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INTERACTIVE FORECLOSURE MAP

Interactive Foreclosure Map
Search all Mecklenburg foreclosures

PART ONE: March 18, 2007

Southern Chase
Video: Chris and Amy Wood's financial struggle
Video: Lea and Mark Tingley's problems

Sold a Nightmare

Concord subdivision proves lucrative
for builder and costly for 1st-time owners

Seventy-seven buyers have lost homes to foreclosure in Southern Chase, a subdivision of 406 homes.

Easy-credit loans can be hard on us all

Observer series shows destabilizing threat to entire communities

When a gleaming new house goes up, and the homeowner moves in, most people celebrate that as good growth.

PART TWO

Starter homes, sad endings

Number of foreclosures climbs as 1st-time buyers lose low-priced houses

A wave of loan defaults in starter-home developments is pushing the foreclosure count in Mecklenburg County to record heights, an Observer analysis shows.

PART THREE

One builder, hundreds of foreclosures

10 Beazer developments in Mecklenburg riddled by foreclosures

In the past decade, Beazer Homes USA built more houses in Mecklenburg County that have since foreclosed than any other builder.

PART FOUR

Failed mortgages
fly under the radar

From feds on down, no one keeps close track of foreclosures, limiting oversight

The city of Charlotte does not count foreclosures. Neither does Mecklenburg County. Nor the state of North Carolina. Nor the federal government.

FORECLOSING ON THE AMERICAN DREAM

An Observer special report beginning Jan. 2006

Loan defaults a growing burden
for lower-income neighborhoods

Home loan failures have more than quadrupled in Mecklenburg County since 1999. More foreclosures are filed here, per person, than any other county in the state.

Easy home buy turns risky

'People's dreams come true' ... but not always

"Have you considered buying a home?" a stranger asked.

Foreclosure filings reach
record high in N.C.

Highest concentration in Mecklenburg County

Last year, more N.C. families were threatened with losing their homes through foreclosure than ever before, a new state report shows.

FORECLOSURES IN SOUTHERN CHASE

Southern Chase
Detailed data on foreclosures in Cabarrus County's Southern Chase neighborhood

APRIL 29, 2007

Offer by Beazer: $100 for praise

Customers tell of pay for
survey marks; execs stood to benefit

Shortly after Andre Gray bought a new home in 2001, he recalls receiving two letters in the mail.

JUNE 9, 2007

Lost homes haunt families

107 homes. 41 foreclosures. An ongoing crisis in Barrington ruins finances, credit and lives.

Agina Anderson's foreclosure dogs her. It weighs down her credit score like an anchor. Full Series

JULY 8, 2007

`No closing costs' add up fast

When Beazer offers incentives, homebuyers think they'll save money. Some don't.

Beazer Homes USA told Dina Franklin it would pay the closing costs when she purchased a new home in 2003 in northeast Mecklenburg County.

SEPT. 30, 2007

Promises upfront,
deals on the side

Real estate agency took bonuses from builders it vowed to fight

It was 2002, the middle of the subprime mortgage boom. A young real estate agency was fishing for customers in an unlikely place.

DEC. 8, 2007

New suburbs in fast decay

Foreclosures lead to
vacancies and crime

New suburban neighborhoods that held promise for thousands of Charlotte families is now struggling with crime, blight and falling home values.

DEC. 16, 2007

Construction rolls on
in foreclosure zones

Bunching of starter homes fuels concern over growth policies

Builders continue hammering new houses in Charlotte's high-foreclosure areas.

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