America's Foreclosure Ghost Towns -- Send Us Photos Of The Foreclosure Crisis

On the cover of their most recent issue, Fortune declares the "return of Real Estate" to be upon us. With the national housing market wrecked by low sales and marred by high foreclosure rates, the optimistic sentiment seems odd. Have they not seen the scores of empty homes?

Across America, these abandoned homes have formed into something more disturbing: ghost towns. In Las Vegas, a city that The Economist calls the "foreclosure capital of America," over eighty percent of mortgages are underwater. Detroit, another declining city, has watched the city's population drop 25 percent over the last decade. Modesto, California -- just 90 miles east of San Francisco -- has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. Even one small town in New York have watched property values come crashing down.

In February, new home sales have plunged to record lows, down 28 percent from the year prior, according to new government data.

Economists and analysts, however, think things may actually get worse. According to Lender Processing Services, around 6.9 million homeowners were either delinquent or in foreclosure proceedings through February, and 1 in every 577 housing units received a foreclosure filing last month, finds data provider RealtyTrac.

Nationwide, empty houses are leading to empty neighborhoods, especially in Arizona, California, Nevada and Michigan. The slide show below shows a few examples of the results: once vital communities reduced to empty living rooms and overgrown weeds.

Do you have abandoned homes in your area because of the foreclosure crisis? Click "Add A Slide" and submit your photos below:

 

Foreclosures have wreaked havoc across America. How has it affected your community?

Images Of America's Foreclosure Ghost Towns

Submit a photo of foreclosures near you with an explanation of how people have coped. It could appear here!

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Las Vegas, Nevada

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This unfinished housing development is just one example of why The Economist calls Las Vegas "the foreclosure capital of America." Last year, a tenth of the city's homes were foreclosed or in the process of foreclosure. Getty photographers Spencer Platt and Ethan Miller documented the city's decline. More of images of post-boom Las Vegas can be seen at The Huffington Post.

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This unfinished housing development is just one example of why The Economist calls Las Vegas "the foreclosure capital of America." Last year, a tenth of the city's homes were foreclosed or in the process of foreclosure. Getty photographers Spencer Platt and Ethan Miller documented the city's decline. More of images of post-boom Las Vegas can be seen at The Huffington Post.

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Comments

[Siebenstein]

08:04 PM on 05/02/2011

Conratulations on gutsy take-out of OBL Mr. President.

Now, can you be gutsy and do something for homeowners, or does Wall Street forbid you to be gutsy on that one?

[MGLLC]

10:30 PM on 05/08/2011

No, we homeowners get nothing, our lobby isn't big enough. Also, it is part of the work to eliminate the middle class and drive down wages so we can compete with slaves in countries like china. I don't think Americans will settle for it, but I could be wrong. I am at the end of my life, and I keep wondering how much more people will sit by and watch. People from my generation wouldn't have settled for it, but most of us are gone and forgotten. I hope for the sake of my grandson and god daughter that America finds it's backbone before it is too late and everything is taken from you.

[Siebenstein]

02:20 AM on 05/09/2011

It makes me sad to read your comment, and I agree on everything you say 100%. The only thing I do not agree with is that you are forgotten; at least not by me. I think of the older generation a lot, a LOT, because of what is going on. A country/ government that treats its people the way this one does, does not deserve to be in existence. This is going on since Reagan came into office and culminated 2 years ago, with a new administration looking the other way as well. I want a revolution and I am serious. The backbone--where has it gone? Honestly, what happened to the kids of the 60's and 70's?

[Siebenstein]

06:11 PM on 04/30/2011

Hey guys
Anyone interested to join a class action against Chase, please look at this website in depth and contact that law office.

http://www.krclassaction.com/Default.aspx?Tabid=2478

[Siebenstein]

03:33 AM on 04/29/2011

Southern California is a mess.
In my neighborhood I see homes empty, that have been empty since the last 2-3 years.
Thank you Obama administration for doing nothing to change it !!!!
No true bankster regulation; quite the opposite from Mr. "Liberal".

[Siebenstein]

03:26 AM on 04/29/2011

The Obama -Wall Street crew is making sure we will stay under water or lose our homes until they are out of office.---Obviously.

Thus, no help for homeowners = no help for Obama on my part !

Ev them all.

[Barry Dennis]

12:42 PM on 04/20/2011

Note to banks and mortgage owners: Which is worth more, $100,000 cash in hand today from a speculator, or potentially twice that in the next five years?
Right! Cash today is ALWAYS worth more than tomorrow's promise.
Selling at market lows when you have margin calls isn't appetizing,to say the least, but having the cash for perhaps a newer and more promising investment opportunity certainly is worth some "opportunity cost"-today's loss. And the loss doesn't get more tasty as it "ages." It gets moldy, has less market value, could conceivably be worth even less, a complete write off.
Bad choices, bad programs, bad outcomes. Time for a fresh start!

[motherofonyx]

02:38 PM on 04/19/2011

Kind of makes one wonder how any bankers, loan company's, fannie mae, freddie mac, federal housing; sleep at night, oh right I forgot, it is just business

[Siebenstein]

03:27 AM on 04/29/2011

Oh, they sleep sound, since they have no conscience.

[Gimme]

11:17 PM on 04/15/2011

We are "Reclaiming that Dream". We have statistics of realtor induced buy backs in cahoots with banks and attorneys. No use crying. The government bailed out banks with billions perhaps a trillion of good money after bad. That money belonged to you and I as taxpayers.

We are getting together this summer in major cities in rock concert festivals organized to demand a right to return to foreclosed homes, to stop foreclosures and to force mortgage restructures.

Look out Michigan, California, New York State, Georgia and Florida we're coming your way this summer.

There are more than 6 million homeless now in the USA, More than 12 million jobless. All because of the tsunami of foreclosures and outsourcing encouraged by government and funded by them and the banks.

You ought to stand up Now. Spam if you must. Twitter, Facebook and splutter. Let everyone you know know about this event and email us please.

We can end this misery if we stand up and act together. If we stop paying our taxes government must listen. How many of us can they jail for not paying our taxes? Till they listen and "if you don't know what I mean won't you stand up and scream cause there's things going on you don't know".

A home is a human right. Bailing out the dress circle of Wall street isn't. email us at:
[e-mail]
Chas

[Mamma Roma]

01:59 PM on 04/14/2011

I just found out the people who bought our house AFTER we were forced into foreclosure, were people a Realtor we know, brought over to see it when we were trying to sell it.

SO, this nice senior couple, waited until we went into a downward spiral, then took advantage of all the upgrades we made and our situation, rather than offer us a fair price for our home.

WE lost all our downpayment, we lost the money we paid in upgrades, and 5 years of payments, all because our lender would not provide any forbearance to get us through a bad time. So they took $75K less for our house and all with the help of these people, the buyer and the Realtor. If you think this isn't all collusion, you don't know what the word means.

[Yanceyville]

10:45 AM on 05/03/2011

IM so sorry for you and others in the same spot. We did buy at the height of the bubble, but we bought 15 yr old home that the prior owners walked away from in 2004..it had been empty. No one wanted it, its hard to access(keeps out the creepers knockin on the door and salesmen!). It was 45g under appraised and the last appraisal was done in 2003. Comparable places closer to town(we are 50 miles out) were 3 and 4x the price. But we are looking at loosing it now even though the payments are low because my partner has been laid off yet again and I am disabled.
We went through this all before, I personally during the raygun recession and again when I was hurt then sick then diagnosed with HIV I had to lose everything and be homeless until I landed in ICU with pneumonia.
I was so pissed to hear that Bushco put that version of the tarp through like they did and did not help those of us who pay taxes instead.

[flyswat]

09:03 AM on 04/10/2011

Southwestern Florida has been hurting, including Bonita Springs which that Google photo
from satellite captures so artfully.

However, the super-bargains from my humble buyer viewpoint are drying up, including Bonita Springs.

I frankly do not know much about the "expensive houses above $75,000," but my experience just yesterday is that my cash bid was rejected as it was merely 1 out of 13 bids for a Cape Coral bank r.e.o. short sale of 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, and swimming
pool of about $73,000 total, including sewer/water assessment of $8,000.

The situation is better for the Florida economy than it was a few months ago if not weeks.

Bargains & leftovers certainly do exist while seemingly demand is increasing everyday.

[KellyA123]

04:17 PM on 04/07/2011

This firm is fighting back on behalf of homeowners in the largest lawsuit against the banks in history. http://bit.ly/eW8XGq

[TheNastyAdder]

02:37 PM on 04/06/2011

We want to believe that there is still a middle class. But take off those rose-colored glasses, and really take a look around . Empty homes, empty storefronts and well-dressed people with no jobs. We are in a new style depression people. Look at England. That's our future. Home forclosures are just the tip of the iceburg. No one can change it. The die has been cast. Save all the money you can,start your own food pantry and plant a garden!

[Suzie2]

06:20 AM on 04/07/2011

What about England? Are they in a bad way? I didn't realize.

[Yanceyville]

10:47 AM on 05/03/2011

For many the American Dream of Middle Class life has been just that a dream for a few decades. Some have made it most of us are just sinking a little slower. Some of us have been to the bottom a few times.

[herbisme]

05:15 PM on 04/04/2011

how many of us drive foreign car's, buy foreign made clothing, accept trac developments as progress ? how many of us want big houses without the funds to afford these big houses whose fault is it ?

[Ogg-the-bear]

01:23 PM on 04/14/2011

Read more stuff, especially stories of those who've been through it. You're asking the wrong questions. Life isn't black and white and all simple like that.

[herbisme]

02:37 PM on 04/14/2011

Being a black American I'm very familiar with people wanting things they can't afford. I've known people who drive Cadillacs which double as houses. A close relative got 1,500 dollars, she needed to get a car, instead of buying a used vehicle for transportation she rented a vehicle for "look's" the money is gone, and she has no transportation.


Clearly nothing is ever "black and white" because we won't let it be that simple. I can understand why many black people want better homes in better neighborhood's, but if you can't afford you can't afford it is that simple. I must also say I have not lived in the States since 1985, yet I was given a mortgage in 2006.

My sister who worked for a small mortgage company hasn't worked since the crash, she said the entire opperation was suspect...no nothing's ever black and white, but technicolor allows you to see even more....

One thing really bugs me. I remember sitting is social studies circa 1971, the teacher was saying that by the year 2000 the American economy would be propelled by the service industry, did nobody ever think about what that really meant ? If we knew that.. that long ago, did we not know that working part-time at BK or Mc Donalds would'nt cut it ? off topic I know, but it's been bugging me for awhile...

[User104200]

04:47 PM on 04/04/2011

Thanks to Barney Frank and other criminal democrats and Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac plus democrat congressmen spending more than we make, America is becoming a ghost town. When will these characters be prosecuted for their crimes?

[Ogg-the-bear]

01:27 PM on 04/14/2011

Sorry. The rich bratz have to pay their share. Period.

[User104200]

12:27 AM on 04/15/2011

Hey Bear, we already pay more than our fair share.........to support losers like you

[MGLLC]

11:00 PM on 05/08/2011

Only after people in all 50 states follow WI's example and start recalls of representatives like BF. If people don't get up and act now, we will have no rights or property left at all. For those state who don't ".allow" recalls, hit the streets and demand it. Spinelessness isn't limited to Washington DC. If anyone still believes the next corporate sponsored media circus called Election 2012 will bring any relief, look at the last 12 years. Feed the rich corporations at the expense of the people. More unwinnable wars benefiting the few, privatizing the profits, giving the citizens the bills.

[charperz]

11:51 PM on 04/03/2011

where are the state prosecutors for all the bank Scam in paper work foreclosures they say are investigating the bank no they are jacknering

[MGLLC]

11:14 PM on 05/08/2011

AGs in all 50 states started investigations into the bank frauds. They cut a deal with do nothing Holder last month; the banks won't be fined for their misdeeds, they need only promise not to do it again. Now, they are foreclosing like crazy, because they can. Even MERS titles were given the okay.

[99er2049er]

02:20 AM on 04/03/2011

I purchased my home 20 years ago. I am just another victim of the recession. My house is in foreclosure now and I will lose it within a couple months. It breaks my heart to see what is happening with our country and my anger toward the republicans grows exponentially for how they abuse the unemployed.

For those GOP trolls that have comments, my comment back to them is read this board day after day, watch the news, look at the world around you, and there is no way you can deny what is happening to tens of millions of people.

[jneedhamp]

10:08 AM on 04/04/2011

I am GOP and my home is supposed to be auctioned Tuesday. Neither party has a monopoly on prosperity or misery. The fundamental difference between Democrat and Republican is Urban Values versus Rural Values. The people who control all the wealth and power, in the United States, are not Republican or Democrat - they are Aristocrat and haven't a patriotic bone in their bodies. As long as they can preserve their wealth and power - mostly inherited - in a global Oligarchy.

[99er2049er]

11:38 AM on 04/04/2011

I'm sorry to hear about your house auctioning. I can feel a similar pain as you. I wish you and your family the best of luck with finding a new place and a better life.

[MGLLC]

11:36 PM on 05/08/2011

After the extension of the bush tax cuts, I switched to American party. Both parties are equally corrupt and serve the same corporate interests at our expense.