GREG KAHN / Staff

Michael Madden, broker associate at Gulfside Properties Group at Remax, copies contracts information that will be sent to bank to justify a short-sale at his office on Fifth Avenue South on July 10, 2008. Madden is dealing with 18 short-sale homes, meaning the lender will release the lien for the property upon receipt of less money than is actually owed. Short-sales and foreclosures are rising in Florida as the state has seen a dramatic increase in foreclosures from one year ago.