The "negative equity" situation remains rancid in the Tampa Bay area. According to Zillow, the online real estate service, a typical homeowner here owed $12,000 more than his home was worth in 2007.

But I see a little glimmer of hope in the latest negative equity numbers for the first three months of 2008. Of the homes bought at the start of this year, people have positive equity. It's the first time this has happened across the board since the summer of 2005.

Look at this chart supplied by Zillow (Note the return of "green" territory on the extreme right side of the graph):

I can think of several reasons why people are less indebted: Banks are demanding buyers put down larger down payments and are offering fewer funny-money negative amortization loans.

More encouragingly, people are getting better deals on the homes they're buying. They're paying real market value. They're not being gouged as buyers were in 2006.