A report from the Oklahoman. "Housing made forward progress with a shotgun approach for years, but it's become a ground game in Oklahoma City, with buyers and sellers staring one another down across a line of scrimmage called a contract. Some buyers don't get it, Realtors said. 'They offer silly amounts of money,' said Jim McWhirter, who owns Gemini Builders and Gemini Realtors in Choctaw."

"McWhirter, president of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, said he doesn't always take such insults in stride. One buyer 'offered me $50,000 less than what we were asking. I countered back with $5,000 more than I was asking,' he said. 'Would I advise a client to do that? Probably not.'"

The Lubbock Avalanche Journal from Texas. "Area real estate agents are facing something many have never experienced before in Lubbock - a down housing market."

"'We still have plenty of buyers out there. We just have lots of homes,' said Realtor Cheryl Isaacs, who's been surprised by the number of new listings that continue to pop up on a daily basis. 'There are a lot of people who are testing the market (for price), but what they don't seem to understand is there's a lot to choose from out there,' she said."

"John Walton, president of Century 21/John Walton Realtors characterized the market as stable. 'I've been at this 33 years. I've seen it go up and down. Sometimes you have to take the sweet with the sour. I've said we live on an island out here,' he said."

"Isaacs said if sellers are serious about selling their homes, they have to be realistic. 'They have to be updated and they have to look sharp and they have to be priced realistically,' she said."

"As for buyers, Isaacs said: 'If they have good credit, they will get a loan.'"

"John Sweeney just wishes the noise would stop. 'I just wish the national news would shut up,' said the president of the West Texas Home Builders Association."

"Local builders are doing what's expected of them, he said, concentrating more these days on custom-built homes instead of speculative building, which some blame on larger companies that came into the local market and then left."

"A Lubbock Avalanche-Journal analysis of the marketplace found new home permit construction down 10.8 percent at the midyear point as the city continued to wrestle with excess inventory. That was an improvement from this time a year ago, when permit activity plunged by 20.2 percent."

"Ron Bassinger, head of Ron Bassinger Inc., said his business remains steady but admits there are more skittish buyers in the market today than in the past - many unable to make clear decisions."

"'It's still better than its been in the past. I've been in this business since 1964 and I can tell you we had a tougher time in the mid 1980s,' he said alluding to state's last major real estate bust."

"Rick Betenbough, with Lubbock-based Betenbough Homes, said the industry is in the middle of what he believes is a two-year slowdown. Betenbough, the only company to open a new subdivision in Lubbock in 2008, blames much of the local problem on outside speculative building companies who came in, dropped product on the ground and then abandoned the market."

"'Our permits today are realistically tied to sales. We're not down (sales wise) that far, but we're not up either. The Lubbock market is flat. Most of us are holding our cards close to our vests and building less specs, which tends to get everyone in trouble,' he said."

"B.J. Walters, a land specialist for Coldwell Banker/Rick Canup Realtors Inc., said larger national lenders have constricted access to new capital, while local lenders are leery about making speculative loans."

"'It started slowing down about 18 months ago,' he said."

"Sweeney, the home builders association president, said local builders will continue to focus their efforts on custom-built, pre-sold homes until the market can correct itself."

"'I know we're down, but we're also coming off from an all-time (building) high,' he said."

The Temple Daily Telegraph. "Bell County residences continue to slide into foreclosure at a record pace. According to figures just released by Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., August 2008 is up 53 percent over August 2007."

"'Foreclosure posting activity has surged again in Bell County reaching its second highest (monthly) level on record. This marked the 10th consecutive month that Bell foreclosure postings have exceeded 100,' said Bonnie Brown, foreclosure analyst at FLS."

"Ms. Brown said 90 percent of the August foreclosed real estate - valued at $17 million - is for single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes."

"Ms. Brown said Veterans Administration loans accounted for 45 percent of residential foreclosures this year. This is the single largest type of loan that defaulted for Bell County homes. For the year, VA foreclosures are up 71 percent over 2007."

"Deborah Huddleston, a mortgage consultant who specializes in VA loans in Killeen, hears and sees a lot about foreclosures these days. She said VA loans fall into foreclosure for a couple of reasons: Deployment to the Middle East stresses families. VA loans that require no money down, which means they're easier to walk away from."

"'If they have problems when they go overseas, it's too easy to let them go,' Ms. Huddleston said."

"Add to that a large supply of new houses, which makes selling existing homes tough, and you've got a one-two combination that affects the market."

"'If you get a home in Killeen and sell it in two or three years you're not going to make a profit,' Ms. Huddleston said. 'They (homeowners) can't sell it and they're going in the hole. I have people coming in for refinancing and they're over 100 percent. People who are going to be in the area a short time really shouldn't buy a home.'"

The American Statesman. "A few years ago, investors from California and other boom markets flocked to Central Texas, looking for homes to buy. Many bought several houses, hoping to cash in by renting out the homes. But now some of those investors are defaulting on their mortgages and becoming a growing factor in the rising foreclosure problem in Central Texas."

"In the past two months alone, foreclosures of homes owned by out-of-state residents have surged in Travis County more than four times the rate of foreclosures overall since last year, based on figures from Rexreport.com."

"Builders and real estate firms began advertising in California, Nevada and other markets where home prices had skyrocketed, touting the relative affordability of homes in Austin and their investment potential."

"The firms even took groups of prospects on bus tours of Central Texas properties for sale. Maricel Ruzol, a Las Vegas registered nurse, took one of the tours in 2005 and bought an 1,800-square-foot ranch home in a Round Rock subdivision. She put 5 percent down and got two mortgages - both at subprime rates - for $151,600."

"But it was harder than she had expected to find tenants, and the property taxes, much higher than in Nevada, shocked her. When a renter's washing machine malfunctioned, causing water damage, Ruzol said, she could not afford the repairs. The bank foreclosed on the home this month."

"Even after getting a second job, 'I can't afford to pay the mortgage anymore,' she said. 'Those houses were nice, and they were really cheap, but they didn't explain the property taxes to us. And they are too much.'"

"The vast majority of out-of-state owners in Central Texas are from California, where surging real estate prices earlier in the decade allowed many people to borrow on the equity in their homes, based on Rexreport data."

"'A lot of Californians had so much equity in their homes, they were looking at other places to invest,' said Gary Painter, research director at the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California. 'It only makes sense that once the Phoenix and Vegas markets shot up so fast that the investors were looking at other places that had less price risk.'"

"'They were not too concerned with what they were paying,' said George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., an Addison company that tracks foreclosures. 'Their thought process was ... they would hold the property for five to seven years and wait for appreciation.'"

"Some investors bought two, three, six or more properties in subdivisions or condominium complexes. And some of them have lost multiple properties to foreclosure."

"Peter Sajovich, a real estate investor and broker/owner with Re/Max Austin Advantage, said many of the out of state buyers were naive. 'They came in in 2005 and 2006 thinking our values were going to double like they did in California, and they borrowed every penny they could,' Sajovich said."

"'They got greedy, took the easy money, and now they are paying the price for it,' Sajovich said."

"David Buttross, an Austin investor in foreclosed properties, said many of the out-of-state buyers joined real estate clubs or went to investment seminars where they were told they could make a quick buck."

"'They were bombarded with bogus information,' Buttross said. 'They paid more for the properties than they were worth. They don't have the financial wherewithal. They are smart people, but they haven't done it, and they didn't know the pitfalls.'"

"Buttross predicts that foreclosures will keep rising as out-of-state investors leave the market. 'You are going to see a full-fledged retreat,' he said."