What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Incentives? "Facing a soft housing market, Nashville's real estate agents are moving in for a hard sell. The Nashville real estate market is glutted with an estimated 25,000 unsold properties. Stuck with properties they can't unload, homeowners, real estate agents and developers are resorting to increasingly wild incentive offers to get potential buyers through the door."

"'We're calling it 'smart luxury,' said Realtor Sheri C. Smith, whose clients are offering a free Mercedes Smart Car to anyone who buys their $1.58 million home."

"Realtors are counting on incentives, not slashed prices, to close the deal. 'Has anyone bought (a home) because of the incentive? Not yet,' said Mandy Wachtler, president of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors."

Tax increases.? "Many Fannin taxpayers must be shaking their heads in disbelief, thinking they are in a bad dream receiving notices that their property values have doubled. But, this is exactly what has happened."

"One of the examples Fannin County's chief tax appraiser, Lori Galloway, used was a home valued at $114,607 that sold for $190,000 in 2004. In 2007 it sold again for $295,000. Those who have followed the housing market know this is not likely an extreme example, but a common one."

Slower sales? "Bob Jehl looked down from the 26th floor of the National City Bank Building at the new ballpark quickly taking shape a few blocks away. Jehl's not a big baseball fan, but the 45-year-old electrical engineer envisions the day he and the Wizards are neighbors."

"Developers of Harrison Square's 62 proposed condominiums wined and dined Jehl and other prospective buyers. 'But the prices are a little high, and I'd have to sell my house first,' he said."

"Springfield real estate broker Dick Sage has specialized for almost 30 years in rural properties, and he...wasn't a bit surprised when sales of outlying homes took the hardest hit in Lane County's most recent monthly market report. 'It's the fuel prices,' he said. 'The further away (from town) you get, the more that's going to be an input (in people's home-buying evaluations). It's a fixed cost, just like an increased mortgage.'"

"The area extending from Pleasant Hill to Oakridge went from 25 pending sales in May 2007 to seven last month (down 72 percent), Veneta/Elmira went from 24 sales to 12 (down 50 percent) and Cottage Grove/Creswell went from 42 sales to 24 (down 42.9 percent)."

Economic fallout? "The economic slowdown has cranked up the pressure for many Rogue Valley job seekers. The combination of a declining real estate market, hiring freezes by some employers grappling with rising fuel and shipping costs and the entry of college and high school graduates ready to work has made for a crowded job market."

"'There doesn't seem to be light at the end of any particular tunnel,' says Fred Holloway of Holloway Human Resource Consulting. 'Some don't even know where the tunnel is right now.'"

"As a world-class culinary destination, Las Vegas should offer a buffet of job opportunities for food-and-beverage worker Jeff Hill. Instead of feasting on multiple offers, though, Hill finds little appetite for new hires among local hotels and restaurants."

"'I hear a lot of, 'No, thank you,' or, 'We'll keep your resume on file and call you in 90 days,' said Hill. 'It's been very difficult.'"

"May's results lay to rest the 'myth' that Nevada feels economic torpor less, and for shorter periods, than the rest of the country, said Jered McDonald, an economist with the employment department."

"But Brian Gordon, a principal in (an) economic-research firm, said it's tough to draw broader conclusions from the current downturn because it comes from a unique coalescence of factors, including a bust in record housing prices and a cyclical dip in resort openings."

"'I think there's some validity to the concept that Las Vegas is both resourceful and resilient, but we have several factors creating a negative situation,' Gordon said. 'We never saw peaks in the housing market like the ones we had, and we'll probably never see those kinds of peaks again.'"

Or foreclosures? "Of the 350 resold homes in Surprise in May 2008, 105 were foreclosure sales. Last year in the city, 240 homes were resold, of which 25 were foreclosures. The median resale price for all homes this year was $185,240, whereas last year the median price was $245,070."

"Glendale, like Surprise, experienced a spike in home resale activity last month as 375 homes changed hands compared to 355 transactions last year. Of the 375 sales, 105 were foreclosures. The median price in the city was $190,000 in May 2008, compared to $243,000 last year."

"More than half of the townhouse/condominium resales during the month of May in Glendale were the result of a foreclosure. There were 25 townhouse sales at a median price of $111,945, of which 15 were foreclosed. Last year there were 50 traditional condominium sales at a median price of $147,000."

"Of the 90 homes resold in El Mirage last month, 35 were foreclosures. The 90 homes resold at a median price of $132,000. Last year during the month of May, 55 homes were sold at a median price of $200,000, of which 10 were foreclosures."