The Sun News reports from South Carolina. "Grand Strand real estate sales continued seeing some of the steepest decreases in the state in March, according to an S.C. Association of Realtors report. All areas of the state saw declines compared with March 2007. On the Grand Strand, there was a 33.3 percent drop in sales. The only areas with bigger decreases were the Southern Midlands, with a 44.07 percent drop, and the Charleston area, with a 33.86 percent drop."

"The declines are large here because short-term investors have shied away from real estate after getting burned when the market turned in 2006, said Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors market analyst Tom Maeser."

"'Most investors these days are buying with long-term projections as opposed to short term,' said Chris Price, broker in Myrtle Beach. 'The flippers are out of the market.'"

"Price decreases on the Grand Strand were tame compared with the roughly 20 percent fall in the Hilton Head Island area and the 19 percent drop in Cherokee County."

"'Sellers are being more realistic in their pricing, Maeser said. 'Prices are finally adjusting in the marketplace. They're coming down.'"

"'The big thing is we're not seeing a lot of new home projects come out of the ground because there's not a big demand, and they overbuilt,' Maeser said."

The State in South Carolina. "Home sales continued to weaken in the first quarter of the year in the Columbia area, dropping 11.5 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the S.C. Association of Realtors."

"The drop comes on top of the first year-over-year decrease in home sales last year since 2000 in the Columbia area."

"The real estate industry now is paying for some mortgage lenders’ loose standards in 2004, 2005 and 2006, said Ron Roe, CEO of Russell & Jeffcoat Realtors. 'People that normally would have to save up money didn’t have to, so they were able to buy homes,' Roe said. 'We were actually borrowing buyers from the future.'"

"Statewide, home sales suffered, dropping 21.48 percent for the first quarter of 2008. Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties fared worst, with a 44 percent drop."

The Blackshear Times from Georgia. "While much of the nation’s housing markets are reeling from the economic downturn, Pierce County finds itself in a bit of a slowdown, too - but not due to a lack of people wanting to buy here."

"Poor conditions elsewhere can squelch a home sale here. 'About one-third of (agreements) are contingent on the buyer selling their home, and when those don’t sell, those contracts are lost,' notes broker Carolyn Akins."

"Developer Sonny Bowen and his wife are the proprietors of a retirement community under construction in Blackshear. Only a model home currently stands on the property, which Bowen began developing prior to the nation’s housing problem. He’s had one commitment - and would have many more if homeowners could pack up and leave on a whim."

"'If you count the people who’ve told me if they could sell their home, they would move, I’d have about 20 homes under construction,'  Bowen says."

"Akins says there is a mix of new residents moving here from neighboring counties and those escaping tough housing markets in more populated areas. One state in particular hit hard by the housing crash, Florida, has already had its share of transplants seek life at a slower pace in South Georgia."

"'We still continue to benefit from people departing from Florida, where some have been forced out of the market,' says associate broker Alta Bruce."

"Although homes are still selling, it’s a slower process, realtors say. Potential buyers are being more patient - and a little picky - about what they choose with more homes available to browse. 'People who are selling have to be aware it’s a different market and buyers may be asking for more concessions,'  Bruce says."

The Star Banner from Florida. "Marion County sheriff's deputies have arrested an 82-year-old man and charged him with threatening a process server with a gun when he received a foreclosure notice."

"Robert McGuinness, of Black Diamond Process Service, told a sheriff's deputy that he went to serve court papers on Frank W. Conard. McGuinness said Conard...pointed a handgun at him and said 'You have two seconds to get off my property or you will go to the hospital.'"

"His boss, Ron Ragle, said said his employees have been threatened with knives and people have released dogs on them, but they never had someone pull a gun on them. 'Foreclosures are going through the roof,' Ragle said."

"Ragle said they served 40 to 50 papers a month two years ago. Now, he said they serve more than 300 a month."

The Tampa Tribune from Florida. "A new report on real estate prices shows Tampa's decline was the steepest among Florida cities tracked during the quarter and was more than 15 percent over the past year."

"The city has good company. Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, the two other Florida cities tracked, had slightly sharper yearlong price declines."

"Much of the bad news is because of foreclosures and delinquencies, particularly with subprime loans, said Bob Visini, VP of LoanPerformance, which tracked the data. In the Tampa Bay metro area, 17 percent of existing loans are subprime loans, which have higher interest rates and are typically given to borrowers with credit problems, Visini said."

"In January, 26.29 percent of those loans were at least 60 days late, compared with 9.34 percent at the same time last year, he said."

"Meanwhile, conventional loans are in trouble, too. As of January, 2.88 percent of those loans were more than 60 days late. That's more than double since January 2007 when 1.03 percent were delinquent for more than two months."

"'That may not sound like a lot, but it's bad,' Visini said."

The Herald Tribune from Florida. "Price was the driving factor in the boosted sales in the Charlotte County-North Port market, where 268 homes changed hands in March, compared with 237 in the year-ago period, the Florida Association of Realtors reported."

