There’s roulette and there’s skydiving. Then there’s investing in Detroit and Cleveland real estate. That’s especially risky because those markets are in freefall. Lenders have fled, foreclosures are on the rise, homes aren’t selling and local economies have stalled.

Given the state of the country’s housing market, it wasn’t hard to find others like them. To do so, Forbes.com looked at the country’s 40 largest metros and combined data on foreclosures, from RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing service.

* Full Story: Available on Forbes

Valley realtors and homeowners trying to sell a house may now be looking to a new high-tech way to sell a home for free! An Arizona realtor has come up with a clever way of selling a home. He’s created a video of the property for sale and posted it on the popular web site YouTube.

This way a customer can easily take a look at the house without actually having to waste time seeing the house in person.

* Full Story: Available on KGBT 4

Everyone likes a bargain. So it’s no surprise that as home prices fall in many markets, those who have been priced out of owning a home are beginning to take notice.

And some in the real-estate industry are saying that factors are aligning to make this a good time for first-time buyers to be in the market because they don’t have to face the challenge of selling a home to buy another.

* Full Story: Available on  Columbia Tribune

Frustrated as her house languished on the market for three straight summers, J.J. Rodgers is trying a new sales tactic: giving the two-story home away in an essay contest.

Already, she’s received more than 500 entries — each essay requires a $100 entry fee — for her four-bedroom home in Red Feather Lakes, Colo. She’s hoping for a minimum of 2,000 entries, or $200,000 in fees, by the May 25 deadline to pay off the mortgage, cover closing costs and have a little left over. Rodgers last listed the property at $169,000 after cutting the price three times.

* Full Story: Available on Business Week

Home Auction Live is a quick and easy way to sell homes. Basically, buyers see a property they like and bid on it. Some prices started as low as $25,000.

Realtors say with foreclosures rates at an all time high, home auctions are a good way to sell homes in a market undergoing changes.

* Full Story: Available on Austin News

With headlines reading “Home prices to post another decline in ‘08,” residential home sellers are between a rock and a hard place. In order to set their home apart from the 235 houses on the market in their price range in the Boca Raton, Florida area, Tara and Daniel Biller devised a “green home” incentive plan for potential buyers. They are offering buyers a slew of environmentally friendly upgrades and products including a solar water heater system.

* Full Story: Available on eMediaWire