The storm of foreclosures continues to rage for homeowners struggling to weather through this rough economy. The West Coast has taken the hardest hit recently, while the Northeast has fared much better. The current foreclosure upsurge is highly concentrated in Las Vegas, NV as 6 of the top 10 worst hit zip codes fall within the city’s boundaries.

According to RealtyTrac, which collects and aggregates foreclosure data from more than 2,200 counties and covers more than 90 percent of U.S. households, the top 5 foreclosure cities currently are:

• Las Vegas, NV
• Chicago, IL
• Los Angeles, CA
• Miami, FL
• Phoenix, AZ

The overall foreclosure forecast indicates the storm will begin to weaken in 2012, with the worst being behind us. However, industry experts do expect an uptick in numbers at least in the early part of this year due to some filing errors that have caused a reporting backlog of 2011 activity.

Why is this important for your business? It’s critical to understand your customers and your market trade area and how the economy is impacting both. The need to realign your franchise and/or sales territories to maximize your business opportunities should be a topic you visit regularly. With GeoMetrx’s mapping software, realigning territories is quick and easy.