Roger Larosa was hoping that he would spend out his years in the Alamogordo home that he bought 10 years ago, but instead he was faced with foreclosure.

"It's just become an ongoing nightmare and it's been lasting for years," Larosa said.

Like many homeowners across the country, Larosa's financial troubles started in 2008. He was faced with a foreclosure notice from his bank and had to leave his Alamogordo house behind and move to Las Cruces, where he now rents.

As a disabled vet, Larosa's income was limited. He tried to renegotiate his mortgage payments with his bank, but he said the bank wouldn't budge.

"They wouldn't loan me any money to do any more repairs," Larosa said. "They wouldn't lower the interest rate. They kept telling me that I made too much money and that I could pay the mortgage."

From June to September, home foreclosures in the Land of Enchantment went up 75 percent.

Another 18 percent of homeowners have their houses underwater, which means they owe more on their mortgages than their house is worth.

Larosa is a part of an effort to get a bill passed that would giving sinking homeowners a second chance. The bill is called the Fair Mortgage Foreclosure Act and it will require the banks to renegotiate mortgage rates with the homeowners before sending them into foreclosure.

The bill has the backing of Attorney General Gary King. King has urged New Mexicans to personally call Gov. Susana Martinez and their legislators to include the bill in the legislative session in January.

If the bill is passed, it would only be a preventative measure and wouldn't apply to homeowners who have already faced foreclosure.