Number of homes approaching foreclosure increased

The number of San Diego County homes slipping toward foreclosure increased by 17.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008, a real estate information service reported Wednesday.

Lenders sent default notices to 6,536 homeowners in San Diego County in the fourth quarter, up from the previous year’s fourth-quarter total of 5,543, according to La Jolla-based MDA DataQuick.

Statewide, default notices were sent to 84,568 homeowners in the fourth quarter of the year, DataQuick reported. That was a 24.3 percent decrease from the previous quarter’s 111,689 notices and up 12.4 percent from the same quarter in 2008, when 75,230 default notices were sent.

“Clearly, many lenders and servicers have concluded that the traditional foreclosure process isn’t necessarily the best way to process market distress, and that losses may be mitigated with so-called short sales or when loan terms are renegotiated with homeowners,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.

Default notices do not always lead to a home foreclosure, according to DataQuick. Some homeowners emerge from the foreclosure process by bringing their payments current, refinancing or selling the home.