What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Condo problems? "A high-rise renovation project in central Phoenix that received high praise when it was converted from apartments to condominiums in 2005 appears headed for serious trouble. The Landmark Towers was built as Camelback Towers in 1963. Some who bought units in the Landmark say they were fooled into thinking the building's guts also had been replaced - and now they are paying for that mistake."

"Meanwhile, amenities originally promised to prospective buyers, such as valet parking, have disappeared. The exorbitant HOA fees make it nearly impossible to keep up with dues or sell a condo unit in Landmark Towers, owner Rene Kyl said."

"Of the towers' 238 units, 34 are in foreclosure, most of them owned by out-of-state investors, according to Mesa real-estate analysis firm Ion Data. Local analyst Jim Belfiore said Landmark Towers is by no means alone as a struggling condo project in the Valley."

"'The high-rise condo craze took off here when the market was peaking, and the products coming out today are struggling,' he said."

"'They put lipstick on a pig,' Kyl said."

Fewer buyers? "Almost overnight, investment bankers and others on Wall Street have gone from being Manhattan's most aggressive apartment buyers to real estate pariahs. As financial services companies continue to cut jobs and bleed billions of dollars, their employees have far less cash to spend on high-priced apartments, and very little optimism about taking a risk right now anyway."

"Rick Wohlfarth, a Manhattan real estate broker for three decades, said that during the economic slowdown of the late 1980s, fewer people had Wall Street jobs and he could count on a more diverse pool of buyers. Now, his firm's 18 agents are advising 60 clients who work in finance and are struggling to buy or sell apartments when market conditions have turned against them."

"'This downturn is more profound because it has hit the largest customer base we've had,' he said."

Builder difficulties? " The Diamond Group has cut its asking price for a 2-acre lot in the city's Morrell Park neighborhood in half. The lot has room for 20 new townhomes. Anne Arundel County home builder William Douglas Homes has four parcels of vacant land for sale in Maryland. Four years ago, selling empty land was an afterthought for the home builder."

"And most lots are sitting on the market for months, a significant difference from five years ago when land would be under contract before it listed, said NAI KLNB broker Stephen J. Ferrandi."

"'Builders were very eager to acquire land for the sake of further developments and they got crazy,' said Bernard Markstein, a senior economist at the National Association of Home Builders. 'With the bust in housing, it has become a liability.'"

"The California-based development team Pacific Summit Partners entered the Austin market with a bang in 2005, investing more than $100 million in land from Southwest Austin to Liberty Hill in just two years, with plans to build thousands of homes."

"Now financial troubles such as foreclosures and ballooning late payments have jeopardized or erased those plans. Since November, about two dozen suppliers have secured or attempted to secure scores of liens on properties owned by Pacific Summit and several affiliated partnerships and companies, according to claims filed with the Travis County clerk's office."

"At Aviara, a large sign advertising garden homes starting at about $300,000 and condos starting at about $200,000 still stands, but what should have been a busy construction site was quiet this week. More than a dozen houses and condos sit in various states of completion, and the development is secured behind a locked gate and patrolled by a security guard."

"No one answers the phone number listed for the sales office. 'I'm not resigned to the fact that I'll have to write all of this off, but this is by far the worst collection problem in the 15-year history of my company,' said Michael Patino, owner and president of High-Tech Carpets, which is owed nearly $175,000."

New incentives? "It is a new tactic that some are considering, said Pat Skiffington, of Keller Williams Classic Realty in Orlando, Fla. He's arranging for a prospective buyer to stay overnight in a downtown Orlando condo."

"'Buyers are being much more selective and there's much more to choose from,' he said. This is one way sellers can make their home stand out."

"Even if the buyers decide they love the home after staying there, it might not be enough. Just ask Jeri Moran, a realty broker who had people stay over in her second home in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia. The buyers love the home, but haven't made an offer."

"'They're sitting on the fence,' said Christy Reece, her agent with Keller Williams Realty Mountain Properties, Blue Ridge, Ga. 'The house is wonderful and they even fell in love with it further once they stayed there. But it comes down to people, in our market, thinking that prices will continue to come down.'"

"You might expect sellers to go the extra mile when marketing their properties in the midst of a downturn. And now one estate agent is throwing in free cars in a desperate bid to tempt buyers."

"Clients who buy one of 247 newbuild flats in Newquay, Cornwall - worth between £150,000 and £1.5million - could drive away with a Smart Car, a Volkswagen, a Mercedes or a Range Rover."

"Stuart Shield, branch manager at Bradleys estate agents in the resort, said it is the first time in his ten-year career that he has offered any incentives. 'We have got an awful lot of buyers - but, very often, they go home, read about the latest ghastly story about the housing market and lose their nerve,' he added."

"Aryen Moore-Alston has found a new way to showcase homes in the Mid-South area. She will be cooking healthy dishes in the kitchens of homes currently on the market as her mother, Realtor Karen Moore, introduces viewers to the rest of the house during the TV show 'This House is Cooking!' that is scheduled to debut later this month."

"The show is the two Realtors' creative answer to selling homes in a declining real estate market. Moore-Alston's food preparation will show potential homebuyers how the house's kitchen will fit their needs, while Moore will showcase the rest of the home."