The Backup files; A look back at the weel in business.

Byline: Lisa Eckelbecker COLUMN: THE BACKUP FILES Housing - again I know, I know. It seems we write this story every week. But we can't get away from it. The housing market dropped again last month. Sales of detached, single-family homes in Worcester County fell 20 percent in November over the same period last year, according to The Warren Group Inc. Median home prices dropped about 10 percent to $240,000. Condominiums tumbled even more. Sales in Worcester County fell 26 percent in November, compared to a year earlier, and the median price slumped nearly 18 percent to $195,060. The story was much the same across the state, according to The Warren Group, which publishes Banker & Tradesman magazine. The Massachusetts Association of Realtors, which separately crunches its own data on sales, said statewide sales of existing single-family home slumped 12.6 percent in November compared to the previous November. All paid up Ever have a contract you just wanted to ditch? A cell phone plan that locked you in for years? An auto lease that just got to be too much? Pay it off with stock. That's what SatCon Technology Corp. of Boston said last week that it would do about a lease for a building at 7 Coppage Drive in Worcester. The maker of power equipment got out of its lease early by paying the landlord 850,000 shares of stock. Under the lease, SatCon would have owed about $1.3 million in rent on the building near the Worcester Regional Airport. The stock SatCon offered up was worth slightly more than $1 million, at market prices. SatCon decided in recent months to close its Worcester operations to cut costs and focus on other operations. The company also runs a plant in Marlboro. Steady as she goes Arrr, matey! We missed International Talk Like a Pirate Day this year, so we're making up...