Orange County is in one of the worst conditions due to the problem of home foreclosures in the real estate. The condition is such worse that the leaders are planning to expend an additional $1 million in 2009 just to fix the vacant properties and mow the lawns. A new rule is also being expected from the Orange County leaders whereby workers of mosquito-control will get an entry into the abandoned properties to deal with left out pools. Besides, another rule is also expected that will require the lenders to register the foreclosed properties. Both these planning are going to be adopted in January 2009.

These two provisions will help a lot in preventing properties from going uncared for months and years. What happens after a property is left vacant is that vandalism and theft finds an easy entry. Orange County has a total number of 18,000 homes in the process of foreclosure. It was only 5,000 in 2006. The officials of this county are trying to find out whether there are lenders in the real estate which lets the yards and homes to become seed during the process of foreclosure. This has been taken up by other local governments due to the reason that the cost that is attached to the maintenance of abandoned properties falls in the hands of taxpayers.

It is expected that the Orange County is going to expend a major part of its 12 month budget that is equal to $400,000 after foreclosure clearing. The budget for code-enforcement of the Orange County was fixed at $5 million for the fiscal year that is going to close by September 30, 2009. The additional $1 million shows a spike of 20 percent. The fund is going to come probably from unexpended reserves in January. It is hoped by the officials that a large number of firms are going to stop their business and vacate their sites.

Linda Weinberg, deputy County Administrator, said, “Experts tell us we’re in the first inning of a long game on commercial foreclosure,” According to the officials of the code-enforcement, till date they logged lot-cleaning violations of nearly 7,437 cases. This is an increase from 4,233 of 2006 and 5,170 in 2007. The violations related to poor pool maintenance have increased from 302 cases in 2006 to about 438 in 2007-08. This stands at 673 this year. Commissioner Linda Stewart has said, “It’s disturbing. I don’t think this is going to be gone in two years. It’s a long-haul issue.”

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The credit unions and the bankers of Florida have made a declaration on December 1 that they are going to call for a suspension on the foreclosed properties in the real estate of Florida for the next 45 days. This is indeed good news for all the distressed homeowners of Florida. A press conference was called by Gov. Charlie Crist where the declaration was made. However, it is not known by either him or Alex Sanchez, president of Florida Bankers Association that how far people facing foreclosure will get help from this program. Florida owns the credit of having the third-highest rate of foreclosure in the nation.

This freezing on foreclosed properties for the next 45 days is not going to be of any help to the 444,000 homeowners those who are stuck up in the process of foreclosure. Crist said about some issuing of executive order for halting foreclosures last week. However, this moratorium is going to take under its purview only those homeowners who have a homesteaded property and need help. In Crist’s own words, "This is to help people in a time of need. This is not for somebody who went and bought a bunch of condos in South Florida on the spec market."

Sanchez talking about Monday announcement of Crist said that it was "a reaffirmation of our past practice and current practice." He extended his thanks to the governor for his compassionate leadership during this time. However, Sanchez also suggested that the banks of Florida, with or without Crist, decided to stop foreclosures as they were not looking forward to getting sandwiched between so many properties and debt pressures. The people who are in search of help to get rid of this real estate crisis are required to get hold of their banker and should be willing to go for a re-payment plan.

It has been declared by Crist that nearly $541 million will be used by the Department of Community Affairs soon to help mortgage affected people and for financial assistance to local governments. Apart from that $91 million will be used for direct housing assistance. ACORN, which happens to be the housing-and-wage advocacy group, asked for further action from Crist and the banks. Paul Griffin, ACORN organizer, said, "While we eagerly await more details, recent history has shown that voluntary measures have fallen fall short of addressing the enormity of the foreclosure crisis Florida faces"

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Collier County has been suffering from the problem of foreclosures for a long time. It has been able to solve one big problem with the help from banks. This is clearing of the lawns of abandoned homes. The distressed homeowners in the real estate on their way out leave the homes in a miserable condition. However, this county has finally got a solution for this problem. According to some officials a code-enforcement program has already saved a lot of money after repairing the foreclosed properties. As foreclosure investigator, Mario Bono said, “We have had the most unbelievable experience with the banks. It’s been a real good marriage.”

The city of Buffalo a year back started taking banks into the court to get the problems with foreclosed homes fixed. The cities of California this summer season have been given the right to charge fine against the banks of up to $1,000 per day if they did not fix the abandoned properties that were in miserable condition. Frank Cassidy, manager of code enforcement department of Cape Coral, said that several local governments in Florida that also includes Bonita Springs and Collier County are finding out ways by which they can force banks to do the registration of properties facing foreclosure.

