Ground Zero For The Sub-Prime Mortgage Meltdown

"Two years ago, this neighborhood [Oscar DeLeon lives in] didn't exist. De Leon, who bought in June 2005 for $324,000, got the first home on the street, the first house he had bought anywhere.

'I like it here,' he says, 'They could offer me a house for free in L.A. I'd take it and sell it, but I'd never live there.'

It's the age-old dream of the suburbs. Now, it's at risk in communities throughout the country, thanks to lenders too eager to lend and borrowers who thought houses would dispense money forever, like magical ATMs.

In California, Perris is at the epicenter of mortgage problems. From November to January, 177 homes in Perris' central ZIP Code have received notices of default, the first step toward foreclosure.

That's about 1 of 53 houses, the highest level of any ZIP Code in California, according to a Times analysis of statistics provided by DataQuick Information Systems."

"The trouble stems partly from a proliferation in recent years of so-called sub-prime loans to borrowers with shaky credit or erratic income, borrowers who are more likely to miss payments and not catch up. Such defaults are typically in communities like this one — a long way from the high-priced and built-out coast. The Inland Empire is full of new and almost-new homes and commuters who often travel great distances to jobs to pay for them."