Locally, it could be worse.
Jobs are hard to find, and, not surprisingly, home foreclosures across the country are on the rise, according to figures released by RealtyTrac Inc. yesterday. Nationally, the problem rose by 6 percent over last July.
But it's not something you can easily see on the streets of the North Shore. For one thing, foreclosure is a long, complicated process, and the empty house with the sign on the door is at the end of it and not the beginning.
The North Shore, said Tim Warren of The Warren Group in Boston, "might not be the worst hit." And even in communities where homeowners are finding themselves increasingly unable to make their mortgage payments, the evidence isn't obvious.
"Foreclosures are everywhere," Warren said. "Even if you don't have the problems associated with it, derelict, abandoned buildings, you still have problems with foreclosures."
The most recent numbers provided by The Warren Group are from June, when the market was still feeling the lift from a federal program that credited homebuyers with $8,000. Even so, in some communities the trend was worrying. Foreclosure deeds — and that's the equivalent of walking papers — fell in Salem, from 40 (January to June 2009) to 35 (same months 2010). But they more than doubled in Beverly (from 10 to 25) and Danvers (12 to 26), while Peabody rose nearly 50 percent (36 to 51).
Smaller towns felt the pinch, too. Topsfield went from two foreclosures up until June 2009 to one in 2010. Yet, the bad news in Marblehead ballooned from five to 13, and Hamilton went from one to nine.
With the federal help gone, some worry about worse to come, a second slide in real estate values.
"We hear from the Realtors that things were much slower after the tax credit," Warren said. "But we don't know the scope of it."
Cities and towns are ready should that situation change. When homes are suddenly empty, the lawn isn't cut and the paint begins to peel, it's usually the neighbors who complain first, local officials say.
And just because homeowners lose the home doesn't mean no one owns it. The bank should take an interest in maintaining its new property.
When that doesn't happen, things can go from bad to worse, according to Peabody Building Inspector Kevin Goggin. Three Tanner City structures have been designated for destruction in the last two years, including a property at 4 Lynn St.
"It's no longer habitable," Goggin said. "Its only value is the land."
If a home is foreclosed, the utilities are turned off and, if necessary, the place boarded up, he said. The city can guard against squatters because the water department will realize when the faucets are back on.
"Knock on wood," he said. "We're taking a real proactive approach."
Often, he said, people living in a foreclosed home disappear without warning. The banks find fixtures and other valuables vandalized or stolen by angry, bitter former owners.
Despite the increase in foreclosures in Marblehead, Town Planner Becky Curran sees little evidence of the problem on the streets.
"I know of a couple of properties where the people have left," she said. "I'm not sure it was due to foreclosures."
Danvers Building Inspector Rich Maloney said, "We haven't seen the problem."
In fact, the bigger concern in Danvers is the house with people in it, not caring for the property and not maintaining their grounds nor their structure nor their pets.
North Shore foreclosures
Year-to-date foreclosure deeds:
City/townJune 2009June 2010Percent change
Beverly1025150%
Boxford3433.33%
Danvers1226116.67%
Hamilton19800%
Ipswich5620%
Marblehead513160%
Middleton4525%
Peabody365141.67%
Salem4036-10%
Swampscott91455.56%
Topsfield21-50%
Wenham02
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