The Orlando Sentinel reports from Florida. "Accountant Jim Galvin thought of his home-equity line of credit as one of life's givens, a solid reserve ready for use when the need arose. So he was shocked last month when Countrywide Financial Corp. wrote him to say it had frozen his credit line. He soon learned he wasn't alone. 'They are freezing everyone across the board,' said Galvin, who lives in Clermont. 'It's panic mode. But I was shocked when I received my letter. I'd never seen anything like it before.'"

"In late 2006, the housing bubble began to shrink. Home sales dropped, and prices began to slip. That affected borrowing. In 2006, Americans drew on $147.5 billion worth of home-equity credit, according to the Federal Reserve. Last year, the amount fell to $60.5 billion, with the biggest decline coming in the final quarter of the year."

"Ken Thomas, a Miami banking-industry expert, said property owners can appeal a bank's decision to cut or eliminate their credit line, but they need to be able to make a case."

"'Customers can go to a bank and say their houses couldn't have possibly dropped from, say, $500,000 to $250,000 in a matter of months,' Thomas said. 'But expect the banks to say it's their right to freeze a loan.'"

"Stan Smith, an economics professor at the University of Central Florida, said concern about the decline in home-equity lending is spreading quickly. 'Everybody is worried,' he said. 'I would argue that, if banks weren't changing the terms of their loans, they aren't very good bankers.'"

"The Orlando Realtors group had 25,472 properties available for purchase last month through its MLS. That's 8 percent more homes than it had a year ago and still close to the record high reached last fall."

"Larry Belcher, finance department chairman in Stetson University's school of business administration, said the Orlando area's lower-wage, tourism-based service economy makes the region more vulnerable to the nationwide downturn in housing because affordability is a problem for average families."

"Those on a typical service wage of $35,000 or so a year 'just can't buy houses' with mortgage-lending standards so tight, Belcher said. When first-time buyers have a harder time getting into the market, it slows the pace of sales all along the line, he added."

"Belcher said two years' worth of inventory is still a 'huge overhang' that probably means continued price declines in the Orlando area."

From TC Palm. "There seems to be no let up in the number of foreclosures piling up on the Treasure Coast. In St. Lucie County, 549 homes entered some stage of foreclosure last month, up from 370 homes in March 2007, according to RealtyTrac."

"Meanwhile, Martin County came in second in the tri-county region with 160 homes entering a stage of foreclosure last month, only 38 were recorded in March 2007. Indian River County had 153 homes entering a stage of foreclosure last month, up from 58 a year earlier."

"'The up-tick in foreclosures on the Treasure Coast is a largely function of real estate speculation that occurred in mainland projects developed in 2005 as values peaked and supply began to exceed demand,' said Sally Daley, owner of Daley & Co. Real Estate in Vero Beach."

The Palm Beach Post. "At the CitySide townhouses in West Palm Beach, landscapers, bug men and security guards are showing up less often. At Paradise Cove in West Palm Beach, the water in the hot tub isn't so hot anymore."

"And at Carriage Pointe in Boynton Beach, homeowners are paying a combined $60,000 assessment to cover dues their neighbors aren't paying."

"The culprit in all three cases is the housing bust. Fully half of 487 Florida associations surveyed recently by Hollywood law firm Becker & Poliakoff say they're facing financial shortfalls because of the foreclosure crisis. And about one-fifth say they'll increase fees or impose special assessments to make up for the shortfall."

"At Carriage Pointe, one out of every three homeowners aren't paying their bills, which led to that community's hefty $60,000 assessment. Boca Raton property manager Norman Silverstein runs Carriage Pointe, and he said foreclosures are hitting hard at many of the 30 communities he operates."

"'I'm in a state of panic,' Silverstein said. 'How can I operate an association with one-third of the funds not coming in? It's a serious problem that's going to explode in the next few months,' he said."

"The financial squeeze is tightest at communities that were completed within the past few years. After all, those are the neighborhoods most likely to be filled with speculators and others who bought at the peak of the market."

"The flood of foreclosures is also hurting associations in an unexpected way: Lenders, faced with soaring numbers of defaulted loans, have been slow to seize properties. In the past, banks would foreclose quickly and take over dues payments. Now, Direktor and others say, lenders are taking months to foreclose and start picking up the bill for dues."

"Lenders filed notices of lawsuits on 1,765 Palm Beach County mortgages last month, nearly four times more than the 445 filings in March 2007, according to an analysis from a local data firm."

"In Martin County, the number of foreclosures jumped from 15 in March 2007 to 104 in March 2008. And in St. Lucie County, foreclosure filings jumped from 54 in March 2007 to 368 in the first 28 days of March 2008. Foreclosure data were unavailable for the final three days of the month."

"Homeowners stuck in unmanageable mortgages aren't able to sell their homes or refinance into cheaper loans before payments on their adjustable rate mortgages reset higher. 'It's really a very sinister, spiraling devaluation, and it's feeding on itself,' said Bill Davis, president of (a) Palm Beach Gardens mortgage firm."

"The largest loan to go into foreclosure in Palm Beach County in March was a $3.66 million mortgage on a condo in Palm Beach. That loan was the exception, however. The average amount of a loan that went into default in March was $251,447."

"The highest interest rate on a loan that went into default was 16 percent, but most borrowers were paying much less. The average rate on defaulted loans in Palm Beach County was 6.7 percent."

