What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Defaults? "Hawaii's foreclosure rate tripled in April, with a 218 percent increase over the year-earlier period. 'There's no good way to put a positive spin on those numbers,' said University of Hawaii economist Carl Bonham. 'There's no particular reason to think things are going to get better in the next year. The sky's not falling, but it's getting a little cloudier.'"

"On a recent Sunday, Laura Ellis and Lorrie Travers of St. Charles-based River City Real Estate packed about 20 buyers into a bus and toured foreclosed houses in St. Charles and St. Peters. There were 992 foreclosed houses in the county in April, up from 146 a year ago."

"Among them are prospective buyers like Brandon and Jamie Wunderle, who are looking to upgrade from their house in north St. Louis County to something in the St. Charles area. 'We want to find the biggest house we can afford,' Brandon Wunderle said."

Builder problems? "Jason Anthony Manor on Cottontown Road was planned as an all brick-and-stone community. But development stalled last year with one home built and three more under way. The developer, Anthony Inturrisi, has built homes in Forest for at least 10 years. This is the first time that foreclosure documents and multiple liens have been filed against him in Bedford County."

"A Realtor involved with the project said Inturrisi 'caught the brunt of the national housing market' when a bank pulled his credit line with fears of how $400,000 homes would fare. 'It's just a shame,' said Teresa Polinek of the real estate company that marketed the homes. 'He's one of the most prominent builders in the area.'"

Lower prices? "The suburbs of New York City were late entrants in the downturn that some economists think is already a recession. The main cause of the current weakness was the bursting of the American housing bubble."

"'In 2005, it was almost impossible to overprice a home,' said Christopher Otteau Otteau, who has been appraising property from northern New Jersey to Delaware for six years. 'In a tough market, nothing is overlooked,' he said as he examined a shallow hole near the front door where a tree had been planted. 'In a good market, lots of things are.'"

Or speculation? "Bob Scott's Fiddler's Cove at Prairie Pines, a 51-lot, high-end housing community near K-96 in Maize, was publicly unveiled Tuesday. 'I guess I timed this thing with the (housing) market so we'd be right on top of it,' he said jokingly to a group of Maize city officials, real estate agents, bankers and guests during a midday luncheon at the tree farm."

"Homes will be a minimum of 1,900 square feet and will begin at $500,000. Some will reach $1 million. Scott admits the project is a leap of faith, but its location and amenities make him optimistic."

"'My heartburn only comes about 4 a.m. in the morning,' he said, chuckling."