The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports from Georgia. "The anemic housing market should be a boost to Atlanta's apartment market. But the emerging shift in living arrangements is creating an unusual set of challenges for the industry. Leasing agents are having to contend more with the 'shadow market,' an industry term that refers to the glut of unsold homes, condos and townhomes that have become rental property."

"Terry Smith recently leased her two-bedroom townhome in Vinings after she was unable to sell it. 'Rather than give it away or lose what once was equity, I decided to rent,' Smith said."

The Times Herald from Georgia. "While foreclosures nationwide increased by a shocking 50 percent, Coweta County has an even higher rate. Foreclosures advertised in The Times-Herald almost doubled year-to-year, from 70 in July 2007 to 136 in July 2008. That's an increase of 94 percent."

"Dr. William Joey Smith, an assistant professor of economics with the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, said that prognosticators were wrong when they predicted that the housing market had 'bottomed out' months ago. Last summer, he said, many were saying that the housing market would rebound within nine months. That clearly hasn't happened, he said."

"'It's been 12 months, and in some areas it's actually worse than it was 12 months ago,' he said."

"Local Realtor Frank Barron said he was clearly wrong when he said back in a March Times-Herald report that he hoped the market had 'hit the bottom.' 'Obviously, we were wrong,' Barron said."

"Dr. Smith said that he doesn't have any statistics to back it up, but he is seeing some 'anecdotal evidence' that things are beginning to turn around. 'I've started to see some investors go into housing because they believe it's just so undervalued right now that they can't lose,' he said."

The Orlando Sentinel from Florida. "A couple of years ago, real-estate investors were so hot on Orlando that hundreds of buyers from around the world paid an average $300,000 -- triple today's prices -- for old condos on a run-down corner next to a truck-driving school."

"For Cay Club buyers, the privileges of ownership were supposed to include access to a charter jet. 'It was the greatest thing since peanut butter,' said Colorado resident Robert Shaeffer, who bought a two-bedroom, two-bath unit with about 1,100 square feet for $374,900 sight unseen."

"Shaeffer, who had retired from IBM, has had to go back to work driving delivery trucks. 'I invested everything I had in my retirement, and now I'm stuck with a big payment and an apartment that's no good.'"

"Orlando appraiser Jack Connor reviewed several appraisals in Cay Club and said units were actually worth about one-third of the appraised value -- 'and that was during the good times,' he added. 'Ludicrous is a pretty tame word for it,' Connor said."

"Dozens of Cay Club buyers are now suing. Investors from as far away as Hungary paid an average $300,000 in the development, while similar units nearby cost less than half that amount, appraisers reported. One Cay Club unit that sold for $510,000 two years ago was appraised recently for $90,000, said Chris Cantrell, a Birmingham, Ala., attorney for several buyers who are suing."

"Airline pilots, scientists and others who invested in Cay Club said it has been one of the biggest disappointments of their lives. Ventura, Calif., resident Yindy Chow is still reeling from paying the $4,300 property-tax bill on a unit that was supposed to supplement her retirement but has provided none of the rental income promised by sales agents."

"'I don't know what to do,' she said recently. 'Some people want to get rich fast. We've been saving 20 years, and we wanted to do something wisely and plan on our retirement. It's really sad.'"

"On Oak Ridge Road, renters who live in what was supposed to become the Cay Club said they have no hope the golf course will reopen. Parts of the walls around the complex are broken down. Neighbors from a low-income area nearby walk through the property and use the pool."

"Meanwhile, just outside Denver, Shaeffer laments that he cannot pay his income taxes because of the financial burden of buying in Cay Club: 'Quite frankly, right now you don't know who to trust in Florida.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "The developer of Tesoro, arguably Port St. Lucie's most upscale community, is weathering some high-end financial woes. Two affiliates of Celebration-based Ginn Resorts missed principal and interest payments on a $675 million credit facility from Credit Suisse earlier this summer and, so far, they haven't been able to restructure the debt."

"Because Ginn still owns 359 lots in Tesoro, owners of the 600 or so other home sites could see their posh clubhouse languish if the company stops paying its association fees - something executives concede is a possibility."

'The developer 'may have to discontinue the payment of certain dues and (property owners association) assessments on the lots that they own, which will put stress on the operations of the Clubs at Tesoro and Quail West,' Robert Gidel, president of the developer's holding firm, The Ginn Cos., said in a statement."

The St Petersburg Times. "The problem with the Tampa Bay area's rising stock of vacant homes goes far beyond overgrown yards, piled-up phone books and fliers dangling from doorknobs. Deborah Farmer, president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, said she notices the spike in vacant homes firsthand. 'Over half of the homes I show now are vacant,' Farmer said, 'and I bet that number is much the same throughout the area.'"

"Farmer and others also say that what was once an urban problem has spread to the suburbs."

The Herald Tribune. "During the 12 months ended July 31, lenders issued 7,905 'lis pendens' filings -- the first step in a foreclosure -- against borrowers who failed to make their mortgage payments in Sarasota County, court records show. During the same period, the 25 lenders with the most foreclosures in Sarasota resold 918 properties that they had seized from borrowers."

"James Slocum, for example, bought a house at 2210 McTague St. in North Port for $251,9000 in December 2005 and borrowed $226,700 to finance the deal. Deutsche Bank foreclosed on the loan in June 2007 and won a $246,576 judgment the following month."