"The median sales price was $152,200 last month in the market, the lowest since February 2004's $147,100."

"'Realtors are being a little more aggressive with their clients to stop chasing the curve,' said Missy Becker, a Realtor for 23 years. 'That's what's been clogging up the market.'"

"Like its southern neighbor, the Sarasota-Bradenton market hit a median sales price that had not been seen since early 2004. Its $239,300 median was the lowest price since $235,700 in April 2004."

"There were 19 condominium sales for the first three months of this year, compared with 16 during the same period last year, The average price per square foot is still falling. It was $331 this year, compared with $414 last year, said John Van Zandt, an agent on Anna Maria Island."

"Going forward, he predicts an increase in the number of sales but that values will remain low. 'Sellers are having to make significant concessions to get buyers to sign,' Van Zandt said. 'We just have so much inventory, and buyers are cherry pickers. In fact, they are sometimes referred to as scavengers, hyenas and bottom feeders.'"

The Sun Sentinel from Florida. "That median price of an existing Broward County home last month was $311,400, down 16 percent from $372,400 in March 2007, the Florida Association of Realtors said."

"Meanwhile, condominium prices continue to plummet in Broward. The median price of an existing condo last month was $137,000, a 30 percent drop from $195,500 a year ago."

"'With people who are reasonable, their places will sell,' said Patti Seward, an agent in Broward and Palm Beach counties."

"Seward's client, Allison Perrine Cabaniss, recently paid $730,000 for a four-bedroom house in Boca Raton that she says easily would have fetched more than $1 million during the housing boom of 2000 to 2005. She turned around and knocked $109,000 off the price of her two-bedroom penthouse Boca condo, and it sold last month for $550,000."

The Miami Herald from Florida. "The architects of a $37 million mortgage fraud scheme involving luxury condos on South Beach will be spending the next several years in jail for their crimes, a federal judge decided Thursday."

"U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez sentenced former mortgage broker Richard Crowder II to 9 years imprisonment. Crowder, who owned America's Best Mortgage Services, in Coconut Creek, was accused of luring buyers in a fraudulent no-money-down financing scheme to purchase 17 condos in Continuum on South Beach and at the Point of Aventura."

"His accomplices, former title attorney Gary Mills, who owned Deerfield Beach-based Four Star Title, and former Wachovia loan officer, Karen Lynn Sullivan were sentenced to 46 months and 50 months, respectively. The defendants are scheduled to appear again in court on May 29 for a hearing to determine the restitution they must pay to the victims."

"Mortgage fraud flourished during South Florida's real estate boom, law enforcement officials have said, as rapidly rising property values and a frothy sales climate made it easy to mask crimes."

"The slowdown has revealed the extent of the problem because criminals no longer can sell. The state ranks first in the nation in reports from lenders of suspected fraud, according to the Mortgage Asset Research Institute."

The Voice of America. "As home prices soared in recent years, many in the Miami area used cheap so-called sub-prime mortgages to buy investment properties they could rent out to generate additional income. But when the housing bubble burst, many were left with mortgages with ballooning interest rates and properties with plunging values."

"In Miami, the excitement of investing in real estate faded quickly for Sonya, who did not give her last name, because she is embarrassed by her financial troubles."

"The Jamaican immigrant says she invested $40,000 in two homes in West Palm Beach when the real estate market was expanding. The properties were supposed to help pay for her upcoming retirement. But she ran into problems when the units failed to attract renters or buyers as the market turned sour."

"After taking a $25,000 loan against her own home to make mortgage payments on the investment properties, she was still unable to prevent the bank from foreclosing on them."

"'Now I am facing foreclosure on the house I am living in,' she said. 'So on top of taking those two [rental properties], I am trying to see how I can keep the house that is over my head for over 14 years.'"

"The non-profit Neighborhood Housing Services helps delinquent borrowers navigate complex legal and financial procedures to avoid foreclosure. The group's Jacquie Madera says many large banks are willing to negotiate with borrowers to help them stay in their homes, but she says some smaller banks are slower to respond."

"'Instead of doing a loan modification and giving the client a fixed-rate mortgage, they put them on a repayment plan,' she explained. 'That repayment plan is only for three months, and then what happens again? They are back in the same situation.'"

"Laborer Fernando Montenegro says he has little hope of saving his home and the house he bought for his daughter. The Nicaraguan immigrant says he had to stop making payments on the properties six months ago, because his wife and his daughter lost their jobs and his own income dropped."

"He says has talked with the bank, but not to request an easier payment plan. Montenegro says he asked the bank to repossess the houses, because he does not believe his family can overcome its financial troubles."

"Investor Julian Dominguez has been tracking foreclosures at the courthouse for more than 20 years, and says he has seen it all before. Dominguez says he sympathizes with homeowners facing foreclosure, but says many will land on their feet."

"'The news [media] goes to [report] 'oh, they are losing their home.' They are losing the property.' When they go from that to a rental, they still have a home,' he noted. 'They are not on the street.'"