Foreclosures Notices in 'The OC' Reach a New Peak

Outstanding foreclosure auction notices for Orange County, Calif., homes hit 10,513 at the end of December, the highest on record, according to ForeclosureRadar.com. According to a report in The Orange County Register, the total has more than doubled in the nine months since March, when it was 4,573. Located in southern California, Orange County is one of the hardest hit real estate markets in the state. ForeclosureRadar tracks outstanding notices of trustee sales where a home (or condo) will be sold at auction. Such notices are usually good for only one year. Sean O'Toole, head of ForeclosureRadar, told the newspaper that although foreclosure filings overall decreased at the end of 2009, the backlog of delinquent loans keeps growing. He noted that only a portion of borrowers are getting loan modifications enabling them to avoid foreclosure.