There’s an interesting article in the Dallas Morning news about how some subdivisions in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are being hit hard by the foreclosure and credit crisis.
The article said:
Hacienda del Sol never turned into the community homeowners say they were promised. Homeowners expected the southeast Dallas subdivision, tucked between a busy street and lush trees, to flourish into a community of several dozen homes. But the developer disappeared, lots remained undeveloped and, eventually, more than half of the subdivision’s 32 homes slipped into foreclosure.
With the high number foreclosure in Hacienda, criminals have become brazen removing copper and even street light poles from the community. The few families that did move into the community live in fear, surrounded by foreclosures that have become community eyesores. As you can imagine, the high number of foreclosures put downward pressure on home values and many of Hacienda’s homeowners are upside-down on their mortgages.
When Johnson, along with his wife and two kids, purchased his three-bedroom brick home for $127,000, the homebuilder, Choice Homes, assured him the property soon would be worth far more than what he had paid. Now he owes more on the house than it’s worth.
A matter of fact one the homes that was recently auctioned off was originally valued at $175,000, but only sold for $110,000. This the negative power of foreclosures. If Johnson eventually decided to refinance or sell his home it would be very difficult. Many families find themselves facing the fallout of foreclosures even if they did everything right. That’s why it’s imperative that we stop the foreclosure crisis before it does further damage to the financial well-being of even more American homeowners.