Cassidy also said that he has no knowledge on whether the other agencies have their foreclosure specialists or not. However, his department has dedicated itself for the training of a large number of investigators so that they can work wholeheartedly on homes facing foreclosure. The commissioners in Collier County in the month of September asked for the development of ordinances that demands banks for maintaining homes along with paying a registration fee of up to $150. Diane Flagg, head of code enforcement, saw that in many cases banks were interested in paying for the bill. He said, “From the bank’s perspective, we’re helping them maintain their assets,”

Bono said that the program although is something new, but he has full conformity from banks. He set the example of a home on Beechwood Lake Drive where the grasses overgrew and the pool was covered with algae. However, Fifth Third Bank extended their help in getting done with the problem. This work was done within $3,000 by the bank. The bank has also agreed to fix other real estate properties like that in Beechwood Lake Drive. Bono said, “As foreclosures grow, we’ll probably grow our team too,”

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Located in the affluent Highland Terrace in Bridgehampton, the Hamptons Designer Showhouse is built on more than 4 acres of land. The 8 bedroom home has a mortgage of $ 4.4 million and is currently in the initial stages of foreclosure. So are four other properties on the ocean facing Dune Road. Surprising?

Not any more, feel real estate analysts. The Hamptons, peppered as it is with home valued at $ 30 million and $40 million, was regarded as being above the foreclosures which are happening everywhere else in the country. Foreclosures were something which happened to other people as far as the residents of this region were concerned.

Recently however this situation is seeing a slow change. Lis pendens, the first legal notices for foreclosure are raising their heads in some places and a few homes have already been taken back by banks this year.

Alan Stein, bankruptcy and real estate attorney in Southampton, says that he has more work than ever now as the number of clients coming to see him has doubled in the past 6 to 8 months. He underlines that several of his clients are being unable to make mortgage payments even though they live in homes worth several million dollars.

Real estate agents however are not unduly worried by this turn of events. They feel that a few foreclosures were inevitable with the national economy being affected by widespread foreclosures. Rick Hoffman, regional senior vice president for Corcoran, opines “I would say we’re almost foreclosure-proof out here to some extent.”

Experts warn however that every foreclosure affects the neighbourhood. Home sales can slow down and the economy may take a downturn, if there are a significant number of repossessions. According to the founder and chief executive of Town and Country Real Estate, Judi Desiderio, “If there’s less capital in the economy to spend, then it’s going to affect all of us.”

The Hamptons may be protected somewhat by the profile of its residents. As owners of multi-million dollar properties, they are likely to have resources that could help them find various ways out of the predicament. Alternatively, the properties may be rented out in summer, generating an extra income to tide over the situation.

As real estate attorney Alan Stein is quick to point out, “Nowhere else on the Island are you able to rent for three quarters of the years’ expenses … for three months of time. That saves people.”

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Rising foreclosures are affecting state economies and the after effects are being felt in every quarter.

Real estate analysts predict that the situation will start improving post 2009, although foreclosures will continue to take place throughout the decade. In the meantime however every kind of credit quality is experiencing delinquency in payments where earlier subprime mortgages had the most defaulters.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s most recent quarterly survey shows that foreclosures are continuing to rise. California and Florida alone account for 93 % of the increase. With 109,000 and 77,000 foreclosures respectively in the first quarter of the year, the two states are followed by Texas, Michigan and Ohio which all had around 20,000 foreclosures.

State governments and mortgage lenders in many states have taken steps to curb the rising numbers. Where some states like Indiana, Michigan and Ohio have seen the numbers start to fall, in others the impact of the programs has not been as great.

This could be because state officials are unable to affect the terms of loans of many lenders who have a national character. Further loans are being repackaged and sold as securities to investors both in the USA and internationally.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty highlights another hurdle. He says, “One group of investors may own years one through five of the loan; another five through 10; and another, 10 through 15.” Changing the terms of the underlying mortgage then becomes very difficult.

States are hopeful that Congress will take some steps to stem the tide of foreclosures. Economist Michael Levy of the Bank of America believes that Congress can help by passing laws to clarify legal issues. States would then get an opportunity to negotiate with mortgage lenders and modify the loans accordingly.

In the meantime home prices continue to fall, adding another dimension to the situation. With an average decline of 10% nationally, several homes are now worth less on the market than what they owners owe on the mortgage. This is forcing more and more homeowners to choose foreclosure in order to cut their losses.

States also have to deal with properties that are lying vacant after being repossessed. Some states prefer to buy up these homes and put them to better use. However the process of demolition and rebuilding is prohibitive and acts is a deterrent, especially as revenue is limited due to a weakened economy. Federal funding however could help achieve this.

States are trying to cope in the best way they can but perhaps federal funding and regulation will provide the boost the system is waiting for.

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Florida is one of the states that have been hardest hit by foreclosures. It is ranked second only to California in numbers. In March 2008 alone 30,254 homes were foreclosed in the state.

