Homeowners throughout the borough are distressed and nervous that the current foreclosure crisis will force them to give up their homes.

An East Flatbush resident says she received a foreclosure notice just days ago. In an attempt to save their houses, she and many other Brooklyn locals attended a foreclosure workshop Sunday morning.

Workshop organizers say that since August, more and more homeowners are defaulting on subprime mortgages, which are mortgages made with little or no money down. However, organizers say that since then the problem has spread to refinancing mortgages as well.

Brooklyn residents intent on keeping their houses should keep an eye out for future foreclosure workshops or programs. They should also be wary of companies that seem too eager to help out. Sarah Ludwig, a neighborhood economic developer, says there are companies out there set on scamming Brooklyn residents by exploiting the current crisis.

?[The companies] are targeting people in foreclosure and saying to them, ?Write your title over to us, we?ll pay off [your debts], you can stay in your home and even buy it back from us,?? Ludwig says. ?These deals never work. They?re a scam and what they?re really trying to do is steal people?s entire equity out from under them.?