DAVENPORT, Iowa -
Home foreclosures are spiking in the Quad Cities area according to a new report issued by RealtyTrac. The online service reports a 40% increase in local foreclosures in the first half of this year compared to the last half of 2008. Insiders blame the economy more than predatory loans for the recent upswing.
Owners of more than a thousand Quad City properties have filed for foreclosure according to the report. That's about six out of every 100 homes in the Quad City metro area.
Regular foreclosure auctions are taking place on both sides of the Mississippi River. At the Scott County Courthouse, 281 foreclosure auctions during the first six months of this year. That's already up from 238 in 2008.
"It's not getting any better," said Foreclosure Clerk Cheryl Sosnowski. "I don't know that the banking situation is making it any better."
Inside the Scott County Sheriff's office, a printer runs off foreclosure after foreclosure. Sosnowski schedules the weekly auctions. She's already booked into the first week in October, with a few dozen more yet to process.
"The last couple of weeks I probably got 50 of them within a short period of time," she said. "That's probably the most I've had at any one time."
And in Davenport, foreclosures reach across neighborhoods. There are boarded windows and broken dreams. Deserted properties that represent tough times in the heartland. The economy now getting the blame.
"They're being laid off," said Dawn Mutum-Plies, director of housing at United Neighbors. "They can't make their house payments. A lot more come through on a daily basis."
United Neighbors is logging a dramatic increase. Participation in its foreclosure prevention program jumped nearly four times from last year, from 40 to 155. Out of those, it will be able to save about half of those homes.
"Until there's some upswing in jobs, I'm not sure what people are going to do," she said.
Those escalating numbers don't just affect homeowners who can't pay their mortgage. It also lowers property values across the neighborhood.
Hope now that a program from the Obama administration, Making Home Affordable, will open up more money for home loans. The experts say it needs to happen quickly.
"Almost all the homes that I've seen are going back to the bank," Sosnowski concluded.
A numbers game that's climbing in more ways day after day.
Owners of more than a thousand Quad City properties have filed for foreclosure according to the report. That's about six out of every 100 homes in the Quad City metro area.
Regular foreclosure auctions are taking place on both sides of the Mississippi River. At the Scott County Courthouse, 281 foreclosure auctions during the first six months of this year. That's already up from 238 in 2008.
"It's not getting any better," said Foreclosure Clerk Cheryl Sosnowski. "I don't know that the banking situation is making it any better."
Inside the Scott County Sheriff's office, a printer runs off foreclosure after foreclosure. Sosnowski schedules the weekly auctions. She's already booked into the first week in October, with a few dozen more yet to process.
"The last couple of weeks I probably got 50 of them within a short period of time," she said. "That's probably the most I've had at any one time."
And in Davenport, foreclosures reach across neighborhoods. There are boarded windows and broken dreams. Deserted properties that represent tough times in the heartland. The economy now getting the blame.
"They're being laid off," said Dawn Mutum-Plies, director of housing at United Neighbors. "They can't make their house payments. A lot more come through on a daily basis."
United Neighbors is logging a dramatic increase. Participation in its foreclosure prevention program jumped nearly four times from last year, from 40 to 155. Out of those, it will be able to save about half of those homes.
"Until there's some upswing in jobs, I'm not sure what people are going to do," she said.
Those escalating numbers don't just affect homeowners who can't pay their mortgage. It also lowers property values across the neighborhood.
Hope now that a program from the Obama administration, Making Home Affordable, will open up more money for home loans. The experts say it needs to happen quickly.
"Almost all the homes that I've seen are going back to the bank," Sosnowski concluded.
A numbers game that's climbing in more ways day after day.
