The Rocky Mountain News reports from Colorado. "Home prices in the Denver area fell by 4.8 percent in the one-year period ended in May, well below the record 15.8 percent drop in 20 major metropolitan areas surveyed around the country, according to the closely followed S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released today. 'The overall real estate market continued to slide in May," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's."

"'Since August 2006, there has not been one month where we have seen overall price increases' in the two composite indexes it tracks, Blitzer said. Blitzer noted that Sunbelt cities such as Miami; Tampa, Fla.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; San Diego and Los Angeles 'saw the biggest booms and now see the largest declines.'"

The Daily Sentinel from Colorado. "The time for rapid home building in the Grand Valley is becoming a far-off memory. 'We have no construction going on right now,' said Glen Whaley, president of Hunter Construction and Development."

"'To me, the good part is I think this needed to happen. Land prices were starting to get ridiculous,' Whaley said. 'I don't know how people have afforded the houses they have now in the first place. My first house after college was $66,000, and I'm in my late 30s now. I don't know how people are doing $280,000, $300,000 houses. For $300,000, $350,000 houses, I don't know who makes that kind of money. What I made out of college, I don't make 10 times that compared to what homes have gone up to.'"

"'When I first started building, you could get a lot for $20,000,' he said. 'You build it for four times your lot. Now, they're selling lots for $100,000. Now you're selling for $300,000, $400,000 on those. The payment on that is ridiculous.'"

The Deseret News from Utah. "Utah ranked 14th in the nation in the rate of foreclosure filings in the second quarter of this year, up from 18th during the first quarter, according to a report. The St. George area saw filings jump 446 percent year-over-year and 56 percent from the first quarter of 2008 to the second quarter, the report said. The Provo/Orem area had the second-highest foreclosure rate among Utah cities."

"Because of the poor loans made by numerous financial institutions, some borrowers are in the process of deciding whether to try to work out a solution with their bank to avoid losing their house or just walking away, said Salt Lake-area real-estate broker David Seiler."

"'The banking industry was stupid,' Seiler said. 'We're starting to see the ramifications all over the place.'"

"'If it doesn't start to pick up in August, then we're going to start to see people start to lower their prices,' he said. 'They don't want to go into fall and winter and not sell, if they don't have to.'"

"Home-sales numbers indicate that the Wasatch Front's housing bubble has truly begun to burst: 61 of 81 ZIP codes in four counties saw decreases in median home prices during the second quarter of 2008, compared with the same period last year."

"'Last year's reckless lending artificially inflated sales,' said Jillinda Bowers, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, in a prepared statement. 'Finally, we have gotten rid of the rampant speculation and loose lending standards.'"

"Among the areas hit hardest by declining prices was Kaysville in Davis County, which saw its median sales price fall 23.2 percent year-over-year to $266,500. In Utah County, the median home sales price in Alpine fell nearly 27 percent from the second quarter of last year to the second quarter of this year."

The Arizona Republic. "The stories from the Gardens in Gilbert are the same as many American communities. Times were great until the housing market plummeted. Now foreclosures and short sales are beginning to crop up in the development, like many others across the southeast Valley."

"Take Celestial Williams. Her family is selling their home in the Gardens by Trend Homes but is moving to another house in the subdivision. The family is being forced into a short sale because foreclosures on the market have dragged down prices."

"Their home had no chance to sell in 2007 because another family who sold a home comparable to the Williams' home in the Gardens took a $100,000 hit."

"Three years ago, when the family moved to subdivision from Orange County, Calif., the family didn't foresee the market crash. Now they are being forced to sell the home to stay out of debt."

"'We planned on living here forever,' Williams said. 'House prices were still going up when we bought it.'"

"Above Alecia Sibio's door is a black plaque her son made when she moved into her townhouse in the Gardens. The tri-level was the first home Sibio owned. The plaque engraved 'Established 2005' made her feel like she finally arrived in her new home.Three years later, Sibio's dream home has turned into a short sale, and she's being forced to look at homes in Queen Creek."

"'In the beginning you feel like you are a wretched loser that's not smart, wise or frugal,' Sibio said. 'You start beating yourself up emotionally. But thousands of people in the country and hundreds in the town are going through the very same thing.'"

"The pop of the housing bubble has hit few groups harder than those in the mortgage industry. As mortgage companies continue to fold, employees are struggling, largely without success, to find jobs with comparable pay. Many who were making six-figures at the height of the housing boom are taking whatever they can to pay the bills."

"Brian Hamerla said every time he goes to an interview, the employer asks for financial advice not about his skills. 'Interviews that I have been on, they treat us like we have the plague,' he said. 'There's a reputation out there of mortgage brokers being untrained.'"

"Hamerla said he's earning about a third of the six-figure salary he was making a few years ago as a mortgage broker. He is looking for a management position but hasn't had any offers, even though his girlfriend runs an agency."

"'The biggest struggle is the stereotype put on mortgage brokers,' he said."

The East Valley Tribune from Arizona. "Free rent! Move in free! Free big-screen TV with move-in! Pass by any apartment complex across the East Valley and chances are you'll see banners or signs promising big savings to whoever wants to become a tenant."

"'The negative for apartments is the fact that there are so many empty single-family residences ... that people tried to sell and couldn't, and then they end up renting them,' said Bob Kammrath, owner of Valley research firm Kammrath & Associates."

"The apartment market was vastly overspeculated, meaning property values were driven unrealistically high, and it is now getting back to reality, said Pete TeKampe, senior investment associate with Marcus & Millichap, the nation's largest commercial real estate brokerage."