Like the rest of the state, Hillsborough County in Florida too is affected by this situation.The Hillsborough County office records 400 new foreclosures every week. The numbers are high enough to warrant a special service for investors called Foreclosure Disclosure which publishes a list of foreclosures every week.

Foreclosures are distressing for homeowners and mortgage lenders alike. But there is another group of people who are also concerned about the growing numbers of foreclosures. These are the neighbours of homeowners who have had to vacate their homes due to foreclosure.

Jim Blinck, Hillsborough County code enforcement manager, talks about a property that he had to inspect on West Pocahontas Avenue. A fire inside the house has charred the top portion badly. The house has no roof and the interior is full of gang graffiti, beer bottles and trash with a large bee hive in one corner. Piles of ashes and burnt belongings complete the picture.

Blinck believes that it is possibly neighbourhood kids who started the fire. He opines that empty houses are “an attractive nuisance to children. [I] guarantee kids are the first who will know there’s an abandoned house in the neighbourhood.”

Josephine Stoll, who lives next door to this property says, “[It makes me feel] sick. Sorry, I own a home next to it. It’s really bad-looking.”

Residents who live next door to abandoned homes complain about the disrepair and safety hazards that these houses pose. Overgrown, weed infested gardens, pools filled with algae and piling garbage are just some of the things which make these houses eyesores. Add to this the security risks, rising burglaries and anti social activities and the risk of disease and it is easy to understand why many neighbours are being spurned into action.

To report a foreclosure home that has become an eyesore, you can call the county code enforcement department. The property will then be investigated and the home owners contacted. If the situation is not rectified within a stipulated period if time, then the homeowner or company can be fined. The matter first gets passed to the code enforcement board or to a special magistrate, who then decides on and imposes the fine. These fines can vary from $100 to $500 per day. Very high fines can even lead to a lien on the property.

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An epidemic of foreclosures in the state has become the cause of a fresh clash between City Councilman James Gennaro (D- Fresh Meadows) and Senator Frank Padavan (R- Bellerose).

This is not the first time that the two political rivals have had differences of opinion about an issue. Recently Gennaro was opposed to the naming of a school in Bellerose after Padavan. Legislation regarding environmental review of school sites leased by the city has also been a cause for debate between the two politicians. The legislation was to allow community input and notification on the reviews.

It may be remembered that Gennaro is challenging the Senate seat of Padavan, who has held it for 18 terms.

This time Gennaro has held Padavan responsible for delaying a bill that will put a moratorium on foreclosures based on unscrupulous financial deals. On May 7, 2008, the bill was passed by the Senate with a vote of 118 to 10. According to the moratorium, the ownership of foreclosed homes bought through sub prime loans can be delayed by the courts for as much as year.

At a news conference held in Queens Village last week Gennaro accused Padavan for being responsible for the delays. He reminded those assembled that though Padavan and the Senate had announced the bill with much fanfare , they were now stalling it.

The news conference was held in collaboration with a housing advocacy group ACORN, at the home of Jocelyn Voltaire. Voltaire, 54, has refinanced her home twice with the help of subprime loans. She used the money to educate her son in a private school. Her son, a soldier, was killed in Iraq. Voltaire is now finding it difficult to repay the loans as the bank does not want to negotiate. Voltaire feels strongly about the situation as she has two more children aged 10 and 16 years who she is bringing up.

Padavan called the allegations “sheer nonsense” and attributed the delay to a review of the bill by the governor, who also had his own proposal for it. In this month itself the Senate Banking Committee had held hearings on the bill, he said. Padavan reiterated that these steps were necessary if the bill was to become a law and stand the test of time. He expects it t be passed within a few weeks.

Accusing Gennaro of grandstanding, Padavan was of the opinion that he was being “vilified in a very outrageous and unseemly way”. It was unfortunate that such a serious issue was being used for political gains, he said.

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Today Texas ranks 17^th in the nation on foreclosure rates. Compared to states like California, Florida and Ohio the rate of increase in foreclosures in this state is not disturbing. In fact experts consider it to be quite stable. Here for every 809 households, one may face foreclosure. Nationally, however, one in every 519 households faces foreclosure.

This does not mean that foreclosures are not happening in Texas. According to the Greater Texoma Association of Realtors the number of home sales due to foreclosures has been rising every year since 2000 with the exception of the period between 2004 and 2005. However, Ron Schildknecht, Association Executive of the Association feels that residents of Texas do not have much cause for worry yet and vouches for the stability of the housing market in the state.

Vanya Griffith, Sherman Branch Manager of WR Starkey Mortgage looks on the brighter side and feels that the foreclosures could actually be “putting a spark in the market.” She believes that the current situation is attracting investors who are interested in buying and remodelling homes. As a result additional rental properties are being created and mortgage loans are on the rise.

