What do you see in your local housing market this weekend? Defaults? "Our foreclosure rate is nowhere nearly as bad as parts of California and Vegas, but realtors say it is getting worse here. A five bedroom house in Kaimuki. A three bedroom fixer-upper in Waipahu. A two bedroom townhouse in Mililani. Another one in Kapahulu. And a four bedroom house in Kailua."

"'Foreclosures have doubled from last year to this year,' said realtor Carlin Yamashita."

"There are currently 422 homes in foreclosure on Oahu that are listed for sale, including this four bedroom, three bath house on Kaimake Loop in Kailua. 'I was surprised to hear it was in foreclosure. The house has been empty for two years,' said neighbor Nani Kauka."

"Neighbors say a family from the mainland had purchased this house in 2005 for a little over a million dollars. 'Which really surprised us because it's a two-story house in a regular neighborhood,' said Kauka. The asking price is now $875,900."

"'What the foreclosures is caused by is the value is declining and the homeowner having slight problems with the payment, but the value isn't there so they're more likely to walk away from the property,' said Yamashita."

Lower prices? "The average medium price of a single-family home in the state dropped by about 10 percent, from $272,000 in 2007 to $245,000 this year. 'There was a feeding frenzy for investment properties from 2000 to 2005 which drove prices up,' said Robert Scaralia, President of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. 'Now we’re seeing a correction of that market sector.'"

"According to University of Rhode Island Professor Leonard Lardaro, who is often interviewed by the Rhode Island news media, a downturn is a needed remedy for an overextension of the market."

"'We don’t operate under a profit system. We operate under a profit and loss system, and loss serves a purpose. Loss cleans out inefficiencies in both production and management methods, and it also better aligns production with consumer preferences,' said Lardaro. 'Our free market economy is cleaning house, and we’ll be a lot stronger going forward when it’s finished.'"

More inventory? "Calgary's MLS listings are 'totally out of whack,' surpassing 10,000 in April and growing by the day while sales are slumping. Listings for single-family homes and condominiums have hit an all-time record."

"April MLS sales of single-family homes (1,363) in Calgary metro were the lowest for the month since 2000 while condo activity (581 sales) was the slowest since 2003 -- even before the years immediately leading up to the city housing market boom in 2006 and 2007."

"If inventory were a 10th of what it is right now, overall sales would still be pretty good, said realtor Gary MacLean, 'but we have an inventory that is way out of control.'"

"'The other factor is a lot of people got in the market when it was peaked and paid a lot for their house. With the cost of living going through the roof, the first thing to go is the house because they're overextended. They're house-poor,' MacLean said recent data showing declines in housing starts and residential building permits also have a ripple effect on the local real estate market, as do speculators."

"'Those are the people that went out and bought four, five, six, seven condos in a building that wasn't going to be built for two years. All of those buildings are now being completed. Those people did not want to be landlords. They were going to buy the condo, hold it until the building came due and put it on the market,' said MacLean. 'Well, the problem is of course we have the highest number of condos in history for sale.'"

Desperate sellers? "St. Joseph is the patron of fathers, carpenters, the dying, social justice and the universal church. But this saint’s popularity surges when the housing market tanks. Longmont real estate agent Diane Stow said, 'Whenever the market gets tough, there’s a run on those little statues, without question.'"

"Phil Cates, a mortgage banker for 22 years and a Lutheran, said he began the online business in the 1990s after hearing from a friend about the practice of burying the holy statue. After listening to the woman’s woes on the housing market, her mother asked, 'Have you buried a Joe?'"

"Critics have told Cates that he was 'going to hell' with this promotion of devil worship or voodoo. But he dismisses those claims, adding that 'most people have tremendous amount of fun with this.' And, he quipped, 'in this housing market, we’re all praying for a miracle.'"