Free Republic

NORTHEAST FLORIDA -- The rise in foreclosures that analysts predicted would follow an easing in lending restrictions, low interest rates and creative mortgage products has emerged in metropolitan Jacksonville. Recently released data from California-based RealtyTrac Inc. showed the five-county metro area experienced a 39 percent increase in foreclosures over last year's first quarter, or 3,579 foreclosures for the first three months of this year compared with 2,570 for the same period in 2005. The increase was just above the national foreclosure increase of 38 percent for the first quarter, which RealtyTrac analysts said could mean foreclosures going above 1.2 million...

Rising foreclosures are driving the supply of unsold homes in the Denver area to near-record levels, experts agreed on Thursday. There were 27,309 unsold previously owned homes on the market in March, nearly 18 percent more than the 23,214 unsold homes a year earlier, and 5.7 percent more than the 25,848 in February, according to reports released on Thursday. The reports, based on Metrolist Inc. data, were released by independent broker Gary Bauer and Steve McGuire of RE/MAX Professionals. The record inventory of 27,798 homes was set in June 2004. McGuire adjusted the 2004 numbers for a change in the...