The Lockport Journal reports from New York. "Lockport City Court is laying down the law on responsible home ownership. Judge Thomas M. DiMillo sentenced a former homeowner to fines and community service Tuesday for his part in the deterioration of a property that he lost to foreclosure. DiMillo also warned the former occupant of another vacated home that she, too, faces consequences for walking away from title-holder’s responsibility."

"'At some point three years ago you had an obligation ... that you couldn’t afford to do anything about, so you abandoned it,' said DiMillo. '(That’s) a crime in itself.'"

"'Word has to get out that you can’t just abandon property,' said Prosecutor Matthew Brooks. 'You have to do something to get out from under it, not just stick your head in the sand.'"

"Judith Northcliffe, owner of 162 Monroe St., asked the court’s help to get out from beneath the burden of owning a house she bought sight unseen 14 years ago and has regretted ever since. She told the court that her only income is $856 a month from Social Security — and she’s just taken a job, ironically at a collection agency, because she needs the money so badly."

"While Northcliffe has offered to simply turn over the property to the city, Brooks said that’s not permissible. In formal seizure process, any party with a claim to the title, like the bank, has to relinquish the claim in court first, so that it isn’t transferred to the city."

The Telegraph from New Hampshire. "The latest data from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors indicates that Hillsborough County homes and condos that were sold in the first quarter of this year had been on the market an average of four months – the longest period since the group started keeping track a decade ago."

"Sales and prices were dismal, too. A total of 452 properties sold in January, February and March, by far the smallest first-quarter figure in the last decade. The median sale price, measuring the point at which half of sales cost less and half of sales cost more, fell to 2004 levels."

"This means that anybody who bought a house in southern New Hampshire during the last three years has probably seen its value go down, a fact reflected in rising foreclosure rates, which doubled in Hillsborough County last year."

"If there really is a silver lining in every cloud, first-time buyers are playing the only upbeat note in the huge black thunderhead that is New Hampshire's housing market."

"'The best buyers are those who don't own any real estate, have good credit, have cash for the down payment – they are the ones who can make deals,' said Yve Hines, a real-estate agent in Nashua."

"Jim Lyons, president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, added that even perennially optimistic real estate agents don't expect a return to a boom era like the first half of this decade, when median house prices in Hillsborough County increased an average of more than 12 percent every year."

"'I don't believe it will come back wildly,' Lyons said. 'Some of what you're seeing now is reflective of such a fast run-up (in prices). The market is sort of catching up with itself.'"

"The obvious comparison is to the swooning housing market in the early 1990s, when home sales and prices, and particularly condominium prices, were savaged. The big difference today is the greater reliance on debt from new types of mortgages and a greater ease in borrowing against soaring home values."

"'One difference between the '90s and now is that more people have tapped into their equity,' Lyons said. 'They were essentially using their home as a credit card.'"

The Daily Democrat from New Hampshire. "Signs of greater housing market strain have begun to bubble up in the Granite State. Percolating just below the subprime crisis is growing concern about prime — or standard — loans, which have often been touted as stable, secure guards against skyrocketing foreclosures."

"Data released recently shows more than 18,000 New Hampshire mortgages were listed as delinquent as of the end of March, according to the New Hampshire Housing and Finance Authority."

"That figure — coupled with a doubling of foreclosures during the first quarter of this year over the same time last year — is by itself cause for concern, say experts, but more worrying is that nearly 11,000 of those delinquent mortgages are prime loans."

"'It is spreading. It is not just a case of problems in the subprime,' said Dan Smith, director of housing research for the NHHFA. 'We've seen this increasing since 2007.'"

"The U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association reported 250,340 prime loans across the state, with 10,710 — 4.2 percent — being delinquent and 730 — less than 1 percent statewide — already in foreclosure. Of the 32,650 subprime loans reported statewide, 6,390 — 19.5 percent — were delinquent and 1,150 — roughly 7 percent — were already foreclosed."

"'You could make the case that housing is more affordable at this point, but I don't think that's particularly germane,' Smith said. 'That can only work if incomes go up while housing goes down, and I don't think we're there yet. People are extremely uncomfortable with their situations.'"

The Boston Herald from Massachusetts. "The foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts has gone from bad to worse, with the number of homes seized by their lenders soaring in some of the state’s wealthiest towns, a new report finds."

"Some of the state’s toniest locales, including Nantucket, Edgartown and Weston, have seen their foreclosure rates double over the past year, ForeclosuresMass.com finds."