Griffith nevertheless points out that eventually foreclosures may have a negative effect on the market as homes are selling below their market price now. Thus, Griffith feels, the foreclosures may stalemate the value of the homes and in future they may not increase much.

Measures are being taken to ensure that foreclosures do not become a major problem in the state. The Homeowners Preservation Foundation is a non-profit organization that telecounsels homeowners who are facing problems with foreclosures. It helps owners deal with the difficulties appropriately and avert a crisis.

Quite often the solution lies in working out a plan with the lenders. Griffith points out that lenders are as anxious to avoid the foreclosure process as homeowners as they also lose money in this process. Thus most lenders are open to working out a solution that will help the owner retain the home.

Another initiative has been The Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008. This bill is waiting to be considered by the Senate, after having been passed by the House. The bill aims to bring relief to home owners by protecting them without giving lenders, investors or borrowers any particular advantage.

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Republican Ralph Hall (R-Texas) says “It’s better than nothing, but it’s kind of like fixing the gate when the horse is already gone.” He strongly believes that financing relief programs should be the responsibility of every state.

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According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence is at its lowest in the last 16 years. Since 1982, consumers have not faced such a bleak future in terms of jobs and inflation. With housing prices at low ebb, gasoline costing more and inflation affecting food and medical bills, consumers are indeed hard hit.

This is reflected in the fact that fewer people are spending on high expenditure items like cars and homes. Consumers appear confronted with the walk away prices for all sorts of goods.

With rising gas prices, 2007 saw fewer people using their own vehicles and resorting to public transport instead. Statistics from the American Public Transportation Association support this, showing a two percent increase in the usage of public transportation last year. In fact, the Department of Transportation recorded that Americans drove 4.3 percent fewer miles in March 2008 than a year ago. This amounts to 11 billion miles less in the overall count. The Energy Information Administration too anticipates a 0.4 percent fall in gas consumption as compared to last year.

As with gas consumption, a pullback has also been observed in the housing market. With fewer people investing in homes the prices have fallen steeply. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) reported that housing prices went down by over 3 percent in the first quarter of 2008. In 43 states the purchase index reflected a fall in prices with California and Florida showing the highest decline. Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Texas and Alabama however showed an appreciation in home prices.

The purchase index bears testimony to the all encompassing credit crunch as well as the fear holding the housing market in its grip, even in areas which are economically strong.

The trends reflected by the purchase index are significant. The calculation of the price declines are based on homes that have been purchased with conventional loans from the government sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These secondary market providers are overseen by OFHEO. This makes the report all the more significant as these calculations exclude volatile jumbo and sub-prime loans unlike other purchase indices.

The Commerce Department offers a ray of hope in this situation. According to it, April 2008 saw new home sales going up by over 3 percent. Although this figure is still 42 percent less than what it was at the same time last year, it is an optimistic sign. And maybe, home buyers are not at the walk away price yet.

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Around 2% of the U.S. households went down with some heavy blow of foreclosure during the month of April. Foreclosed real estate properties continue piling up heavily with the addition of homes on the market and the dragging down of real estate prices. The impact has been felt mostly with foreclosure concentrations in areas like Southern California, Las Vegas, South Florida and areas of Arizona. The hardest hit in recent times seems to be the Bay area. Bay area and Florida foreclosures in fact seem to be on a continuous roll, moving upwards continuously with the passage of time.

The foreclosure filings that took place in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties from January 2007 to January 2008 have also been plentiful. The mortgage crisis resulting in the foreclosure call in these neighborhoods has not been new, while repossessions by banks and auctioning of properties have also been frequent. As ForeclosureRadar.com investigated, last month’s foreclosure count has gone up to 22,838 on a state-wide level in the entire South Bay area. That is in fact an average of 1,038 homes being auctioned off with daily business transactions. Business in the real estate market in April has been filled with these incidents, as reported by President and founder of ForeclosureRadar.com, Sean O’Toole.

The Santa Clara County has seen 500 properties foreclosed in April itself. This was a 47% rise since March of this year. As compared to April last year, there has been a 585% increase in overall properties getting foreclosed. The county of Santa Clara ranked 40^th among other Californian counties in terms of foreclosures taking place per capita. The total amount of loans being foreclosed upon the county the previous month was $292.4 million at one go!

When a mortgage or money lender or loan servicing company files a notification process of default over any property, the foreclosure process starts to begin. However, a few months into the property ownership, when the mortgage payments cease, then the owner is also unable to sell off the property concerned. This generally takes place four months later, after the foreclosure process sets in, and the owner has stopped paying the monthly mortgage installments. If the owner fails to get up to date with his payment the property gets foreclosed. It then gets foreclosed with an auction sale as a concluding process, or it could even get ceased by the bank or get auctioned off at the court or any other such legal public venue.

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