Foreclosure

President Obama's multi-billion dollar proposal to help homeowners involves providing them refinanced, government-backed loans. The plan is not without its doubters, however.

From movie sets to pot farms to low-income housing, foreclosed homes have been converted in unepected and resourceful ways. Catherine Rampell reports.

The city of Pacoima, CA is going ahead with a new program that transforms foreclosed homes into pocket parks. Vacant lots are being considered in addition to 10 foreclosed sites.

In Merced, California, students fill in the large homes chockablock with amenities and left vacant by a high foreclosure rate. Rents often go for under $300 a month.

Until the foreclosure process is finalized, apartment buildings are the responsibility of no one in particular. Around New York City, writes Chris Opfer, foreclosing banks are increasingly being given the task of maintaining and repairing them.

What's not known is how many of the homes are investments, or primary or secondary residences, but it's clear that the foreclosure rate for mortgages exceeding $1million is higher than for lower priced homes, according to the New York Times analysis.

Texas' strict banking regulation may be partially responsible for its economic health.

One in five Detroit homes is in foreclosure and asking prices are dropping to extreme lows. Many in the city question what lies in the future for the struggling city.

In trying to turn people into homeowners, the city of Cleveland's participation in a federally-funded home loan program greatly exacerbated its foreclosure crisis.

With foreclosures racking up, the state of Florida is entering a dark period. Despite the dire prognosis, the stat'es historic ups and downs hint that Florida may be able to come back.

While the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance is helping people buy homes, their aim is to build an army of trained homeowners to engage their own neighbors in organizing and advocacy.

Sales in Brooklyn are down, and that's made a ghost town out of the recently booming but now busted Williamsburg neighborhood.

Fort Lauderdale joins a national program which will provide $3.7 million to change foreclosed homes into affordable housing.

Dealing with abandoned and foreclosed properties should be high on the list of priorities for the new White House Office of Urban Affairs, says Justin Hollander, assistant professor at Tufts.