Classes meet every Thursday morning at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Fla., at 9:30 a.m. ET. Call (866) 382-2439 today to reserve your spot!

Palm Beach County, Fla., has been hit hard with a wave of foreclosures, registering nearly 2,500 active foreclosures on its books in April 2009, according to our most recent statistics.

It’s naturally had a significant negative impact on several neighborhoods, which are already struggling to maintain the highest possible property values because of the massive collective dip in home prices that has gripped the entire South Florida region.

As if the growing foreclosure situation and declining home values weren’t enough to handle, vandals and squatters who are often drawn to vacant homes are exacerbating the situation. Indeed, broken windows and the like have forced the county commissioners to take matters into their own hands.

Here’s a snip from Barbara Alterman, head of the county’s planning, zoning and building department, according to a Palm Beach Post article:

“There is a lot of vandalism going on. It is maintaining the neighborhood by allowing them to board up when there is vandalism. It is helping the neighborhood by keeping vandals out.”

Boarded up and shuttered homes are certainly not going to help banks move their inventories any quicker — it’s not the most eye-catching/appealing marketing tactic. These properties also won’t help raise the values of the inhabited homes on the block.

However, it will help preserve the homes until new owners move in, and perhaps more important for you, it could help you get into a very nice home at a price that you can afford. In short, it’s not an ideal solution, but one that you could use to your advantage if you are in the market for a real steal.

To check out the latest foreclosure and other distressed real estate listings in the Palm Beach County, Fla., area visit Foreclosure.com today right here.

New England-based retirees are flocking south to Ft. Myers, Fla., and gobbling up cheap bank-owned homes that range in price from $20,000 to $150,000, according to Boston.com.

The reason for the mass snowbird migration? Baseball.

Yep, the Fenway faithful are taking advantage of the unbelievable real estate market conditions (all-time low home prices and interest rates) to get a little closer to their favorite Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Boston Red Sox.

A local broker neatly sums up the feeding frenzy:

“People from New England are buying like crazy here.”

The 2004 and 2007 World Champions currently play spring ball at City of Palms Park, which was built in 1992. And a new $100 million spring training stadium that is scheduled to open in 2012 is expected to keep the club there for years to come.

So if you’re in the market for a vacation home in the area you better act now before it’s too late! Search for foreclosure homes in Ft. Myers before the hardcore fans clean out the good inventory right here. It’s free for seven days.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The foreclosure crisis has affected families and communities throughout the United States hard … some more than others. Miami, Fla., which at its peak several years ago boasted a booming condominium market, is among those hardest hit.

And rather than let foreclosed homes sit vacant while families fend for themselves on the streets, one local activist, Max Rameau, is taking matters into his own hands and moving families — albeit illegally — into the bank-owned properties.

He’s also doing it in broad daylight and not under the cloak of the night.

Here’s is what he had to say about the brazen initiative:

“We’re matching homeless people with people-less homes…. I think everyone deserves a home. Homeless people across the country are squatting in empty homes. The question is: Is this going to be done out of desperation or with direction?”

Rameau is part of a recently-formed organization called, Take Back the Land. In addition to “placing” homeless families in foreclosure homes the group provides them with “secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep

As mentioned earlier, this process, which is essentially referred to as squatting, is illegal and punishable by law. However, Rameau and his associates do not seem deterred by the prospect of possible arrest.

Here’s another quote from him:

“Within a couple of months, this place would be stripped and drug dealers would be living here. There’s a real need here, and there’s a disconnect between the need and the law. Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in doing this.”

Rameau has thus far helped six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list, according to the report. He has not been arrested or approached by the authorities … yet.