The Philadelphia Post Gazette reports from Pennsylvania. "While Pittsburgh never had a housing price bubble, the region suffered a foreclosure crisis along with other major cities where real estate values did rise to a peak and then crash back down to earth. 'What we saw was wealth stripped from people who had built it in their homes,' said Ernie Hogan, executive director of the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group. 'We didn’t see the overexaggeration in price of houses, but we did see people who might have been in their homes for many years lose that wealth through the foreclosure process and subprime lending.'"

"Howard Hanna, CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, said the difficulty many working-class borrowers face now stems from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. One of the provisions prohibits banks from approving mortgages for anyone whose debt-to-income ratio is higher than 43 percent. Banks used to be able to approve borrowers with a ratio of around 50 percent or even higher. Credit score requirements also have gone from around 570-580 to around 640-650."

"'The provisions in the Act makes it very difficult for lenders to lend money to low- and moderate-income borrowers,' Mr. Hanna said. 'It hurts moderate-income borrowers because credit scores are not there and down payments are not there.'"

The Times Tribune in Pennsylvania. "First-half property seizures, mortgage-default notices and home auction warnings in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area were up 10 percent over the first six months of 2013, according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosure activity in the region was the most-active among Pennsylvania metro areas in 2013, advancing by 60 percent, RealtyTrac data indicate. 'There is still above-average activity for us," said Mike Elick, CEO at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania. 'Some of this goes back 18 to 24 months.'"

"The area's unemployment predicament continues to provide fuel for the foreclosure pipeline, said Austin Jaffe, Ph.D., chairman of the insurance and real estate department at Penn State University. The region has held the state's highest jobless rate for more than four years. 'In the northeast, housing is weak, but the jobs are weaker,' he said. Housing has failed to contribute significantly to the choppy economic recovery nationally and probably will not become a major growth driver for years, Dr. Jaffe predicted. 'It's back to basics,' he said. 'You need strength in the fundamental economy.'"

The Watauga Democrat in North Carolina. "After four years of incremental sales growth, the High Country real estate market is showing signs of slowing. Median sold prices are down 5 percent from the first half of 2013, and 10 percent from that span in 2012, according to the High Country Association of Realtors. Those declines are occurring as supply is expanding. There are currently more than 3,240 homes for sale within the High Country MLS, which records Realtor activity in Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties. That's a 26 percent increase compared to the 2,571 listings active last August, according to the group's report."

"'With the current high inventory, our Realtor association has teamed up with the High Country Host to reach potential buyers interested in coming to our area,' said Laurie Phillips, executive officer of High Country Association of Realtors. 'This campaign will encourage residents from surrounding states to visit the High Country by highlighting our unique natural beauty.'"

The Loudoun Times in Virginia. "For the third month in a row, Loudoun's housing market has hit a snag. Second quarter reports released by Dulles Area Association of Realtors for April, May and June 2014 showed a 6.7 percent drop in home sales compared to the second quarter of 2013. The number of houses on the market has grown, however, with a 21.1 percent increase in new listings since last quarter, showing a buyer's market this season."

"Sue Smith, associate broker with Remax Premier and The Sue Smith Team owner, said the market has stalled because buyers are picky. The surplus of listings means buyers can afford to take their time. 'It is a great time to buy,' Smith said. 'You have a lot of options right now. You have a lot of homes to choose from and you possibly could have a little more negotiation power if you're a buyer, depending on the situation. I expect to see that role into the fall.'"

The Virginian Pilot. "The story of Hampton Roads’ real estate market in 2013 was one of slow and steady growth. This year, the tale has taken a turn. Hampton Roads has shown signs of retreating. 'We’re just not as healthy as we should be, due to the hangover with the downturn,' said Terry Gearhart, a sales manager with Rose & Womble Realty Co."

"In The Pilot’s comparison of metro areas in the first quarters of 2013 and 2014, the three lowest performers were, starting from the bottom, Hampton Roads, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Vinod Agarwal, an economics professor (at) Old Dominion University, said the three metro areas are heavily reliant on federal spending. Hampton Roads’ dependence on the military, in particular, has kept the percentage of distressed sales – foreclosures and short sales – much higher than before the housing crisis."

"'If you are in the military and you get reassigned, you have to go – even if you are underwater,' Gearhart said. Many of the homebuyers in the region qualify for Department of Veterans Affairs loans, which require no down payment. 'If housing prices don’t appreciate, when you go to sell a house, many homeowners are underwater the day they buy their house,' Agarwal said. 'This economy is basically crawling,' Agarwal said. 'If you look at the amount of jobs we’re creating, it is pitiful.'"

From WBAL TV 11. "Thousands of Maryland families have lost their homes to foreclosure or short sales, but many don't know that third-party debt collectors can still come after them for money they may not have known they owed. In 2005, Miranda Cisneros Bell and her husband, Ed Bell, bought a house in Emmitsburg for $535,000. They still had the house they are living in currently in Frederick County. 'We could not sell this house. We were stuck between two mortgages,' Cisneros Bell said."

'They were forced to let the Emmitsburg house go into foreclosure in 2009. Thinking that the case was over, they moved on with their lives, but then a third-party debt collector out of Texas started calling. 'The debt collector was saying I owed $51,000,' Cisneros Bell said."

"Avy Mallik, an attorney with the group Civil Justice said if the bank does file a deficiency judgment, they can go after a person's assets and garnish their wages, and they may wait a while to do so. 'The banks may wait a couple of years until you are employed and have some assets, and they will go after that balance,' Mallik said."

"As for Cisneros Bell, her case remains mired in litigation. 'I've tried to see about refinancing my house now, but I can't because I have had a foreclosure. It's very stressful. It's very upsetting,' she said. 'It's going to take me years of getting these things turned around.'"