The Dallas News reports on foreclosures. "The number of mortgage defaults in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is up 30 percent this year. In North Texas, rising property taxes and increasing mortgage rates on adjustable loans are also taking a toll."

"Kemisha Jones doesn't want to leave her 2-year-old southeast Dallas home. But the single mother may not have a choice. She's one of more than 28,000 North Texans whose homes have been posted for foreclosure this year."

"'My house payments went from $871 to $1,385 a month,' said Ms. Jones, whose house is valued at about $106,000. 'For a while I was making it, I was rocking and rolling,' she said. 'But now I realize that I can't afford this house.'"

"For Eric Fenton, who gave up his house in June, the loss of overtime income in his telecommunications job came at the same time his mortgage payments ratcheted up. 'Since I had to get an adjustable rate loan, I watched my payments grow from $700 to $900,' Mr. Fenton said. 'And then utilities, they went from $200 to $400.'"

"Mr. Fenton tried to sell his Dallas house but had no luck. 'My house was listed for over two years at its tax-appraised value, $113,000, with no lookers,' he said."

"North Texas' low home appreciation rates make it difficult for many homeowners to get out of their house when they wind up in financial trouble. That adds to the foreclosure bubble, said George Roddy, president of Foreclosure Listing Service. 'Especially if they are financing 110 percent of the property to begin with,' Mr. Roddy said. 'They finance all the closing costs and end up owing the mortgage company if they decide to sell.'"

"FLS has found that about 44 percent of homes posted for foreclosure each month actually sell at auction. Through the first six months of 2006, lenders had taken back 8,452 D-FW area homes. The average mortgage on the houses foreclosed on was $148,418."

"And a look at the monthly foreclosure postings proves that hard times hit in all communities. Everything from million-dollar mansions in exclusive Plano neighborhoods to $32,000 condos in East Dallas are in foreclosure, county records show."

"'Customers have gotten themselves into loans they probably didn't understand,' said Bob Caruso, a mortgage servicing executive with Bank of America. 'Loans with adjustable rates do actually adjust upward.'"

"Gordon Griffith and his family are leaving their Garland home at the end of the month. 'We agreed to an adjustable rate mortgage when we refinanced the house, and now it is killing us,' Mr. Griffith said. 'The rate is going up every six months,' he said."

"Fort Worth mortgage originator Vernetta Wills blames some homebuilders for not correctly estimating taxes on the houses they sell. Sometimes property tax estimates are just for the lot and don't include the new home being built. 'If the builders in the area would stop putting people in houses that they cannot afford and qualify them with the correct taxes, this would not happen,' she said."

"Most troubling for North Texas homeowners, the flood of foreclosures could affect the overall housing market, industry analysts say. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a frenzy of home foreclosures caused by the regional economic collapse contributed to more than a 25 percent decline in overall residential values."

"'We know that most of the foreclosures are going back to the lenders and then being offered for resale,' economist James Gaines said. 'We also know that historically, the lenders are generally forced to offer the properties at discounts in order to move them.'"

"Connie Zetterlund, a Dallas real estate agent who specializes in foreclosed-home resales, said the number of such listings is ballooning. So far, lenders have been unwilling to slash their prices, she said. 'I don't think they have gotten the news that the market is slowing and there is a glut of foreclosures,' Ms. Zetterlund said."

"The timing is bad for these distressed properties to land on the market. Overall home resales have been dropping in recent months. 'Everyone of us needs to be heads-up about what this is saying about the stability of our economy,' Ms. Cunningham said. 'Housing has held up our economy for so long.'"

The Waco Tribune. "Forty-year fixed-rate mortgages are popping up in Waco, and whether that’s a good thing depends on who you ask. One local banker calls 40-year fixed-rate mortgages 'a bad practice.' Another voices excitement about offering such mortgages, saying more people can now afford homes."

"Bill Nesbitt, CEO of Central National Bank, says he fears 40-year mortgages 'can lure people into making bad financial decisions.' If a buyer can afford a house only by spreading payments over 40 years, Nesbitt said, he or she may be knocked into financial difficulty by the 'bumps of life.'"

"'They are having to use so much income to make the mortgage payment that they could be backed into a corner if taxes go up, inflation goes up or utilities go up,' Nesbitt said."

"'I’m not aware of any downside,' said Brad German, a Freddie Mac spokesman, commenting on the 40-year product. 'The advantage is that those looking for a lower monthly payment can get it, though it will require a longer payment schedule.'"

"'If you’re going to be in your home for a short time, check it out,' mortgage loan officer Pam Hebert said. 'If you’re going to stay there long term, it’s not for you.'"

"Nesbitt said he believes 40-year mortgages arose out of the national housing and refinancing boom of recent years. 'The euphoria of all that stirred the competitive spirit in lenders, who came up with more and more creative ways to get a share of that boom,' Nesbitt said. 'We always kind of go to excess; the pendulum swings a little too far.'"