In general, the first thing you need to do is get as many people in the neighborhood as you can to get into the habit of paying attention to things around them. This is the underlying strategy and strength of the Neighborhood Watch programs that were very prevalent a couple decades ago and it still makes sense today.

As far as specific approaches, every neighborhood is different and so neighborhood-based efforts to prevent foreclosures can take a number of different forms. There is no such thing as a one size fits all approach, but they all have one thing in common. They are aimed at educating homeowners about foreclosure.  As a neighbor, you can either tackle this on your own or gather a group of neighbors together for a broader-based more organized effort.  Some actions a neighborhood group might consider

include:

• Door to Door information campaigns (fliers, door hangers, etc.)
• Targeted meetings with homeowners facing foreclosure
• Forming a neighborhood foreclosure task force
• Reaching homeowners through churches, schools or other organizations

There is a vacant foreclosed property in the neighborhood and we suspect it has been broken into, what should we do?