Top Foreclosure Cities
The United States is seeing its foreclosure rates rise along with high unemployment numbers. Cities in the nation's Sun Belt have some of the highest foreclosure rates. However, some people may have lost their homes due to a mishandling of the foreclosure process, which has led to investigations across the nation.
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Metropolitan Areas
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According to MarketWatch, a Realty Trac report says one in every 45 homes in the United States received a foreclosure filing in 2010. Realty Trac included homes in its report that had been through the entire foreclosure process and were back on the market for sale. The report indicates Atlanta, Houston and Seattle had some of the largest increases in foreclosures among the nation's 20 biggest metropolitan areas. Houston led the increases with a 26 percent rise in foreclosures. Seattle was second with a 23 percent increase, and Atlanta saw a 21 percent rise in foreclosures.
Nevada and California
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Cities in Nevada have been hit hard by foreclosures. Marketwatch reports Realty Trac data indicates one out of nine Las Vegas homes received a foreclosure filing in 2010. That amounted to having more than 88,000 homes in foreclosure. A September 2010 ABC News article titled "American Nightmare: Top 10 Cities for Foreclosures" says ABC asked Realty Trac to provide foreclosure data over a 12-month period, and the top three cities with the highest number of foreclosures were all in Nevada. Fernley, Nevada, topped the list with one in five homes in foreclosure. It was followed by Las Vegas-Paradise and Pahrump, Nevada, which each had one in six homes in foreclosure. Six of the other ten cities with high foreclosure rates were in California, which included Merced, Modesto and Stockton. The ABC report indicates they all had one in eight homes in foreclosure.
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Foreclosure Process
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Some lenders who mishandled foreclosures may have contributed to a rise in the nation's foreclosure rates. The "Boston Globe" notes in a February 2011 article titled "In a Jam, More Skip Mortgage Payments" that major banks have acknowledged that some employees failed to review paperwork as thousands of foreclosures were approved, and courts ruled that some properties were seized unlawfully by banks. Furthermore, the Globe says attorneys general in every state are looking into accusations of fraudulent foreclosure practices.
Government Assistance
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According to ABC News, the federal government's efforts to slow the nation's foreclosure rate has helped fewer people than anticipated. ABC notes that President Barack Obama said in 2009 that as many as 4 million homeowners would be helped by the government's anti-foreclosure program. On September 23, 2010, ABC reported that about 449,000 homeowners had received help to avoid foreclosure.
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