The Courier Journal reports from Kentucky. "A large chunk of western Louisville and the Shively area saw a 22 percent drop in median home prices in the first six months of this year, by far the biggest decline of any neighborhood from a year earlier, according to the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors."

"Housing experts and community leaders blame the drop -- to $35,000 from $45,000 in the same period in 2007 -- at least in part on a large number of mortgage foreclosures in those areas, along with a tight credit market that makes it tough for buyers to get financing."

"Kennie Romans, who has worked as a real estate agent in the Shively area for 49 years., said the market is the worst he's seen."

"'I've got some houses sitting around for a year or year and a half,' said Romans, 91, who is a former president of the local real estate association, adding that his sales are 'almost down to nothing this year.'"

"Becky Roehrig, executive director of River City Housing, said the price decline could have negative consequences. 'The biggest concern is the existing neighbors, and the value that people have in their existing homes,' she said. 'It's going to greatly impact their ability to take advantage of the value of the asset that they have.'"

The Indy Star from Indiana. "Homeowners across the country, including in the Indianapolis metro area, opened their mailboxes this week to find their home equity credit lines had been cut off. 'It will panic a lot of people to realize, 'Hey, my house was appraised in 2006 at $300,000 and now they're telling me it's only (worth) $210,000,' said Paul Ramnarain, president of (an) Indianapolis debt counseling firm. 'That means theoretically they've lost $90,000 in savings.'"

Marketplace reports on Illinois. "Douglass Kim is a homeowner in Steamwood, Illinois. Tess Vigeland: When you purchased your home, could you have gotten a traditional 30-year fixed mortgage? Kim: I actually started out with a 30-year traditional mortgage and the rate was quite high compared to what I thought I would get."

"Vigeland: And that's when you refinanced into an interest-only loan? Kim: Yes. Vigeland: What drew you to that option?"

"Kim: The mortgage broker was one of my friends. I actually told him that my first priority was to pay off a high-interest credit card, so I asked him to set up a mortgage that required the minimum amount of payment per month."

"Vigeland: And how long was the loan designated interest only? Kim: Actually, I am not sure about this because I was kind of ignorant at the time and I wasn't really well educated as I am now, but I'm thinking it's five years."

"Vigeland: Will you be able to afford the payments if you are not able to refinance before you have to start paying principal?"

"Kim: Well, I am hoping that the housing market will get better and my house value will go up to the level where it was, but I am not in a position where I have to foreclose or anything, so I'm not too worried about that, but I just don't like suffering for someone else's problems."

The Detroit Free Press from Michigan. "Metro Detroit still has a glut of homes on the market -- a frustrating situation for sellers who have to compete with so many others to unload their homes. And the high number of foreclosed properties adds to the downward spiral of home prices."

"Dave Richardson, of Havelock, N.C., has had his Waterford Township home on the market for over a year. The 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom home has an asking price of $189,900. The price started at around $225,000 and has steadily decreased."

"'I love Michigan, but there is no way to make it up there,' said Richardson, who was laid off from his job as a design engineer with an automotive supplier and had to find work out of state. 'I can't do anything until I sell that place.'"

"Many Realtors and sellers wish more buyers were tempted by the bargains on the market. The average home price fell 13.23% in June to $121,611 in Michigan, according to the Michigan Association of Realtors. And with home prices falling, some buyers expect all homes to be on sale."

"'The buyer's expectation of prices is really low. They are looking in high-price areas and thinking they are going to be much lower,' said Richardson's real estate agent, Patricia Shields. 'But if a house is $200,000, no one is going to come down $100,000, not even a bank. Buyers need to be more realistic.'"

The Capital Times from Wisconsin. "The mailbox was the most visible sign something wasn't right at the house in Reston Heights early this summer. By late July, the property was obviously neglected. The property was scheduled for its third lawn mowing by the city."

"The house on Summertown Drive is one of about 20 vacant properties city contractors are mowing this summer in response to complaints, said George Hank, who oversees property inspections for the city. Most of the houses have been abandoned after foreclosure."

"The rate of foreclosure filings in Dane County has jumped a whopping 53 percent this year. Some owners who are being foreclosed on manage to keep their houses; others sell their homes to new owner-occupants. But RealtyTrac reports that 171 properties in the county are owned by mortgage lenders."

"And the empty houses dotting Madison's landscape are an aggravation to neighbors, local real estate agents and assessors."

"'I'm not happy with it. I put a lot of work in my yard when we moved in,' said Mark Dobson, whose property edges up to the back yard of the abandoned corner lot house. Dobson said he mowed the lot twice, but soon 'decided not to waste my time, money or equipment doing it.'"

"'It brings us down. If I had my house for sale and someone saw that, it definitely would be a down point,' he said."

"Over on the west side, Janice Wexler said an abandoned house on Sunridge Drive has turned into an eyesore and it worries her neighbors. Foreclosure action was brought against the owner of the 2,710-square-foot house last fall. The property is now owned by a Florida bank."

