Usually, when distressed homeowners abandon a property when they are unable to keep up with mortgage payments, the lender takes over possession. The home is then rapidly disposed of through foreclosure auctions so that the losses are minimised and unpaid dues recovered.

Recently however, more and more abandoned houses are being shunned by the lenders too and foreclosure on them is being deliberately delayed. Experts are intrigued by this situation and are trying to find plausible explanations for it.

While city officials feel that lenders are avoiding taxes and upkeep, legal aid lawyers are of the view that this may be a way of hiding steep losses. The real estate industry puts it down to lenders being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of foreclosures.

Experts however are narrowing down the cause to complex mortgages taken out during the housing boom a few years ago. Many loans taken at that time were broken down and repackaged into securities. These were then sold to investors both within the country and internationally. Quite often the investors would have little knowledge about the house itself, preferring to treat it as just one more figure.

Several large banks too invested in these securities and took on the role of trustees with no legal title of ownership.

In Kansas City, the European Deutche Bank is recorded as the lender in over 360 properties that have undergone foreclosure. John Gallagher, spokesperson for the bank, points out that it is not the responsibility of the bank to foreclose and subsequently dispose of the properties. Instead, this duty lies with the initial lender or a service company which has been hired for the purpose.

The complexity of the situation has made it very difficult to determine which party is responsible for what as regards the foreclosed property. Experts estimate that sometimes it can take several months to figure out who the real lender is …and that name may not even feature in the official court or county records!

Kim Tucker, president of the Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors, illustrates this point saying, “Sometimes there are so many layers to go through, the house gets lost….I bought a house last summer. There was a foreclosure, and it took six months to find the owner.”

On a national level this trend of home ownership lying in limbo is not a cause for undue worry. But in regions where this is actually taking place, financial observers are concerned. They see the trend slowly spreading and fear that this will lead to official foreclosure figures not really reflecting the situation on the ground.

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With foreclosures continuing to increase, related concerns are raising their heads in hard hit neighbourhoods. One such problem is that of growing crime.

Boarded up homes and vacant properties are often sitting ducks for negative elements. These houses are prime targets for burglars and are also used for all kinds of anti-social activities. Thus along with the homeowners the entire neighbourhood gets affected.

This fact is borne out by recent studies conducted by the George Institute of Technology and the Woodstock Institute, Chicago. One study shows that violent crime tends to occur more in neighbourhoods that have had significant number of foreclosures. According to the study a neighbourhood which had 2.8 foreclosures for every 100 homeowners also showed an increase in violent crime by 6.7 percent. Another study found that the value of single-owner homes dropped by 0.9 percent for every foreclosure within a block of the property.

It can be concluded that the greater the number of foreclosures in a locality the less safe it is likely to become and the more the value of the other properties is likely to drop.

Robberies on vacant properties can take various dimensions. Small time thieves may target copper piping or break in to steal air conditioners and other fittings. More enterprising criminals are likely to change the locks and rent out the home to unsuspecting tenants!

A few precautions may go a long way in safeguarding both the home and the neighbourhood. When a property is foreclosed and the homeowners move away, neighbours are advised to keep an eye on the home. They can then inform the homeowners or the relevant authorities if they see suspicious people lurking about or the house falling into disrepair. Many county offices offer access to public records which can help locate the homeowner or company.

Police departments too offer guidelines to help protect property. They advise residents not to make it obvious when they leave their homes. By having the grass cut, newspapers picked up and lights turned on and off, an impression can be created that the house is lived in. It thus avoids undue attention.

Attention to security measures is another important consideration. The police advise exterior doors to be made of solid wood or metal with deadbolt locks and heavy duty strike plates. Windows should have secondary locking mechanisms and gates need to be secured with padlocks.

An alarm system that is switched on when then residents are away or asleep is strongly recommended.

The full list of precautions advised by the Houston Police department can be found at www.houstontx.gov/police/crime_prevention/images/Burglary3.pdf

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Foreclosures are on the rise and with it the number of abandoned homes is also increasing. County health officials have expressed serious concern about abandoned or vacant homes with swimming pools. Left to the mercy of the elements these pools are turning out to be fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes and algae, especially as temperatures continue to rise this summer.

