RealtyTrac, Inc., a company that tracks delinquencies and foreclosures was reporting Thursday that the number of foreclosure filings in November was 68 percent higher nationwide than those in November 2006.
201,950 foreclosure filings were reported last month; in November 2006 the figure was 120,334. The November filings, however, were 10 percent lower than the 224,451 reported in October.
RealtyTrac's numbers tend to be a little squishy as they include default notices (which in some cases come when a mortgage payment is 60 days late,) auction sale notices, and bank repos. In different states these filing represent different degrees of borrower difficulty. Also where a homeowner has a first and a second mortgage he may have defaulted on both, causing a double count in the statistics.
RealtyTrac said that foreclosure filings increased from November 2006 to November 2007 in 43 states with Nevada, Florida, and Ohio having the highest rates.