Fort Worth Foreclosures for Sale

The number of foreclosures in the Fort Worth area has hit record levels according to the Foreclosure Listings Service Inc. (FSL) who have been tracking this data nationwide since 1963. Although many commentators are underlining the fact that the increase for the first quarter of 2009 is only a 3 percent rise on the same period last year; the numbers are still climbing despite federal government financial initiatives to assist homeowners and city authorities.

More than 13,000 foreclosure homes have been listed in the area's courthouses for auction in this first three month period. The first quarter does not usually end until 31 March but foreclosures have to filed a month before they hit the auctions, hence the three month period being mentioned in February.

This 3 percent rise is seen by some as a triumph of sorts, as the increase in Collin County is up by a staggering 9 percent.

Many people are seeing a increase in the number of associated problems with the foreclosure crisis. The foreclosure of a property affects many more people than just the homeowner who used to live there. In Fort Worth the general value of neighbouring properties has come down as they are next door to a boarded up house. The foreclosure process can take months and so properties are not maintained. Legally, the lender/bank becomes responsible for the upkeep of the property once it is repossessed; clearly the banks are not cutting lawns in these neighbourhoods.

It is not uncommon to find well to do homes with a usual price tag of $400,000 or more being occupied by folk that don't quite seem as though they should be there. There is a huge foreclosure scam shooting across the State in the form of squatters living these foreclosed homes.

The scam works like this: once a foreclosure process is started, an appeal is filed which delays the process by 30 to 60 days, the locks are changed and people are found by the scammers to move in. Rent is collected until the ruse is discovered, it really is quite ingenious. An in-depth knowledge of the foreclosure process is required to pull it off but it is becoming more common in every neighbourhood.

Often foreclosures are associated with borrowers on low incomes that were subject to sub-prime loan sharks, but there are more middle class people coming under the scrutiny of the lenders – middle income families are also becoming victims and losing their homes. It seems that in these times of economic uncertainty, nobody is truly safe.