'Nightmare' archive

Southern Chase was a new kind of subdivision for Beazer, an experiment in selling low-cost homes to low-income families. The strategy was a financial success for Beazer. But the neighborhood fell apart. Seventy-seven buyers have lost homes to foreclosure in Southern Chase, a subdivision of 406 homes.

A wave of loan defaults in starter-home developments is pushing the foreclosure count in Mecklenburg County to record heights, an Observer analysis shows.

In the past decade, Beazer Homes USA built more houses in Mecklenburg County that have since foreclosed than any other builder.

The city of Charlotte does not count foreclosures. Neither does Mecklenburg County. Nor the state of North Carolina. Nor the federal government.

Beazer strategy led to problems The company sometimes crossed the line between selling to people who could barely afford homes and selling to people who couldn't.

Home loan failures have more than quadrupled in Mecklenburg County since 1999. More foreclosures are filed here, per person, than any other county in the state.

When a homeowner falls behind on mortgage payments, the lender can ask a court to seize the home and sell it to cover the debt.Lenders asked courts in North Carolina to foreclose a record 45,500 homes last year, more than double the number in 2000.

Following reports of high foreclosures in at least 10 Beazer Homes USA developments in Mecklenburg County, Charlotte elected officials say they have received assurances from the company that its new projects won't have the same results.

Almost 2,000 Mecklenburg County residents since 2003 have lost homes they bought with help from the Federal Housing Administration.

Under federal law, people shopping for home mortgage loans are largely responsible for protecting themselves.