Greg Snow - Southwest Florida Real Estate Expert provides real estate services to Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva Islands

Our cities in the "S" states (sand, sun and often suds) dominated the foreclosure rankings last year with the top twenty worst hit areas concentrated in Nevada, California, Arizonia, and yes, our own Sunshine state of Florida. Here in Lee County our own Cape Coral was second in foreclosure filings (about 12% of households) to President Obama's favorite city of Las Vegas (wages) The good news is that all twenty metro areas declined in filings in the last three months of 2009. The not so good news is that foreclosure filings disease is spreading beyond these favorite spots to places like Provo, Utah, Seattle, Wasington, Honolulu, Minneapolis, and other previously untarnished areas of our land.

"Should I stay or should I go now", http://www,theclash.info is rapidly becoming a new mantra for many homeowners who are considering a "strategic default" on their homes. Many reasons abound for homeowners to be in foreclosure from properties they couldn't afford, job losses, and huge loss of equity in their properties. Some have the means to pay, but rather choose to "Go Now", www.moodyblues.co.uk, from a 1964 song by the Moody Blues. These people believe (as 588,000 did in 2008) it is best for their personal finances. Since 2006 peak prices, the prices for homes have dropped more than 30%, and more in our market here in Lee County, Florida, and other hard hit markets. One in four homeowners in the U.S. have negative equity in their homes and rather than continuing to make payments on their "losing" investment, many are going now.