"The increases outstrip the average for the state as a whole, with Massachusetts seeing a 37 percent jump in the number of foreclosure notices filed by banks and other lenders in the first quarter compard with the same period in 2007."

"'The foreclosure crisis really has no boundaries in Massachusetts,' said Jeremy Shapiro, president of ForeclosuresMass.com. 'Communities rich and poor, urban and suburban and rural are all being impacted.'"

"Leading the foreclosure pack, three of the four towns with triple-digit increases are in the top tier of the real estate market. Belmont, Oak Bluffs and Nahant have seen the number of distressed properties increase by 200 percent, 217 percent and 240 percent, respectively."

"The downturn in the market and falling home prices have made it difficult for people to escape, even in wealthy communities, if there is a job loss or other setback, said Karl Case, a Wellesley College professor and real estate market expert. In a down market, the option of selling the house is no longer there."

"'House prices are really the culprit,' Case said."

The Providence Journal from Rhode Island. "Rhode Island house prices during January, February and March fell 9.4 percent, the largest first-quarter decline in more than 20 years, according to a report released today by The Warren Group."

"Meanwhile, sales of single-family houses during January, February and March plunged 20.4 percent from a year earlier — the steepest first-quarter decline since 1998."

"Rhode Island’s real-estate slump is shaping up to be 'more dramatic' than during the early 1990s, when [monthly] 'double-digit drops in price weren’t the norm,' The Warren Group’s CEO, Timothy Warren Jr., said in a statement. 'They are now, and we’re not sure when that will end.'"

"Condo sales in March plunged nearly 51 percent. For January, February and March, condo sales were down 37 percent, compared with 500 a year earlier. Sales of both condos and single-family houses have fallen by double-digits every month since August, the report said."

The Hartford Courant from Connecticut. "Connecticut's housing recession deepened in March, as sales plummeted and the median sales price of a single-family house slid for the fourth month in a row and by the most since the mid-1990s."

"The median sales price fell by 7 percent in March, to $268,250 from $288,500 for the same month a year ago, according to the monthly report from The Warren Group."

"That's the biggest monthly price drop since April, 1995 when prices declined by nearly 8 percent. And the decline is starting to look sustained. For the first three months of the year, the median price has fallen 5.8 percent to $266,000 from $282,500 for the same period a year ago."

"Sales of single-family houses across the state plunged by nearly 30 percent in March, compared with the same month in 2007."

"Warren said Connecticut appeared last year to avoid the housing slump gripping other states in New England. 'But this year, it's a different story,' Warren said. 'The state is quickly catching up with the correction affecting Massachusetts and Rhode Island.'"

The Connecticut Post. "'This is the biggest price drop in Connecticut in 13 years, and Fairfield County is leading the way,' Warren said of the single-family numbers."

"In Fairfield County, sales in March 2008 were down 37.33 percent from March 2007, to 413, and median prices fell 10.09 percent to $508,000. The year-to-date figures for both measures were also down, by 31.87 percent for sales and 8.51 percent for prices, to $507,750."

From The Day in Connecticut. "Local foreclosure filings during this year's first quarter jumped more than 50 percent, according to statistics released Tuesday, and experts say housing prices will likely drop as a result."

"Numbers from The Warren Group show that first-stage foreclosure filings in New London County were up 54.2 percent during the January-through-March period compared with the same period in 2007."

"A total of 407 foreclosure filings were started in the past quarter, compared with 264 last year. That's nearly double the number of foreclosures in the same period of 2006."

"'The victims of foreclosure, for the most part, are not able to re-enter the housing market right away, so there are thousands fewer people in the market for a new home,' Warren said in a statement.'It will take some time before the number of foreclosures starts to stabilize, and home sales and prices pick up.'"

"Vincent Valvo, group publisher at The Warren Group, said it generally takes anywhere from three to six months for foreclosures to be completed once the initial filing is made. He added that an increase in foreclosures of more than 50 percent would translate into lower prices over the short term."

"'It really puts an incredible strain on the market,' he said.'It cannot bode well for property sellers. It's likely that the value (of homes) is going to decline (further), and much faster than so far.'"

"Massachusetts prices dropped 10 percent in March compared to a year ago, while Rhode Island's decline for the month stood at 10.3 percent. Both states are seeing reductions in real-estate prices not experienced since the late 1980s."

"In fact, Valvo said, the situation is so bad in Massachusetts that for every house sold in the state, another is going into foreclosure."

"'It's an absolutely terrifying real estate situation in Massachusetts; it's a bad dream in Connecticut,' he said."