Spring Break
Foreclosures spike in Denton County
Chris Speight
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: NEWS
Denton County continues to have some of the most foreclosures of any county in Texas with a 246 percent increase in postings from last year according to recent data.
There have been 243 combined home and business foreclosures in the city of Denton so far this year according to data compiled by the Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service Incorporated.
The data showed there have been 2,230 foreclosures in all of Denton County.
"I think because things were so artificially positive for so long, everybody really wasn't counting on things to fall as quickly as they had," said Karen Dickson, vice president of economic development for the Denton Chamber of Commerce.
As a result, Dickson said she thinks a lot of people and businesses didn't have time to plan for an economic downturn.
Erica Sullivan, an economic development analyst for Denton, said that the recessive climate has been slower to hit Texas and Denton, but it finally has.
"According to the Foreclosure Listing Service, a lot of the reason it's happening now is because of waiting to see how things are going at the national level," Sullivan said.
The likely reason for the increased numbers of foreclosures in the past 60 days is that some lenders waited for announcements of how federal stimulus plans would address the housing crisis before they submitted homes for the foreclosure listings, she said.
Locally, the recession is causing residents to cut down on buying antiques, cosmetics and steak dinners, while rethinking necessity in their spending.
"You still have that set limit of your disposable income that's going to be affected," Dickson said. "You're not going to be able to do as much, get as much as what you normally would or what you're accustomed to."
There are always other factors too, said Julie Glover, Denton's economic development program administrator.
"Somebody retires, somebody has health problems, that kind of thing," she said. "It's not always a case of them failing."
Glover said she believes the economic climate has a lot to do with what's going on in Denton, as well as nationwide, but each closing is different.
"In tough economic times, higher-end things are among the first to go," she said. "People start cutting back."
On the other hand, Dickson said the recession can teach some valuable lessons.
"People are learning financial responsibility," she said.
The market, however, is still fluctuating and that as steep as the curve was going up, it seems just as steep coming down.
"It goes up, it peaks, then it goes down troughs and comes back up," she said. "That is a natural thing for an economy to do."
There have been 243 combined home and business foreclosures in the city of Denton so far this year according to data compiled by the Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service Incorporated.
The data showed there have been 2,230 foreclosures in all of Denton County.
"I think because things were so artificially positive for so long, everybody really wasn't counting on things to fall as quickly as they had," said Karen Dickson, vice president of economic development for the Denton Chamber of Commerce.
As a result, Dickson said she thinks a lot of people and businesses didn't have time to plan for an economic downturn.
Erica Sullivan, an economic development analyst for Denton, said that the recessive climate has been slower to hit Texas and Denton, but it finally has.
"According to the Foreclosure Listing Service, a lot of the reason it's happening now is because of waiting to see how things are going at the national level," Sullivan said.
The likely reason for the increased numbers of foreclosures in the past 60 days is that some lenders waited for announcements of how federal stimulus plans would address the housing crisis before they submitted homes for the foreclosure listings, she said.
Locally, the recession is causing residents to cut down on buying antiques, cosmetics and steak dinners, while rethinking necessity in their spending.
"You still have that set limit of your disposable income that's going to be affected," Dickson said. "You're not going to be able to do as much, get as much as what you normally would or what you're accustomed to."
There are always other factors too, said Julie Glover, Denton's economic development program administrator.
"Somebody retires, somebody has health problems, that kind of thing," she said. "It's not always a case of them failing."
Glover said she believes the economic climate has a lot to do with what's going on in Denton, as well as nationwide, but each closing is different.
"In tough economic times, higher-end things are among the first to go," she said. "People start cutting back."
On the other hand, Dickson said the recession can teach some valuable lessons.
"People are learning financial responsibility," she said.
The market, however, is still fluctuating and that as steep as the curve was going up, it seems just as steep coming down.
"It goes up, it peaks, then it goes down troughs and comes back up," she said. "That is a natural thing for an economy to do."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Lindon Webb
posted 6/17/09 @ 10:57 AM CST
What kind of reporting is this/ What about the three housing developments on Hwy 380/ it is my understanding a substancial protion of the forclosures came from these three developments. (Continued…)
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