The Marin Independent Journal reports from California. "Another month of plummeting home sales in Marin included a price drop of nearly 30 percent from November 2007, as discounted foreclosure sales continued to drive the Bay Area market. The median price of a single-family home in Marin last month was $790,000, down from $975,000 last year, MDA DataQuick reported Thursday. In October, the median single-family home price in Marin was $850,000. Realtor Peter Harris in Novato said bank-owned properties and short sales have made up about 85 percent of his business over the past year. 'Prices are half of what they were,' Harris said. 'Condos are selling in the low $100,000s. We haven't seen this for a long time.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle. "Bay Area home values plummeted to an eight-year low in November. The median for existing single-family homes in the nine-county region fell to $350,000, a 47.8 percent drop from a year ago and the lowest level since September 2000, according to MDA DataQuick. Nearly 50 percent of the houses that sold during the month had been repossessed in the last year."

"'When you have banks that want to sell (foreclosed homes) but don't want to make any loans, it makes it really tough,' said Janice Spencer, a Realtor...who focuses in eastern Contra Costa County."

"The hardest hit county was Contra Costa, where prices sank 49 percent to $260,000. Spencer has seen homes in the area that nearly sold, only to come back on the market for $50,000 less two months later."

"California real estate underwent a turbulent year in 2008, according to the California Association of Realtors' annual report on the state's housing market released on Wednesday. 'We're obviously seeing uncharted territory in a very difficult market,' said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for CAR."

"The number of people who sold their property at a loss almost doubled from 11.9 percent in 2007 to 22.2 percent in 2008 - almost triple the long-term average of 7.7 percent. The losses were significant, clocking in at a median net cash loss of $125,000 among those who sold for a loss, compared with $40,000 in 2007. For homes under $500,000, an even higher proportion of sellers - 28 percent - took a loss."

"CAR expects the statewide median price to continue to fall in 2009, although not as precipitously. It predicts a 6 percent drop to $358,000. 'Our forecast for next year is for continued softening in prices,' said Appleton-Young."

The Sacramento Bee. "Mortgage rates are dropping, and so are home prices in the Sacramento region. What's unclear is whether falling mortgages will be enough to strengthen the fledgling recovery in Sacramento's troubled housing market."

"MDA DataQuick said the median sale price for a home in Sacramento County dropped to $185,000 last month. That was the lowest level since September 2001 and represented a $10,000 drop in one month. Prices have fallen $105,000, or 36 percent, in a year."

"Warren Adams of Security Pacific Real Estate in Fair Oaks recently scanned the listings for a neighborhood of $1 million homes in Granite Bay and found two dozen homes for sale with no deals pending. 'I look at that upper-end market, and it's just dead,' he said."

"John Arvanitis, of Sunshine Vista Mortgage Co. in Citrus Heights said...that the low rates won't offer much assistance to current homeowners who want to refinance their way out of bad mortgages but owe more than their houses are worth. 'I don't care if rates go down to 2 percent, if you're upside-down on your property,' he said. 'You'd be surprised how many people are so buried in their properties.'"

"Ninety-one percent of 2008 home loans had fixed rates, said a California Association of Realtors report, 'State of the California Housing Market 2008-2009.' Last year, 74 percent of loans had fixed rates, it said."

"The report said one in five properties fell out of escrow during the year. In one-third of those cases, buyers could not get financing. Another third of buyers changed their minds. But 11 percent fell out of escrow because the buyer couldn't make a down payment, the study said."

"Rising sales, it said, were rooted in 'distressed properties with mark-down prices.'"

The Merced Sun Star. "Merced County has 4,598 bank-owned properties. In November alone, 996 properties were foreclosed on, according to RealtyTrac. With the help of a new state law passed in July, Livingston has introduced an ordinance that would fine homeowners up to $1,000 a day for failing to maintain their properties. City Manager Richard Warne said the ordinance 'allows the city to take action against houses that are in foreclosure. It's another tool to deal with vacant homes.'"

"In 2006, Livingston passed an ordinance forcing developers to finish all infrastructure on their projects before they could have a building permit, said Warne. According to Warne, Livingston has 400 vacant lots. But since the city prepared for the scenario, they are ready to be built on. 'While we may have vacant lots,' said Warne, 'all the infrastructure is put in.'"

"Now all they need is a builder."

The Wall Street Journal. "The city of Vallejo, Calif., gained national attention earlier this year by filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. Isleton and Rio Vista say they have begun consulting with bankruptcy lawyers as they draw up plans to deal with their mounting budget crises. 'We're strapped for cash and by the end of March or early April we may not have enough money to pay for payroll,' says Hector De La Rosa, Rio Vista's city manager."

