The Star Telegram reports from Texas. "Having more than 1,000 homes posted for foreclosure each month is becoming the new norm in Tarrant County. The total for the March 6 auction is 1,029, and it's the seventh month in a row that foreclosures have topped 1,000. There are now almost twice as many foreclosures as there were the same month five years ago, according to the Foreclosure Listing Service in Addison."

"It's 10 percent more than the number of postings a year ago. 'There's really no end in sight,' said George Roddy, president of the agency."

"The Summerfields is like many neighborhoods that have cropped up across Tarrant County in recent years. And like many neighborhoods in Tarrant County, the Summerfields has had its share of foreclosures."

"Kim Rider, whose house is directly in front of a foreclosed home, wonders when the house will be sold and the hole in her neighborhood filled. 'If it doesn't soon, we wonder what will happen,' she said."

"One effect is evident already. Nearby housing prices are eroding. The four houses immediately next to the foreclosed property had their appraised values sink in the past year. The same situation is playing out along Rhoades Street in Azle, Mayflower Court in South Arlington, Fossil Butte Drive in the Arcadia Park area of north Fort Worth and too many other streets to name."

"February saw another record in Tarrant County for the number of homes posted for foreclosure. There were 1,274 postings, the most since the real-estate crash of the late 1980s."

"'Generally, they price them to move right off the bat,' said Joe Peterson, broker in charge of reselling foreclosed properties for lenders in Bartonville. Foreclosed homes sold by the Department of Housing and Urban Development go down in price 10 percent if they don't sell in the first 30 days, Peterson said. The price keeps going down until the house sells, he said."

"Dale Erwin, broker in Fort Worth, said his own neighborhood of 200 homes in west Fort Worth has been affected by foreclosures. Erwin said he and his neighbors have seen about 15 foreclosures in the past year. He figures that the less than 8-year-old homes had appreciated by 10 percent to 15 percent at one point. 'Now they're back to where they were,' he said."

"The economy in the Metroplex has been steady since the 2001-2002 slump, and the rates of illness and divorce have not changed enough to explain why foreclosures have tripled."

"David O'Brien Jr., executive director of the nonprofit Housing Opportunities of Fort Worth said the market has seen a stratospheric rise in mortgage fraud and in the default rate of subprime loans, typically written at a higher interest rate for people with the lowest credit scores."

"'Someone will loan you money for anything in this country,' O'Brien said. 'The thing is finding out how much that money will cost you.'"

"Appraisers get pressure from lenders and homeowners to meet a certain price so that the loan will go through. 'It happens daily, hourly,' said Greg Stephens of LandSafe Appraisal Services. 'It's rampant.' He said he has seen mortgages taken out for $100,000 more than the recorded sales price."

The Dallas Morning News. "Dallas-Fort Worth area foreclosure postings are up again. More than 3,200 North Texas homes are facing forced sale – a 7 percent gain from the filings for March 2006 filings, the Foreclosure Listing Service reported Thursday."

"During the first quarter, D-FW area foreclosure postings were up 15 percent from the same period of 2006."

"'We saw a pretty good decline in postings from February to March, but we've seen that before, and it goes right back up,' said George Roddy. 'I think these high foreclosures are here to stay.'"

"In the D-FW area, Collin County had the biggest increase in foreclosure postings for March, up 21 percent from a year ago. Texas has been one of the country's top home foreclosure markets during the last three years."

"A recent report by the Texas A&M University Real Estate Center predicts a sharp increase in nationwide home foreclosures this year. 'Foreclosures are up 27 percent in the last 12 months,' A&M economist Mark Dotzour said. 'But that's still low in my books. I'm betting 2007 U.S. foreclosures will double last year's total.'"

The North Texas E-News. "'In recent years, investor thirst for the higher yields of mortgage-backed bonds has allowed lenders to relax credit standards,' Dotzour said. 'Many people who have bought homes in the past five years would never have been able to buy a home at any other time in our country’s history. It stands to reason that you are going to have more foreclosures.'"

"So who will lose when the expected tsunami of foreclosures washes through the system? Dotzour said...hedge funds, pension funds and endowment associations that have been chasing yield by accepting more risk, or large commercial banks offering complex derivatives to allow traders to hedge their risk in mortgage bonds are likely to feel the pinch."

"'It’s safe to say that nobody knows exactly where the ultimate risk really lies in the financial markets,' Dotzour said. 'Look at how long it is taking Fannie Mae to get their accounting straightened out. There is no way a layperson will ever be able to understand the risk they take when they buy stocks in large financial institutions.'"

"Dotzour said price pressures on foreclosure sales could retard equity growth for other neighborhood homeowners, many of whom have bought homes with a small down payment. With negative equity, these homeowners may not be able to sell their homes if they need to."

"'We have seen the good parts of the social experiment in expanding the credit risk of mortgage borrowers,' he said. 'We may be getting ready to see the consequences.'"