period last year, according to a report by the Construction Industry Research Board."

"It was the lowest first quarter number since the board started recording data in 1988, before the county's last housing recession in the early 1990s. March's figures were by far the worst this year, with builders requesting permits for just 193 units, an 83.7 percent drop-off from a year ago."

"Permits are generally considered a forward-looking assessment of the housing market because it takes builders up to a year or two to finish construction after first requesting the permit."

"During the previous housing recession in the early '90s, home sales began to recover about one year after building permits hit a low point. Prices, however, did not recover for four years."

"As inventory has flooded the market, builders have pulled back because new homes are more expensive and they are struggling to compete with deeply discounted foreclosures, analysts said."

"Though a low in permits preceded by four years the turnaround of San Diego County's previous housing recession, some analysts said this recession, which began with falling prices in November 2005, will be shorter because prices and sales have declined at much sharper rates."

"Other analysts and economists disagree, saying the market still has two or three more years of decline before recovery."

"Including March home sales, monthly sales for San Diego County have been lower than the year before for the last 45 months, according to DataQuick."

The Bakersfield Californian. "The turmoil in the real estate industry has claimed another casualty, this time engulfing a high-profile Bakersfield home loan officer. Robert Russo, who advertised as 'Bakersfield’s Refi Guy,' filed for Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy on March 26."

"'I cornered myself in that market of refi and it’s gone,' Russo, said."

"Russo’s bankruptcy attorney, Phillip Gillet, said he consults with financially strapped mortgage brokers, real estate agents and those who work in construction on an almost daily basis."

"Many of those in the mortgage industry, where commissions are typically lower than those earned by real estate agents, are struggling with the diminished volume of loans, said Brian Dawson, president of a Bakersfield residential mortgage company."

"'The market turned off, and the business turned off so fast, and it just caught people,' Dawson said."

"Russo’s employer, Home Savings Mortgage, filed for bankruptcy last year, leaving him with a heap of unpaid advertising bills — an expense he once shared with the company. 'They left me hanging,' Russo said."

The Fresno Bee. "The downturn in the economy has put a wrinkle in the cosmetic surgery industry. Plastic surgeons say they've noticed fewer people opting for face-lifts and other elective procedures in recent months as more Americans struggle to pay mortgages and dole out more money for fuel and food."

"'People don't have as much money. They don't have the disposable income,' said Dr. Campbell Waldrop, a Fresno surgeon who specializes in eyelid and cosmetic surgery."

"Dr. Thomas Mitts, who practices in Fresno and Visalia, said he used to have customers booked two and three months in advance. Now, it's weeks."

"Even in Beverly Hills, where plastic surgery is rampant, surgeons feel the pinch. Dr. John A. Grossman, a plastic surgeon for 30 years in Beverly Hills, said this is the first time he's noticed 'a buckling down.' He said he's gone from being booked six months in advance to three months."

"Michael McGuire, a Los Angeles surgeon, said cosmetic surgery is locally driven and that patients living in areas struggling with high housing costs, foreclosures and high unemployment are not likely to shell out money on luxury items."

"McGuire said it's difficult to tell how long the slump will last. But he said no matter what, there will always be a market for plastic surgery."

"'We all love beauty,' he said. 'It does make the world a better place.'"