You raise a good point — it is sometimes very difficult to figure out what various delinquency measures mean.

A more difficult issue is that: How many people are distressed property owners — not being foreclosed but living hand to mouth because of huge monthly mortgage payments. I suspect those numbers are vastly larger than foreclosure or delinquency reports.

The insurance issue in Florida is a serious matter. I wrote about a builder down there who produces hurricane-proof homes — and I think you will see a lot more effort in that direction. See:

http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20060613_stormproof.htm

On the matter of taxes, they are a growing problem in many jurisdictions because while you can pay off a mortgage there is never a final tax bill.

The borrowers who are defaulting on those famous 2/28 and 3/27 ARMS aren’t doing it because they can’t afford the rate increase, which in manny loans could be a few hundred dollars a month more. Don’t get me wrong, that could be a big difference for some. The reason they are defaulting is because there property taxes have gone up 100-200% since they did there loans. and there insurance premiums, thanks to several hurricanes have gone up as much as 400%.

The average property taxes in South Florida is $5,000.00 per year and the insurance costs are up to $7,000.00 per year for a $300,000.00 home.

Sure the stated home loans where crazy to begin with, but there’s a lot to be said about the local governments response to the issues mentioned above.

1. standard forebarence program - make larger payments to ger caught up.

2. hardship forebarence program - ie, make smaller payments because they can afford the original payment?