"California's troubled towns can't expect much help from the state. 'California's fiscal house is burning down,' State Treasurer Bill Lockyer said in a statement."

The Desert Sun. "New population estimates show Riverside County grew by 2.14 percent — or 44,178 people — in the fiscal year that ended in July, the third-largest growth among California's counties. That number is down significantly from recent years."

"'With the uncertainty with the housing market people are just not moving,' Riverside County demographer Bill Gayk said."

The Union Tribune. "Southern California housing prices dropped further in November while record levels of foreclosure sales drove sales activity higher, MDA DataQuick reported. The overall median in the six-county region was $285,000, the first time since April 2003 that the figure has dropped below $300,000. It was off 5 percent from October and a record 34.5 percent from November 2007."

"San Diego's median, reported Monday, was $305,000, down 5.7 percent from October and off 30.7 percent year-over-year. Sales totaled 16,720 in the region, down a record 22.3 percent from October but up 26.9 percent from a year earlier. The month-over-month change was partly attributed to fewer business days than usual in November. San Diego's sales count, also reported Monday, was 2,673, up 11.4 percent from November 2007 and down 25.7 percent from October."

"'Bargains and bargain hunters have kept this market alive through some of the bleakest financial news in memory,' DataQuick President John Walsh said in a statement. 'There's this renewed sense that you can score a 'deal' – something that had been missing for many years. Last month's Southland sales weren't great, given they were the second lowest for any November in 16 years. But they could have been a lot worse.'"

"'The crisis continues,' National Association of Home Builders Chairman Sandy Dunn said in a statement. 'While builders are doing everything we can in the way of price and nonprice incentives to move new homes off the books, buyers are afraid to move forward. And in any case, there is almost no way to compete with the cut-rate product that is continually flooding the market from mounting foreclosures.'"

The LA Daily News. "San Fernando Valley home sales soared by 78 percent in November from a year earlier as bargain-hunters snapped up foreclosed properties priced at levels last seen in mid-2003, a trade association said Thursday. The median price of a previously owned home fell by 33percent last month to $375,000, down $182,500 from a year earlier, the Van Nuys- based Southland Regional Association of Realtors reported. That's an 8.5 percent drop from the $410,000 median reported in October."

"The median price of a Valley home has plunged by 43 percent from the record high of $655,000 in June 2007. In the 11 months through November, 6,403 homes were sold, 132 more than in all of 2007. But this will still be the second-lowest year for sales since the group began keeping records in 1984."

"What's clear is that the $700 billion bailout of the financial system is not yet trickling down to local buyers in a substantial way, said Mary Funk, president of the Realtors group. 'Many more people are eager to buy, but the credit market continues to be a roller coaster, with lenders changing underwriting rules every day,' she said."

The Associated Press. "Diane Shackle found it gut-wrenching to walk away from a mortgage she took out in times that were better for both her and the U.S. economy. But the reality was undeniable: While she was keeping up with the monthly payments, she said she could no longer afford to buy food for herself or even kitty litter for her two cats."

"So the 44-year-old cocktail waitress walked away from her two-bedroom condo in Southern California last July, turning her back on a debt of nearly $200,000. 'It ripped me up to do it but I was tired of worrying and I had no food in the house,' said Shackle. 'I decided, you know what, I'm not living like this. I've got to quit (get out) before I kill myself.'"

"With the deepening economic crisis fast adding to the 12 million mortgages already "underwater" - the term for when a home's debt exceeds its market value - it's an option more are likely to consider as home prices continue to fall. Mortgage and financial experts hesitate to recommend a voluntary action that not only threatens to wreck your credit score for years but can result in authorities coming after other assets. But depending on state laws, they acknowledge it makes sense to at least look at it in certain situations."

"'You have to make the best decision for yourself, business-wise, which could be walking away from the house,' said Nicole Gelinas, a chartered financial analyst."

"Gelinas says it would be unfair to portray mortgage walkers as villains because it's not unethical to take a loss and walk away from a bad investment that might keep you stuck in a 'money hole' for a decade or two. 'Certainly you shouldn't commit fraud when taking out debt,' she said. 'But when it comes to sacrificing for years and years to keep servicing debt on an inflated asset when the bank lent money against the inflated asset - you can't blame the homeowner for that.'"

"Shackle moved out of the condo in July and rented an apartment for $750 a month. Foreclosure still hasn't taken place. But without the burden of a mortgage gone bad, she says, now 'I sleep a lot better.'"