DeSOTO – Daisy Street is your typical swath of suburbia with tidy lawns fronting a lineup of two-story brick homes. Raymondo Lee knows the inside story.

"The people there left. Those people left. All these houses are vacant," he says, standing in front of his sister's home on Daisy, pointing toward the emptiness all around.

A Dallas Morning News analysis of residential foreclosures shows the housing mess extends across North Texas – from high-end urban settings to far-flung suburbs.

But few neighborhoods have been hit like DeSoto's Candle Meadow subdivision, where the dream of homeownership has wilted along Mulberry, Lilac, Gardenia, Daisy and surrounding streets.

"It's just been a circus," said Steven Butler, a Lilac Lane resident for the last four years. "Every day, you look up and you're like, 'Who's moving next?' "

Built four to five years ago, the neighborhood includes mostly well-kept brick homes and landscaped entryways maintained by a homeowners association. Home valuations range from around $180,000 to the mid-$200,000s.

But dozens of Candle Meadow houses were lost to foreclosure last year, including 11 on Mulberry Lane, eight on Daisy and six on Lilac. Like elsewhere, lenders stepped in where owners couldn't meet their financial responsibilities.

Residents have lost their homes and been forced to move. And the fallout has been hard on the neighborhood as well, say some of those who have dug in for the storm.

On the plus side for buyers, foreclosures have cut into housing prices.

"There's a lot of deals out here," said Valerie Daniels, who said she paid $171,000 14 months ago for her home on Ginger Trail. The 4,000-square-foot foreclosure was appraised then at $250,000.

Ms. Daniels, a mortgage banker in DeSoto, said lenders are offering reclaimed houses in her neighborhood for 25 percent to 50 percent below appraised value.

But falling prices and depressed property values are tough on would-be sellers. And as homes sit vacant, Ms. Daniels and others say, the neighborhood suffers from increased crime and a decline in community spirit and unity.

"If it's not glued down, they are taking it," said Ms. Daniels, referring to what she and Justin Williams, a local real estate agent, say has been an increase in burglaries in the neighborhood.

"They will break into houses, steal appliances, furnaces and air conditioners out of yards," said Mr. Williams, a former Candle Meadow resident.

JIM MAHONEY/DMN

Valerie Daniels said her DeSoto neighborhood suffers from a decline in community spirit and unity.

He and Ms. Daniels said the problem started getting worse about nine months ago. "I could see it coming – $200,000 homes being offered [by a builder] for $500 a month," Mr. Williams said.

Tiffany McAdoo thought she saw a deal, paying $189,000 for a foreclosure on Gardenia Street – a five-bedroom, 3,800-square-foot house appraised at $265,000.

But a foreclosure across the street, at just over half the size of her home, is listed at $139,000. "I'm constantly getting low-ball offers," said Ms. McAdoo, a mortgage broker now working at home.

"I'm basically stuck until the market changes," she said.

During a quick break from mowing his lawn Thursday afternoon, Mr. Butler pointed down the street to a line of homes.

"From that house on, everybody has just been in and out, in and out, in and out," he said. "You look out the door and see another U-Haul pull up. You know somebody's affected."

The wave of foreclosures also carries social repercussions.

Mr. Butler said he hasn't gotten to know many of his neighbors, because "they're not really here long enough to get to know.

"The security is gone," he said. "You have no neighborhood watch, because there's no one here to watch it."

Mr. Butler, a technician who has worked for the same building-materials company since serving in the Persian Gulf War, said he feels fortunate to have been spared the fate of so many of his neighbors.

"By the grace of God," he said, "I'm still able to go to work every morning and pay my mortgage."

The D-FW cities with the most foreclosures in 2007:

1. Dallas 3,767

2. Fort Worth 2,681

3. Arlington 1,295

4. Garland 941

5. Grand Prairie 767

6. Mesquite 753

7. DeSoto 625

8. Cedar Hill 511

9. McKinney 459

10. Lancaster 446