County health officials are receiving 250 percent more complaints about mosquito infested pools as compared to last year. The figures tell their own story. According to Johnny Dilone of the Maricopa County Environmental Services, the county received 597 complaints between January and May 2007. This year the number has leapt to 2,096.

Encephalitis and West Nile flu are just two of the diseases that can be spread by mosquitoes. Both these diseases can be harmful especially for the elderly and those with suppressed immune systems. Wes Nile flu is particularly dangerous for horses.

Fortunately very few actual cases of these diseases have been reported. However the growing number of complaints is a warning that the situation can spin out of control and the health risk posed by the mosquitoes remains a definite cause for concern.

The process of dealing with a complaint can be expensive and time consuming and the county prefers owners to deal with the situation themselves. However with foreclosed real estate, the county is often unable to contact the owners. They then obtain a search warrant and treat the affected pool themselves. Insecticide oil is used to suffocate the larvae and gambush fish are introduced to eat the mosquitoes.

Residents of the county are being encouraged to be more proactive. In Surprise, a committee set up to deal with foreclosure problems facing the community, is playing an active part in encouraging greater vigilance. Troy Corder of In surprise points out that it is the health of the neighbourhood which is at risk and so residents need to be alert for signs of a “green pool” when a property is foreclosed.

Ignoring an order to eliminate mosquito pools on private property is considered a Class 3 misdemeanor. However the Maricopa County does not prosecute if the home is an abandoned one.

Instead, the county is appealing to home owners to drain their swimming pools of water before they hand over their homes to the bank. If this is not possible, they can call the Vector Control Office who will provide them with gambush fish, which eat mosquitoes as well as larvae. Home owners who wish to avail of this facility can call 602-506-0700.

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The grim side of any foreclosed property would leave the marks of a sweet little family which just couldn’t meet the requisite mortgage payment. Many of the clean up people in such properties, readdressing them for a fresh sale, report rather touching accounts of the remnants of a happy family. They have reported to have found toys and bicycles being left in the yards, and clothes lines with clothes hanging on them in a few cases. The president of WSR Preservation Services, John Plocher, has been said to have reported that these are the usual scenes in many a clean-up projects in suburban Los Angeles. It showed that they have been clearly abandoned in a tearful hurry.

Some of these families have been locked up by the sheriff, and scared neighbors under threat have chosen to move out quick. Property owners are often hard to find after a house is under foreclosure. As more and more owners leave their home, the authorities find an empty home or a property occupied by renters. This way the owners are rarely traceable.

One would find a real estate expert on a channel like ABC News say that the end of the property business is here, and that the very pit of the bottom would be at least a year away. The publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, Guy Cecala, has stated that it would take till the middle of next year to really experience a major bottoming out. Before that, there is still chance to revive this market. In relative terms, foreclosures have really reached a record high. But to consider the current situation in this falling market, there still seems to be time to revive it. As the shifts move forward, more constructive work can be supposedly done to help the real estate market.

With the advent of spring, the number of foreclosures has increased a great deal. So, the start of the new season hasn’t gone all that easy and well for property owners in the U.S. The ready percentage of foreclosures has in fact shot up by 57% in the last month compared to the statistics a year ago. RealtyTrac has reported that foreclosure filings have taken a swell nationwide. The rate of foreclosures has in fact shot up all over many states in a dramatic manner. This rise has been particularly significant in Nevada where one out of every 139 households has got a foreclosure filing.

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In a state where foreclosures are about 70% on the rise compared to last year, the South Florida city went down to help all that it could to its people. The primary focus was that more and more people should be able to stay back in their homes.

On the first Tuesday of April, the foreclosure help centers would open their doors to provide ready assistance to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in the U.S. Their aim is to help motivate mortgage owners with help in repairing damaged credit, and in many cases, with an advance payment of $10,000 to the majority of the homeowners along with the loans offered to them.

While the housing market has slumped down on a nationwide level, many cities across the country came together to solve this problem. The daylong progress took a great deal of time, as the money lenders were eager to advocate their advice to the homeowners. As in Miami, Philadelphia, Boston and a number of other towns, this came to be a recurring scene.

