The Seacoast reports from Maine. "A study released by Maine Real Estate Information System Inc. indicates that the drop in units sold statewide is a steep 24.32 percent, with the median sale price also dropping by almost 6 percent. According to MREIS, the median sale price for a home in Maine was down to $188,000 as of June. Among all the counties, Piscataquis suffered the largest drop at 37.5 percent in sales and 12.74 percent in median prices."

"'Buyers should negotiate aggressively for the property price and banking terms,' said Jeffrey Wooster, the broker/owner of Lynam Real Estate Agency in Bar Harbor. 'Buyers know they are in the driver's seat and are asking for many concessions. The seller needs to be braced and not take things personally.'"

The Boston Herald from Massachusetts. "Massachusetts housing suffered its worst first half in nearly two decades this year, with sales down 19.1 percent and median prices off 9.2 percent, new figures show."

"'What's clear from these numbers is we haven't reached the bottom of the market yet,' said Tim Warren of market tracker the Warren Group, which released yesterday's data. 'The rash of bad news about bank failures and Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's capital needs convinces us that a turnaround isn't going to happen this year.'"

"'The slump in condo sales is even worse than in the single-family sector,' Warren said. 'Condo prices haven't retreated as much as single-family home prices, so condo units aren't moving.'"

"'We hoped that June (market conditions) would be better, but that just didn't materialize,' Massachusetts Association of Realtors President Susan Renfrew said."

The Patriot Ledger from Massachusetts. "First-time home buyers with good credit histories currently have many opportunities, said Georgia Taft Pye, president of the Plymouth and South Shore Association of Realtors. With more than 35,500 houses and more than 15,000 condos on the market statewide, buyers can choose among a broad selection of inventory."

"'They can get a pretty good deal if they're underwritten with a good lender and have a decent deposit,' said Pye, in Duxbury. '(Lenders) seem to be holding people purchasing the upper-end homes to very strict requirements.'"

"'The quality of buyer has improved, because the banks have tightened up,' said Jean Dunn, a sales associate in Rockland. 'Now when I see a pre-approval letter, you can almost rest assured they're a solid buyer. It's different than it was a year or two ago.'"

The Connecticut Post. "During the first six months of this year, sales prices of single family homes fell in 117 Connecticut communities, showing a 8.8 percent decline in value statewide, according to the Prudential Connecticut Realty report."

"Peter Gioia, economist with the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said Congressional action takes a long time to take effect and he doesn't expect the proposed measures to be any different. But Gioia said what Congress is doing is helping investors in securities and lenders feel a bottom is in sight.'

"That doesn't mean the market will rebound, he said, because lending standards will be tighter than they were during the boom."

"'The terms before were ridiculous,' Gioia said."

The Daily Gazette from New York. "The Capital Region's mortgage crisis showed no signs of cooling down this summer, as the number of homes in various stages of foreclosure during the second quarter more than tripled over the year, according to RealtyTrac."

"In the five-county area around Albany, foreclosure activity rose 276.6 percent, compared to a year earlier, to 1,062 by June 30. Foreclosure activity, which includes default and auction notices plus repossessions, was up 74.8 percent from 608 during the previous quarter."

"Realtors are hopeful the $7,500 tax credit will spur sluggish housing sales by luring more first-time buyers into the market. 'We'll be looking to people who have been sitting on the fence,' said Mary Trupo, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Realtors."

"Barbara Whipple, president-elect of the Capital Region Bankruptcy Bar Association, said her Latham law office is getting unusually busy for summer."

"New Yorkers are increasingly struggling with mortgage and credit card bills as record-high gasoline and food prices outpace lethargic wage growth. 'It's getting bad out there,' said Whipple."

The Post Gazette from Pennsylvania. "A total of 418 families lost their homes to foreclosure last month in the five-county region that includes Allegheny, Washington, Butler, Beaver and Westmoreland counties, according to RealSTATs. The bulk of the increased foreclosures, however, were in Allegheny County, where 257 homes were lost in June. So far this year, 2,320 homes have been lost to foreclosure."

"Although residential foreclosures in metropolitan Pittsburgh were up 66.5 percent last month compared to June 2007, the numbers still have not eclipsed the spike in foreclosures that occurred in the first half of 2006, which was this area's worse period on record for mortgage defaults."

"Several major cities have in recent months imposed a moratorium on foreclosures. A similar plan to halt the wave of home losses in Allegheny County is being sponsored by Sheriff William Mullen."

"Sheriff Mullen has asked Allegheny County Common Pleas President Judge Joseph James to order lenders to meet with borrowers to try to work out a solution before any delinquent mortgage in the county goes to a sheriff's sale."

"'This is more or less the last-ditch effort on our part,' Sheriff Mullen said. 'I don't know what else we can do.'"

"'We looked at Philadelphia. They established a moratorium. But we felt the most important thing to do is not postpone, but to get the lenders and borrowers to the table to try to work out a plan to save their homes. We think a moratorium only delays the inevitable,' he said."

"'In general, we don't think moratoriums are a good idea,' said Dan Reisteter, VP of government relations for the Pennsylvania Bankers Association. He said Pennsylvania already has one of the longest foreclosure processes in the nation. It can take more than a year, he said, from the time a mortgage lender sends a notice to the borrower of their intent to foreclose to the time a property actually goes to a sheriff's sale."

"'There's plenty of time for a borrower to work something out with a reputable lender,' Mr. Reisteter said, adding that national lenders will be reluctant to invest in areas where local governments are inclined to intervene."

"'If lenders don't have the certainty and security of seizing a loan, they will be more hesitant of making mortgage loans,' he said. 'That, in the long run, will harm consumers and borrowers.'"

"Michael Sichenzia, chief operating officer of a firm that renegotiates mortgage debt for distressed owners, said government intervention in the mortgage mess is the equivalent of a Band-aid for a serious wound."

"'Anything we do that upsets the sanctity of the contract between two parties can not bode well for the long-term health of the mortgage and credit markets,' said Mr. Sichenzia. 'We have some well-meaning public officials who want to score brownie points for doing good, but they can't see the forest for the trees and miss the big picture completely.'"

"'You can't use the law to effectuate the economic outcome you want. When you try to do that you throw more uncertainty into an already uncertain marketplace,' Sichenzia said."

The Star Ledger from New Jersey. "Across the country, the number of homeowners facing foreclosure more than doubled in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, and New Jersey's foreclosure rate spiked even more dramatically, newly released data show."

"The number of foreclosure filings in New Jersey jumped 140 percent from April to June to more than 17,000, according to RealtyTrac. According to the latest figures from the state Office of Foreclosure, there were 47,668 New Jersey foreclosure filings in the year ended June 30 -- up from 26,132 the previous year. The state now has the 12th-highest rate of foreclosure filings nationally."

"New Jersey may not have had the speculation-driven building boom seen in the Sunbelt, but 'we do have a problem and it is starting to hit home,' said James Hughes, a Rutgers University economist. He predicted housing prices in New Jersey will continue to decline and foreclosures will continue to be a problem at least until 2010."

"None of this is news to Ayesha Iphell-Boyd, now struggling to halt foreclosure proceedings on the Irvington home she shares with her four children and her mother."

"Iphell-Boyd said her mortgage payment soared from $900 a month to $1,700 -- as the interest rate doubled to 13 percent-- after she refinanced last year to get additional money to make home repairs. She soon defaulted on the mortgage while keeping up the car payments so she could commute to her job in Rochelle Park."

"'The mortgage company told me they would get me a good rate, but I never knew what the payment would be until the very end,' she said during a foreclosure-prevention workshop in Newark."