What they mean. "For Sale: Owned By Bank" or "Lender Foreclosure: Home Auction!" signs are common sights in towns and cities nationwide, especially in states hit hardest by the housing meltdown, including Arizona, California, and Nevada. And the latest S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which covers properties in 20 metropolitan areas nationwide, shows a record 19 percent drop over a year earlier and 29 percent from the peak in the summer of 2006.

As devastating an experience as foreclosure can be for the people losing their homes, fearclosure or foreclobia—the fear of foreclosure—also creeps in among the folks who still live there and see their once-thriving neighborhood turn into a ghost town. Instead of seeing the value of their house, condo, or co-op appreciate, homeowners are watching the price of their property decline, along with their 401(k)s, 529 plans, Roth IRAs, equities, and other investments.

Why the buzz? As the housing crisis lingers, Americans are being besieged by all kinds of bum-out numbers about foreclosures. When that data is used in a misleading or unintended way, they can turn legitimate concerns turn into full-on freak-outs. For the last couple of years and even more frequently of late, for example, news stories have pointed to a 6.7 percent rise in violent crime in neighborhoods where the annual foreclosure rate is 2.8 percent. That kind of stat could surely turn up the anxiety meter, but you need to keep in mind that the figure grew out of a study of one Chicago neighborhood in the wake of a series of violent murders in abandoned buildings in 2000. The Department of Justice's Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services offers an interesting take on the link between crime and foreclosures.

Even politicians aiming to help people in danger of losing their homes can add to the fearclosure/foreclobia. "As the foreclosure crisis spreads, we're seeing a ripple effect as property values plummet and surrounding neighborhoods experience an increase in quality of life issues like graffiti and crime. One foreclosure can devastate an entire community and threaten the safety and well-being of innocent families," said Jeff Klein, the New York state senator who sponsored recently enacted Neighborhood Preservation Act, which sets standards of safety and habitability for foreclosed properties.

(Another upshot of foreclosures is that while sales increase in some areas as buyers pick up foreclosed homes, prices tend to drop.)

To be fair, the Home & Garden blog has presented lots of negative numbers about the housing market and has likely provoked some unnecessary concern among readers. We will aim not to instill fearclosure/foreclobia and strive to provide you with useful information that can help you get through these tough times.

If you're in the foreclosure danger zone, read our advice so you don't become a victim of a scam and visit the DefendYourDollars.org Web site, which like this blog is published by Consumers Union. Finally, use the information on "Getting Through Tough Economic Times" page on the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration Web site to learn how to cope with the mental and physical effects of financial difficulties.—Daniel DiClerico and Steven H. Saltzman | e-mail | Twitter