This February itself, the state of Florida moved up the ladder to follow Nevada and California with a higher percentage level rise in foreclosed properties. RealtyTrac Inc. has reported a figure of around 32,447 homes that went into foreclosure in February. This was a 69% increase in the number of houses over February last year, and more than 7% more than the January figure.

The newer centers for foreclosure counseling have opened doors in West Palm Beach with the perspective of offering free advice sessions, and being open all through the week. It also helps shorten the financial crisis of homeowners owning self-possessed properties. The limited short-sales insisted in helping distressed areas of real estate deals. During these “short-sales”, homes got sold at much lower prices than usual, but also resulted in a great amount of mortgage insurance that a foreclosed property did not usually need.

The city got paired down with financial institutions that were to consult homeowners, especially on issues like those related to mortgages. This way an impending foreclosure usually got avoided.

The city then began preparing in partnering itself with financial institutions for buying homes that included Bank Atlantic, Bank of America and the Sun Trust Banks Inc. It focused on pacing itself with purchasing houses at affordable rates. This program is intended for empowering buyers with better choices they can make when they have to decide on down payments and provides closing cost assistance as well. The city spokesman, Chris Scott, even spoke of this brightening perspective with zeal.

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Legal firms like You Walk Away, operating from California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Florida foreclosures, are working out steps for customers to help them make sense out of the foreclosure process, and get out of the sticky situation of owning a home, and paying the rising mortgage rates. They have been working over two and half months and are aspiring to set business in six other states very soon. Jon Maddox, the co-founder and senior advocate at this firm suggest that the 13 employee staff is going to treble in number very soon. Their success only goes on to suggest what a hit they have been with the public that is no longer interested in holding on to a property that makes little sense or practical pressure. The rising scale of interest to mortgage along with foreclosed properties on the increase makes this a vicious circle. Thereby property owning under mortgage is altogether a very scary prospect under current circumstances.

However, walking out is not all positive gaga as it has many of its downsides. Your records state that you simply have gone through with foreclosure, and this fact itself leads to a huge amount of financial pitfalls. The results however may not be as drastic as imagined. Homeowners do not have to declare bankruptcy at the face of foreclosures. Still there would be some people who would do so as it temporarily halts the process allowing them a bit more time with their own properties.

A curious fact to look at would be that one’s credit reports bear the testimony of a foreclosed property for seven years. Many people will think that buying a new property during this period is an absolutely ruled out. However, this does not stand out to be true all the time as even after crumbling under pressure statistics show that people bounce back to make fresh deals. Therefore, credit scores record that a foreclosure is not that devastating an effect.

Jenni Crawford, the senior director of San Rafael based Fair Isaac Corp.’s product support department, state that she advises a homeowner facing foreclosure that not all is lost. Under these circumstances, one requires to calm down instead of panicking. A structured approach to one’s property dealings allows one to bounce back with positivity and gusto. A good credit standing can also be received with a systematic, levelled approach. In one or two years, one usually gets a handle to one’s credit ratings having had most other things under measured control. So quickly enough there comes hope for the once homeowner to make his credit standings.

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The counselling agencies all across the United States offer that it never is a sensible option to walk out on the face of your foreclosed property without exploring other possibilities.

Though walking out can feel like the gut level functional thing to do, practical real estate dealers and property counsellors often have better things to suggest. Martin Eichner, who is the director of the HUD program, states that the Project Sentinel that took place in Sunnyvalle, repeatedly tried to give across the point that walking out was quite a foolish option. In fact, without having explored all other viable choices, it is a terrible mistake to do!

Once you walk out you really cannot turn back and so it is important that homeowners follow through other recourses to the law before doing the ultimatum. Of course, when nothing works out one can always walk out later.

The director of HUD implores homeowners that even when they are knee-deep in water, they should try to explore every other option that the property counselling suggests. Negotiating whatever is possible is the key to hold on to one’s property. A short sale or deed out of a bigger property can even save the entire project and help tide over the foreclosure. Nevertheless, the worst thing is to have a property gone down on foreclosure as it goes onto one’s credit report and leaves a stab of black mark that would not go off you for years to come.