"Deutsche Bank then sold the three-bedroom two-bath house to Matthew White in December 2007 for $138,500, or 44 percent less than the giant German bank was owed."

"Deutsche Bank is further up the foreclosure list than local heavyweights like Bank of America, SunTrust and Wachovia because it got into the region's housing boom late, said Ken Thomas, a Miami-based economist who specializes in analyzing the banking industry."

"'Local banks are usually the first ones in a market, and when they see problems building, they are the first ones out,' Thomas said. 'Lenders like Deutsche Bank and HSBC were the last ones in and the last ones out.'"

The News Press. "Lee County's unemployment rate jumped to 8.4 percent in July, the highest mark in at least 18 years, as the county continued to lose construction jobs. The rate means that just more than 24,000 people were out of work, according to data released Friday from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation."

"The rate is the highest since 1990, when state and federal officials changed the way they measure unemployment. The figures mirror numbers usually seen in the Rust Belt."

"Patricia Alzate, of Cape Coral, lost her job as an assistant project manager for a painting contractor in April. 'This is the first time in my life that I have been out of work and I don't know what to do because I have never been in this situation,' Alzate said. 'I've applied and applied and applied for jobs, but I'm not getting anything.'"

"The massive fallout from the construction sector underscores how badly Florida, and Southwest Florida in particular, needs to diversify its economy, said Ray Kest, an associate professor in the MBA program at Hodges University."

"'It has hit every single sector,' Kest said. 'There are no jobs and no jobs being created. Our economic development people sit around and talk about all of this, but they should have been doing something about it a long time ago. We are used to hearing these numbers from Ohio and Michigan, but we are right there with them.'"

"It sounds like a winner: upscale, high-rise shops and condos right on the waterfront in downtown Fort Myers. But a nationwide slump in real estate - which has hit Southwest Florida particularly hard - has forestalled a lot of development.'

"'Fort Myers is not an island. We are affected just like anyone else' said Jean Sanders, a high-rise specialist for Remax International in downtown Fort Myers. 'Any new construction just doesn't have a chance in this market.'"

"Downtown Fort Myers won't sell yet because of simple math: too many condos on the supply side and not enough demand for them."

"'If you have 100 apples in a barrel and you only have to eat an apple a day. Are you going to worry about the apples near the bottom? No,' said Sanders. 'Some of the killer deals that are already out there need to get sold before any new sales pick up.'"

The Naples News. "More buyers are reaching into their wallets to purchase homes in the Naples area. Sales continued to rise in July. There were 361 home sales, up 31 percent from 275 a year ago, according to a monthly report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors."

"In some communities in Southwest Florida, such as Bay Colony, Pelican Bay and Bonita Bay, there is less than a year's worth of inventory for single-family homes, said Dottie Babcock, chief operating officer for John R. Wood Realtors Inc. in Naples. Her company's own market report found that in the Naples, Bonita Springs and Estero markets, there is a four-year supply of homes, compared to a five-year supply a year ago."

"'I definitely see the market turning around,' said Babcock."

The Miami Herald. "A lawsuit filed by creditors in Puig Inc.'s bankruptcy blames Ocean Bank for contributing to the collapse of the Hialeah condo converter. Ocean Bank has blamed Puig's collapse largely on the developer's aggressive expansion and the downturn in the real estate market. The bank lost more than $20 million lending to Puig entities."

"'They are trying to blame Ocean Bank for market losses that they experienced because of the collapse in the condominium market in 2006,' said Joel L. Tabas, a Miami lawyer representing Ocean Bank. 'The creditors' committee's efforts to pin the responsibility for the market collapse and for other people's bad investments on Ocean Bank is going to fail.'"

"Six defendants have pleaded guilty to participating in a $17 million mortgage fraud scheme in Miami-Dade County involving inflated property values and falsified closing statements, Florida's attorney general announced Monday."

"The six were among 15 people arrested in July. The arrests stemmed from an investigation of Miami-Dade County's mortgage fraud task force. The task force was set up last year to combat the crime, which became epidemic in South Florida during the real estate boom."

"When the money was disbursed, the defendants would take the difference and share it among themselves, funneling it through a bank account or shell company operated by a coconspirator, the attorney general's office said."

"Retail real estate follows residential trends, so Florida shopping center developers fear a spreading credit crunch will turn their current headache into a hangover."

"'It's going to get worse before it gets better," said Robert Smith, senior VP of a Houston developer planning to rebuild the old Crossroads Mall in Largo as a mixed-use project. 'The days of just building a center and waiting for the market to catch up to fill it up are gone.'"

"'There is money to borrow if you are willing pay the price and put up 10 to 35 percent,' said Raul Valdez-Fauli, chief executive of CNL Bank in Coral Gables. 'This credit crunch is for real.'"

"Stanley Tate, a Miami developer who left the board of Fannie Mae two years ago and chaired the Resolution Trust Corp. cleaning up the excesses of real estate lending in the 1990s, added ominously that developers face an easy-money, subprime loan crisis of their own."

"'The residential market has not bottomed out yet, but $1.4-trillion in distressed loans will start to hit the commercial real estate market next year,' he said."