The Boca Raton News. "A home sale market that’s virtually dead in the water has created 'an unfortunate trend,' said Boca Raton City Councilwoman Susan Haynie. An increasing number of foreclosures."

"She suggested city staff might consider following the lead of an ordinance passed in Murrieta, Calif., creating an abandoned residential property registration...'so we know who to contact' if the property falls into disrepair or is neglected."

"Negligence of homes is already beginning to show in Boca, Haynie said. 'Drive through some of the neighborhoods and you’ll see.'"

"The Boca Raton News found a similar ordinance in Modesto, Calif., requiring that community to 'track abandoned properties.' The Modesto law makes a telling point, noting that 'California and Florida together accounted for around 37 percent of all foreclosures in the USA filed in March [2007].'"

"'Sometimes, it takes years to deal with foreclosures,' said Haynie. 'This is not fair to the neighbors.'"

The Miami Herald. "Boca Developers had hoped to raze Las Olas Riverfront and build an eclectic mix of condos, offices, shops and entertainment -- including a 51-story skyscraper -- that would become the 'central destination' in downtown Fort Lauderdale."

"But the Deerfield Beach developer's plans are in doubt now that Wachovia Bank has moved to foreclose on the beleaguered property along the New River."

"The developer, which is grappling with the turmoil in the residential real estate market, also is in default on a $275 million loan intended to help finance the Las Olas Riverfront makeover and some of the firm's other projects."

"They are just the latest signs that Boca Developers, which has called itself 'the most prolific developer of unique waterview communities along Florida's eastern seaboard,' is unraveling."

"The situation at Las Olas Riverfront has deteriorated so severely that a Broward judge recently appointed a receiver for the property to protect Wachovia's interest. Receiver Tim Rivers didn't respond to a request for comment. But in court papers, he claimed Las Olas Riverfront's owner isn't paying bills, is neglecting the property, and is not following through on getting city approval to level it."

"Las Olas Riverfront Holdings, the Boca Development-controlled entity that owns the property, lost $3 million on just $2.8 million in revenue last year, a financial statement filed with Wachovia's foreclosure suit indicates."

"Boca Developers' financial troubles appear to have short-circuited redevelopment. It was only four months ago that it submitted another set of revised plans to the city. 'We were working full guns on a submittal,' said Oscar Garcia, lead architect on the project. 'It got to a certain point and it all fizzled out.'"

"'The complex has been a failure because the owner has quit marketing the complex,' said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle. Naugle added Las Olas Riverfront's owners are obligated to operate the property as an entertainment district for at least the next few years."

"'Hopefully the property will get into some responsible hands . . . and be less of a burden on the city,' Naugle said."

The News Press. "Last year, Lehigh Acres resident Marshawn Green was doing brisk work building outdoor kitchens at local homes. Then, construction of new homes and sales of existing homes stalled and Green's livelihood evaporated."

"'When construction takes a downturn, it hurts so many people,' Green said. 'Even the people who have money don't want to spend it right now.'"

"Green was among more than 2,100 job seekers at the CareerBuilder Job Fair Wednesday at Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers. The fair was the second major job fair in as many days. A career fair on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University drew about 1,600 job seekers."

"Lee County's unemployment rate was 6.1 percent in February, up from 3.5 percent the previous year."

"Douglas Bassett, general manager of Brinks Home Security in Fort Myers, said he has been seeing plenty of applicants with construction experience or previous jobs in fields related to real estate. 'A lot of people jumped into real estate and construction from other industries when that was so hot and now they are jumping back into their previous professions,' Bassett said."

"Dave Cory of Estero, said he has been looking for work since moving here from Michigan about six months ago. In Michigan, he installed and serviced equipment for homes and industry. 'I really like this area, but there is not much industry and that has made it hard to find something,' Cory said."

The Herald Tribune. "More than 1,800 homes in Southwest Florida slipped into foreclosure in March, bringing the region's total to about 5,500 so far this year and signalling that the phenomenon is far from over, analysts said."

"During March, Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties had a 4 percent increase in foreclosure filings to 1,830 from 1,759 the month before. Year-over-year, foreclosures in the three-county area are up 239 percent, said RealtyTrac."

"'More and more people are walking away from their mortgages,' said Paul Kasriel, Northern Trust's chief economist. 'In some cases they simply can't meet the new interest rates being adjusted to. In other cases, people are saying: Why continue to pay on this house that is losing money?'"

"Some Southwest Florida builders think that the regional market has bottomed, but note that buyers remain hesitant to buy because they are having difficulty selling the home they are in and because they are not certain that home prices are finished dropping."

"That is likely to have dire consequences for many smaller Southwest Florida builders who have tried to hold on for a rebound, said Lakewood Ranch-based builder Lee Wetherington. 'I think 60 to 70 percent of builders in Sarasota and Manatee will be lost over next 12 months,' Wetherington said."

"Don Cantin, a custom builder who operates in Charlotte County South Gulf Cove area, was building as many as 50 houses per year during the boom. He has seen the pace slacken to about 20 homes."

"Cantin said two of his recent buyers were European investors -- one from Norway and the other from France. 'The dollar being down, they figured they would build now, use the houses for vacations and for their friends and make money later,' Cantin said."

"'If there's any good thing about this, it's that when people come back into market, the housing will be more affordable. Things got too high for most people during the boom,' Wetherington said."