Financial experts like Jim Cramer or the “mad man of Wall Street”, however stresses that walking out makes the only viable and economic sense after everything. Therefore, why waste so much of money and time over something that does not make sense at all when you can walk out and are done with it as soon as you find out it will not work out for you! When mortgage rates increase with your earnings dropping, when are you really going to catch up?

According to Cramer, “When houses drop below 20% in value…it’s better to walk away, even if you are wealthy….” This poignancy from Cramer makes you look into the issue that you do not want to lose your credit card or your car for the sake of holding onto a property when you know it looks like a sad face or a heavy scale down your shoulder. When your house is fungible, it is a smart thing to save time, money and energy to walk out. Else, one goes through the most stressful situation in one’s life!

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In all the confusion and chaos foreclosures have brought with them, they are also creating the right time for people to invest in their new home.

Many Realtors and agents opine that buyers would like to look at such homes when they are intending to make a good purchase. Donale Bernarding, a broker with CyBer Realty, a firm with 30 agents says that they are trying to put forth the positive side of the current market situation. They have started a tour of showcasing homes to the buyers in the range of $150,000 to $400,000.

State Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation, compiling data from RealtyTrac stated that the county of Anne Arundel foreclosures add 1,122 homes from January to September 2007. It is a 383 percent increase when compared to 2006.

CyBer Realty is trying to create awareness among buyers to take advantage of this situation and helping them plan on avoiding foreclosures as well. The company has already conducted three seminars in February this year for buyers, both first-timers and others looking for property purchase. People attending this seminar were given a pre-qualification letters which served as their ticket for the bus tours conducted.

Rebecca Cymek, an associate broker and the company’s manager said that they would ideally like people to buy some properties but they are also educating people on foreclosures. She also said that the market is good to make purchases as there are too many sellers and buyers can get many costs waived off on their deals.

Anirban Basu, an economist with Sage Policy Group in Baltimore County, also agrees that this is the best time to invest in real estate purchases. He also says that this time the sellers are very open to negotiation and buyers stand a better chance to bring prices further down. Buyers can then either rent out their properties or resell them at higher prices later on.

Industry sources say that people during the boom period bought homes they could afford in the long run and many others face tight economic situation due to increase in living costs. Both of these have attributed to the looming foreclosure situation.

Mr. Basu advises that people should look at a foreclosed property like any other regular property. The property needs to be of clear title and should be of sound structure. With so many options available, buyers should find exactly what they are looking for, he opines.

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The refusal to temporarily block many foreclosure cases in the Hennepin County by federal judge, Joan Ericksen, has made it difficult for the borrowers there to prove their case.

It is indeed a sad situation where borrowers are unable to slow the progress of the foreclosure case on their home, and many are likely to lose their home as a result of this ruling. This does not work in favor of either party, as it is unlikely that banks would prefer taking a chance on a foreclosed property to net them the outstanding amount in current economic conditions.

The judge on Wednesday February 13^th denied a request of ordering a temporary restraint against the foreclosures which were initiated by the national electronic mortgage registry.

The registry initiates around 40 percent of the foreclosures in the metro area which is why this case is being kept on a close watch by the real estate financing industry.

According to Judge Ericksen, the five defaulting borrowers wanting a class-action status did not meet the minimum requirement for such a temporary order and that their possibility of surviving the suit files are very bleak.

The attorneys on behalf of the borrowers argue that the Minnesota law has been violated by the registry. According to them, the registry does not list assignments (a document that is recorded when a mortgage is sold to another party) which is required by law.

On the other side, the attorneys for the registry insist that it still remains as the mortgage holder on record even though the ownership of the loan has been sold and therefore there is no necessity for an assignment. On this issue, Ericksen stated that the borrowers have not proved that the registry assigns its interests.

Amber Hawkins, attorney representing the borrowers, said that they would proceed with this underlying challenge as per Minnesota Law and would argue for Judge Ericksen to certify this issue for review to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Robert Pratte attorney representing the registry, said that though he is still studying the whole ruling in detail, has principally agreed to the conclusion as given by Judge Ericksen.

Only the future will tell what the final verdict will be, but there is no question that this has been a tough blow to homeowners everywhere, and has set a precedent for future cases all across the state.

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