Owners' heartbreak, buyers' bargain as Orlando-area foreclosures mount

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I wonder why??



'My neighbors just left'
Inez Batista said her husband worked in the construction industry. But when work dried up in the past two years because of the real-estate bust, they were unable to make their payments. The realities of foreclosure are everywhere, she said.

"I see it every day," said Batista, who now works for Wells Fargo bank. "I see people trying to get their loan modifications. My neighbors just left, too."

South of Kissimmee, in one of Central Florida's worst areas for foreclosures, the Dilone family faces the loss of its home because of not being to keep up with the rising payments on an adjustable-rate mortgage.

Former Boston resident Elsa Dilone said she visited Walt Disney World with her family in 2005 and fell in love with the area. The family quickly bought a 3,400-square-foot home south of Kissimmee for $351,300. The mother of three was so thrilled that she decorated the entry hall with a $4,000 chandelier festooned with gold and crystal prisms to illuminate the tiled entry and resort-style furnishing in the adjoining living room.

Now when she enters her otherwise-spotless home, she is greeted by cardboard boxes packed with her belongings and a 6-inch black hole where the chandelier was mounted. She said the family didn't anticipate that the adjustable-rate payments would spike from $1,100 to $3,800, which is more than her carpenter husband earns in a month. The family has not made a mortgage payment in seven months, and she expects to be evicted at any moment.

"Every time I open the door and see the boxes there, I know my time is coming," said Dilone, adding that she hoped they can find a nearby rental. Values throughout the area have plummeted, and the same-model house now sells for $180,000 — about half what the family paid. About one in four houses on her street of 28 homes has been in foreclosure in the past two years, according to RealtyTrac.

As for the chandelier, which was 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, she sold it for $1,000 to a friend — who so far has been unable to pay for it.






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