As mortgage defaults and foreclosures continue to rise, the impact is spreading well beyond those who are losing their homes.

In communities across the country, msnbc.com readers report that local governments are coping with shrinking tax rolls, lenders are saddled with more foreclosed homes than they can sell and empty homes in many neighborhoods are being vandalized.

Like everything associated with the nation’s housing crisis, the fallout from foreclosures is very local, a fact confirmed by hundreds of e-mails from readers in msnbc.com’s Gut Check America. Some regions appear to have escaped relatively unscathed. But in hard-hit states like California, Arizona and Florida, readers report that some neighborhoods are becoming virtual ghost towns.

In Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., “lots of homes have been abandoned by their owners, and many people are going into bankruptcy,” wrote a reader named Robert. “Whole condo projects sit half-finished and rotting in the Florida sun. On some streets almost half the homes are empty. Many people have lost 40-50 percent of the value of their homes. “

Others report a different kind of isolation; many of those losing their home to foreclosure are reluctant to confide in family or friends…

Article Source

AP - Soaring foreclosures are continuing to raise questions about the mortgage industry’s claims that they are making a dent in the housing crisis.

Article Source

Hard hit cities like Sacramento, Phoenix and Las Vegas are set for more steep losses. Some real estate experts are bracing for price drops of as much as 50%.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — With home prices plunging by more than 30% in some markets, bargain-hunters are ready to pounce.

But it may pay for buyers to wait. Many housing experts say that the worst-hit metro areas have even farther to fall, and could see total drops of as much as 50%.

“The housing boom was unprecedented in U.S. history,” said Michael Youngblood, a portfolio analyst with FBR Investment Management, “and the correction will be as well.”

Many erstwhile bubble cities have sustained particularly brutal hits…

Article Source

Hard hit cities like Sacramento, Phoenix and Las Vegas are set for more steep losses. Some real estate experts are bracing for price drops of as much as 50%.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — With home prices plunging by more than 30% in some markets, bargain-hunters are ready to pounce.

But it may pay for buyers to wait. Many housing experts say that the worst-hit metro areas have even farther to fall, and could see total drops of as much as 50%.

“The housing boom was unprecedented in U.S. history,” said Michael Youngblood, a portfolio analyst with FBR Investment Management, “and the correction will be as well.”

Many erstwhile bubble cities have sustained particularly brutal hits…

Article Source

Mortgage bankers report hits grim a benchmark in first quarter, showing a record number of homes in jeopardy.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — More than one million homes are now in foreclosure, the highest rate ever recorded, according to a trade group which warned Thursday that number will continue to climb.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s first quarter report showed that a record 2.5% of all loans being serviced by its members are now in foreclosure, which works out to about 1.1 million homes. That’s up from the 2% of loans, or about 938,000 homes, that were in foreclosure at the end of 2007.

The report also showed that 448,000 homes, or about 1% of loans being serviced, began the foreclosure process during the first quarter. That’s up from about 382,000 homes, or 0.83%, that entered foreclosure in the last three months of 2007.

The seasonally-adjusted rate of homeowners behind on their mortgage payments also hit a record high. Nearly 3 million home loans, or 6.4%, have missed at least one payment, while about 737,000 are at least three months past due, but not yet in foreclosure.
Grim numbers

“The figures aren’t surprising, but they’re pretty ugly nonetheless,” said Michael Larson, real estate analyst with Weiss Research. “We’re talking higher delinquencies and foreclosures pretty much across the board.”

And he doubts that there’s much reason to expect the foreclosure crisis to abate until next year at the earliest, adding that it could be a couple of years or more before foreclosure rates retreat to more normal historical averages.

“It’s the same story we’ve been seeing for a while now - we had too much reckless lending, and buyers who got over-extended,” he said. “We’ve had an unprecedented decline in home prices on a nationwide basis, which is public enemy number one for mortgage loans. And now you’ve got an overall economy that has slowed adding to this toxic stew.”
Good credit, bad credit

Much of the problem lies with subprime loans given to borrowers with weaker credit records, especially those loans that had adjustable rates. Nearly four out of ten …

Article Source

HARTFORD, Conn.—Housing inventory may be rising in some parts of Connecticut, but a new report shows there’s a mismatch between what’s coming on the market and the type of affordable housing that’s needed.

Economist Donald Klepper-Smith, who analyzed the state’s housing market for the HOMEConnecticut campaign, says much of the available housing is older and located in less desired parts of the state…

Article Source

Fewer homes are being sold in Lafayette Parish than in 2007, but whether those numbers indicate a long-term downward spiral in the local housing market remains to be seen.

Article Source

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - As though Southern California’s fine weather and beaches weren’t attractive enough, a San Diego developer desperate to clear inventory is offering potential home buyers a buy-one-get-one-free scheme.

In a market beset with foreclosures and plummeting sales following the mortgage meltdown in 2007, Michael Crews Development will give away a row home valued at $400,000 with the purchase of a $1.6 million luxury estate home in the upscale city of Escondido in northern San Diego County.

“We are targeting a niche market of investors who are interested in the opportunity to buy a new home for themselves and get a free rental property or second home for family members,” developer Michael Crews said in a statement.

The developer claims the row homes are not shoddy townhouses that are being given away with luxury estate homes. The two-acre Royal View luxury homes with four bedrooms, four baths, up to six car garages, swimming pools would be paired with 2,000 square-foot upscale row houses.

“People don’t expect to get what they are getting with the row-homes,” said marketing director Dawn Berry. “These are well appointed luxury houses.”

Originally the offer was to run for two weeks in May but the developers decided to extend it through June to give potential buyers more time to mull over it.

Since the first advertisement went up nearly two weeks ago…

Article Source