On the fringes: Real estate in 2006 had some zingers

He chose to describe some homes as "grubby, cramped and dirty" or "having all the charm and poise of a vicar on crack" or "suitable for the Addams Family." In one ad, he wrote, "It's difficult to imagine a more disgusting house than this."

Julian Bending of Somerset told local news media that his blunt approach had been well received and that would-be clients thanked him for his honesty.

The BBC asked the local archdiocese if its vicars had been offended by the ads, and they were not, apparently. But one local newspaper finally banned his ads when they started to include sexual innuendo. Bending said he would take his colorful ads elsewhere, thank you very much.

But the townhouse, worth about $4 million when it was standing, turned out to be worth $8 million after it was reduced to rubble and turned into that rare thing in New York - a vacant lot in a desirable neighborhood. The lot was sold in December, and the former Mrs. Bartha is among those in line making a claim on the money.

He opposes the overly aggressive enforcement of ordinances that regulate the appearance of private property.

"If you're not creating a safety hazard or health hazard or conflicting with your neighbors' rights, then leave them alone and let them do what they want," he told Brian Bonner of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "They've got a right to have an ugly house."

Of the 16,488 votes cast in his district, Jezierski got 2,772, finishing fifth in a field of five.

But the company faced that age-old challenge: What, oh, what to do about the unhappy energy that undoubtedly still clung to the funeral home? So it hired a group called Ceremonies for Sacred Living to dance, chant and clang their way through the 84-year-old structure, urging the sadness within its walls to go somewhere else.

On her Web site, agent Kathleen Yaggi says with considerable understatement: "I am quite familiar with the quirks and idiosyncrasies of this area's real estate market."

A Jacksonville real estate marketing company has created a series of housing-bubble-themed T-shirts to call attention to the role of the news media in undermining consumer confidence in the housing industry.

That's according to a press release from Renaissance Creative, which says it will donate proceeds of the shirt sale ($20 each) to charity. The shirt designs can be seen at www.renaissancecreative.com.

One shirt design, "The Attack of the Housing Bubble: Media Hype Runs Amok," is a knockoff of a 1950s horror movie poster and spoofs the alleged panic generated by media reports of the demise of the American dream, homeownership, according to the company.

There's also "The Housing Market Did Me Right," featuring a man and a woman sipping cocktails, surrounded by a sea of dollar signs.

A third shirt sports an image of a pack of Housing Bubble-brand gum and the word "OVERBLOWN" in huge letters.