MIAMI -- Miami-Dade police officers Al Fernandez and George Sarradet can't move fast enough.

The officers are doing their job of executing court orders. They come to evict homeowners who don't pay their mortgages.

"We have gotten a lot busier," Fernandez said.

The officers are the good guys but must deliver bad news.

"We're human. Obviously, it bothers. We all have kids," Fernandez said.

Those being evicted have 24 hours to come back and pick up their items, NBC 6's Willard Shepard reported.

The boom in evictions across South Florida affects you, even if you pay on time.

In nice neighborhoods in southwest Miami-Dade County, a resident said, "They just packed one day and they just left."

In Miami Shores, it was more of the same. Neighbors were frustrated. Sheri Williams, a resident of one neighborhood, said of an abandoned home, "It's a mess, and the house is all mildew."

Near the Dade-Broward line and north, resident Joe Prochilo of North Miami-Dade said, "They come from time to time to cut the grass. It comes so high."

NBC 6 found the big jump in foreclosures causing trouble in unlikely places -- a tree-lined street in Hialeah, an abandoned home in Miami Lakes.

In El Portal in Central Miami, a murky swimming pool and broken windows denote vacant homes dragging down South Florida neighborhoods.

Kevin Vellieux, a realtor working with Palm Realty, said this is happening "in every community."

"It lowers the value of the properties around it because you have a property that's in disrepair and needs maintenance, and it definitely affects the value of the other neighbors," she said.

Chris Albury's inspection teams, called Team Metro, are jumping from one vacant home to the next.

"Its all over the place," Albury said. "We've had a 120 percent increase in requests for service for open, vacant and abandoned properties. It's in some of the most affluent neighborhoods where people walk away."

Team Metro members examine and post notices warning the owner and bank to clean up one property. It's just outside Kendall. Neighbors said a squatter took up residence here.

"We are all very concerned," neighbor Claudia Fayer said.

At a property in north Miami-Dade County near Dolphin Stadium, the windows have been broken out and the landscaping has been down for a while.

"I mean, how long can it stay that way?" Joe Prochilo said.

Burglars got into a vacant home in Miami Shores. Neighbor Sheri Williams is more worried than ever.

"There could be bums sleeping there at night," she said.

"We got kids coming in through these open vacant and abandoned houses," Albury said.

Bank inspector Michele Ferrer's business has been growing like never before.

"It's out of control," she said.

It all starts with foreclosures. Ferrer and her husband Luis inspect foreclosed homes for banks.

Michele Ferrer said foreclosure is everywhere, even in pricier neighborhoods.

"I've seen it in Cocoplum. I've seen it in Gables By The Sea," she said.

NBC 6 found the Zip codes with the most foreclosures. In Miami-Dade County, they were 33160, which is Aventura/North Miami Beach and 33033, which is Homestead. In Broward County, they were North Lauderdale, 33068, and Hollywood, 33020.

"Obviously, it makes the property values go down," Michele Ferrer said.

When abandoned homes become a problem, a one temporary solution is that the city or county will enforce that lawns get mowed and windows get boarded up.

"They will even go out there themselves and just charge the homeowner or the bank," Vellieux said.

To find out whom to contact and how to protect your home from vacant properties, check out these Web sites:

Miami-Dade County Team Metro
www.miamidade.gov/teametro

Broward County Code Enforcement
www.broward.org/building/bpi00402.htm

Palm Realty Group www.palmrealtygroup.net