About this map. When you open this map, you first see shaded blocks that mark concentrations of foreclosures in Mecklenburg County, N.C. When you zoom in, small circles mark foreclosures of individual single-family homes. Click once on a foreclosure for info.
The more than 11,000 squares on this map represent Mecklenburg single-family home foreclosures and other distressed sales from 2005 through early 2009.
The Observer extracted this information from Mecklenburg County property and sales data. A foreclosure occurs when an owner falls behind on mortgage payments, and the home is seized and sold to pay the debt. This map also shows forced sales, which include some short sales. A short sale is usually an alternative to foreclosure in which the house is sold for less than the mortgage balance, and the lender agrees to accept the sale price as full payment.
For more information about Mecklenburg's public property records, visit the county's Web site.