"'It's kind of like we had this big party and now there's the hangover, and when you hit it really hard when you go party, the hangover seems more severe,' he said. 'There were a lot of deals that went down, and you're left scratching your head thinking, why did that guy do that?'"

"Anita Collum, certified property manager with P.B. Bell, said this economic cycle is more severe than past ones. 'The single-family residential products coming on line and competing with our apartment rentals is a phenomenon that we've never experienced before, just because of the quantity of them on the market,' she said."

"In addition, the collapse of the condominium-conversion market and the drop in population growth have contributed to higher apartment vacancy rates, Collum said."

"One of the prime groups for apartment occupancy is new arrivals to the Valley, and it's now clear that 'almost everyone has overestimated how many people are coming here,' Kammrath said."

"'We have negative job growth, no jobs, and if people can't sell their homes elsewhere, why would they move here?' he said."

The Review Journal from Nevada. "Don't call them layoffs. According to developer Donald Trump, roughly 70 employees at the Trump International Hotel & Tower were 'impacted by changes in their schedules' due to the slowdown in closing sales of the building's 1,282 studio, one-bedroom and penthouse units."

"'This is not really any different than what has gone on in Las Vegas,' Trump said. 'We're adjusting schedules because of the volume of business. As soon as the units open up, we'll bring people back on.'"

"Before the building was topped off a year ago, Trump had said all the units had been reserved by potential buyers who plunked down 20 percent nonrefundable deposits for residences that carried prices of between $700,000 and $5 million."

"The current mortgage crisis, he said, has slowed the closing process. In June, Trump said sales had been completed on 250 units. However, a report by Deutsche Bank a week later pegged the closings at almost 200 units as of June 12."

"'We're working with people. We're doing everything we can to help them,' Trump said. 'Look, I could have just taken the 20 percent deposits and moved on. But I wasn't going to do that. We're working very hard to help everybody who bought a unit to close their sale.'"

"Trump blamed the problems that befell Countrywide Financial for the slowdown in closings. 'Countrywide really let us down,' Trump said. 'Things were a lot different two years ago.'"

"Plans for a second Trump tower have been placed on indefinite hold until the real estate and construction market recovers, Trump said."

In Business Las Vegas from Nevada. "The Las Vegas economy is continuing its slump, and commercial real estate and development are paying the price. Pressured by overbuilding and retail outlets closing, Las Vegas recorded its highest retail and office vacancy rates in two decades. As a result, commercial construction has fallen 66 percent in the past year."

"Triggered by Las Vegas' 2-year-old housing slump and coupled with this year's slowdown in tourism and gaming and commercial construction, the local economy is in a recession."

"'This is the worst I have seen it here in 20 years,' says John Restrepo, an economist and principal of Restrepo Consulting. 'People are in shock because they are used to the economy bouncing right back, but I don't think we are going to have that quick of a recovery.'"

"'We have had such a long period of economic expansion and growth, I don't think anybody thought we could have a recession like this,' says Keith Schwer, the UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research's director. 'With housing, we know it was a case where we overbuilt, overlent and overborrowed, and I think it was the same with commercial development.'"

"Some analysts attribute the weakness in the office market to 'irrational exuberance' two years ago when credit was easier to obtain and office developers not anticipating a housing bubble, credit crunch or slowdown. The problem should worsen because another 3.6 million square feet were under construction at the end of June."

"Brad Schnepf, president of Marnell Properties, an office and commercial developer, agrees that a recovery could take time."

"'You would have to be nuts if you were not concerned,' Schnepf says. 'We were appreciating at double digits on an annual basis, and you wondered how far that could go.'"

"Las Vegas has obtained a national reputation as sort of a ground zero when it comes to home foreclosures. The City Council is cracking down by imposing $500-a-day civil penalties for properties that are creating blight in neighborhoods."

"Last week, the council assessed its first three penalties against property owners of 6216, 6241 and 6225 Bellota Drive."

"If the daily civil penalties don't force the property owners to clean up sites, city officials are counting on the fines adding up to such large amounts that the owners would sign over the homes to the city."

"In the past the city would clean and board up the properties and place liens on the property to recover its expenses, but that wasn't having any effect on owners of foreclosure homes, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman says."

"'We just got tired of people creating blight in the community, and they wouldn't contact us. That was the straw that broke the camel's back,' Goodman says. 'They just left their properties there to become a nuisance.'"

Las Vegas Now from Nevada. "President Bush is expected to sign a bill aimed at helping hundreds of thousands of struggling homeowners. Jill is one of those homeowners in trouble. She agreed to tell us her story as long as we covered her face. She's a professional, and says she's embarrassed about the predicament she and her family are in."

"'I go home crying. I don't have control that's the worst thing not having control,' she said."

"Jill wishes this housing legislation would have been passed earlier. She says she and her husband took out a second mortgage to help him start his own business. Then he got sick and couldn't work. Jill was left to support her family on a salary that didn't cut it."

"'I had a decent job. I can't make any more, we've been living on credit cards. We had to do something,' she said."

"The I-Team has uncovered a major mess for renters and homeowners in this valley. Elvis Nargi is an unlicensed broker and is accused of breaking into homes and renting them out. Since our story first aired, the I-Team has been flooded with calls from people who say they rented homes from Nargi."

"Elvis impersonator Elvis Nargi does not have a proper license to be renting homes. Neither does the person who handles the rental agreements. The houses they rent out are going through foreclosure."

"Those details are actually very easy to uncover. You can start with a property management permit. 'Anyone should be able to produce their pocket card. You're supposed to carry them with you,' said Sue Naumann. She leads the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors."