Economies have gone up and down since time immemorial. I don't doubt that there are rational explanations for some of these foreclosures (sickness, death of one party involved, divorce, etc.) but knowing human beings the way I do (I am one), I can't help but think that most of these people simply have misplaced priorities. Meaning they spent their money on goodies instead of property taxes.
Property taxes in the midwestern states that I've seen are way out of line. It's not the people that spent the money on BS, it's the local govm'ts that did. The biggest spender hog is almost always the local school dist. The more they spend, the more ignorant the kids end up, but the teachers and all their administrators live very well. It's not NEA members and local gov. gangs members that don't have enough to pay the taxes, they always ensure that.
In my county,most of property tax is supposed to be going to public schools. Yet the schools look more like prisons than learning institutions.Thought we were supposed to get what we paid for.