SLOWDOWN: The Orange County real estate market...

SLOWDOWN: The Orange County real estate market is in for leaner times after three or four “outstanding” years, says Walter P. Blass of Shearson Lehman Hutton Mortgage Co. in Newport Beach (D6). . . . But don’t panic. Prices will stop rising, perhaps fall slightly, “but I don’t think a $300,000 house will be a $200,000 house.” . . . The problem will be for people who bought over their heads and can no longer bail out just by selling. . . . “When values flatten, all bets are off,” he says.