"It was listed with a Realtor at one point and kept in good shape, but all signs of a listing have long evaporated, Wexler said. 'Every neighborhood gathering, formal or informal, generates comments about it,' Wexler wrote in an e-mail. 'I hate driving or walking by it.'"

The Spokesman Recorder from Minnesota. "Veronica Ezeka has lived at her North Minneapolis home for almost 15 years. However, unless something changes, this week she and her family will become another causality of the current housing crisis."

"A native of West Africa, Ezeka says her home will be foreclosed August 6. She didn't have a bad mortgage or get overextended in her lifestyle. 'Something in my life happened that I needed money,' Ezeka said, explaining how she fell behind in her mortgage payments as she cared for her then-ailing father back in her native country."

"'My father unfortunately has died, but I was traveling back and forth, and that [caused] me [to] fall behind in my mortgage,' she pointed out. 'When you are paying $2,000 a month, it is hard to catch up when you have five children to feed and other bills to pay.'"

"'They [her mortgage company] asked me to come up with $10,000 and I don't have it,' Ezeka continued sadly. 'I wrote letters to them, [but] they already started foreclosure proceedings.'"

"'Veronica is a nursing assistant,' said U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison, who knows both her and her husband, Jim Jackson. 'She puts in a tremendous number of shifts just to make the payments on her house, but it is just too much.'"

"Minnesota U.S. senatorial candidate Al Franken pointed out, 'Not only people losing their homes are affected - the rising tide of foreclosures is driving down the value of virtually every home in Minnesota...It is affecting every area of the state and everyone who owns a house, not just the people whose homes are foreclosed.'"

"'I don't know where to go,' Ezeka said. 'I work two jobs and I am still in school [studying nursing]. I'll just have to rent.'"

The Star Tribune from Minnesota. "A division of ResCap, the embattled mortgage-finance arm of GMAC Financial Services, is fighting back in the home-lending credit crisis."

"The Bloomington-based investor has filed more than a dozen federal lawsuits in Minnesota against mortgage companies, claiming that they failed to do adequate due diligence on borrowers and provided inaccurate information about the financial wherewithal of loan applicants."

"In its lawsuits, ResCap alleges that individual mortgage and finance companies made misrepresentations concerning borrowers' employment, income, occupancy and other 'undisclosed liabilities.' The loans at issue range from $21,000 to more than $1 million."

"John Koneck of Fredrikson & Byron, said lenders typically first pursue the borrower when a loan is in default and then discover that the mortgage was approved on less-than-perfect information from the applicant. Now, lenders are turning their attention to the mortgage brokerages, he said."

"ResCap has filed 13 lawsuits against mortgage companies in federal court in Minneapolis just this year, up from a handful in previous years. 'Lenders are saying to brokers: 'I relied on you guys to get good information on these borrowers,' said Jim Langdon, a securities attorney. 'It's like the big fish eating the smaller fish.'"

"'I'm reluctant to say all the blame is on the lenders, said Brent Lindahl, a member of the mortgage banking group for (a) Twin Cities law firm. 'Borrowers were all too willing to take the money when it was available. Everyone thought the price of housing would continue to go up, and that wasn't the case, and that turned out to be a problem.'"

"The prospect of litigation in the mortgage market prompted Eden Prairie-based Kroll Ontrack to survey the attitudes of potential jurors to the home-lending crisis. Lenders may not like the results. Nine out of 10 who were surveyed said they believe that lenders who issued subprime loans took risks and ignored more-prudent lending practices."

"'There aren't too many people who have a positive view of the lending community,' said Robert Minick, trial consultant with Kroll Ontrack. 'From the mortgage/lender point of view, it's a very frightening situation,' he added. 'It's going to be expensive.'"

"Securities and real estate experts expect more lawsuits to come as the finger-pointing among lenders, brokers and investors gets ugly."

"'Was it the brokers who didn't do the due diligence? Was it the lenders who didn't investigate? Was it those that pooled the loans as investment securities? Whose fault is it?' asked Eileen Roberts, who teaches real estate law at William Mitchell College of Law. 'It was greed,' she said. 'Nobody believed the housing bubble would ever burst.'"

The Argus Leader from South Dakota. "Building permits for Sioux Falls are down this year, with single-family housing units leading the decline. Nonresidential, however, is about even with 2007. New single-family homes took the largest drop this year, falling 36 percent with 372 permits issued through July."

"'Last year was our all-time record,' said Mike Cooper, director of city planning and building services. 'So we're behind there, but we're actually ahead of what we were two years ago.'"

"Jim Daniels, owner of Daniels Construction in Tea, builds single-family homes and said his business has been down this year compared to 2007."

"There's been 'too much publicity about how the housing market is,' he said. 'It doesn't apply in Sioux Falls, but does nationally.'"

"Cooper still expects Sioux Falls to have a good construction year. 'I'm not anticipating 2008 will set another record like 2007 did, but I think that it's going to be a very strong year overall,' he said."