“Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s SUPERMAN!”

So much for old ‘60s TV shows!

In today’s world where foreclosure numbers are running rampant, especially in parts of Florida (where 37,364 properties with foreclosure filings were reported in May), distressed homeowners could use a superhero of their own to help them avoid or stop the foreclosure process.

Into the spotlight steps Shaquille O’Neal. The 15-year NBA superstar who started his career with the Orlando Magic, and who in one of many reincarnations dubbed himself “Superman,” is speeding to the rescue, leaping over government bureaucracy and pledging to help local residents who are facing foreclosure.

Florida posted the second highest foreclosure total and fourth highest foreclosure rate in the nation for May, with one in every 228 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Orange County, which includes Orlando, ranked seventh highest county foreclosure rate in the state for the month, with one in every 188 households receiving a foreclosure filing.

Visiting Orlando City Hall earlier this week, O’Neal told the Orlando Sentinel that, “I want to come in not to kick them out, but to work with them and save them so they can stay in their homes.”

Although exact details have not been released, attorney Mark NeJame explained that Shaq’s plan is basically to buy up the mortgages of distressed Orlando homeowners who have gone into foreclosure due to high interest rates and to sell their homes back to them at lower rates and hope to make a small profit.

Shaq is no stranger to real estate. In 2006 he formed The O’Neal Group looking to develop both commercial and residential projects.

Given that more subprime mortgages are scheduled to reset to higher interest rates in the not so distant future, Shaq may be onto something.

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