Unencumbered by the thought process!

MDA DataQuick shows no leveling off of foreclosures during July, August and September in its newest quarterly statistics.

The news is grim almost everywhere:

• 79,511 foreclosures statewide in the third quarter. That's more than 190,000 the first nine months of this year - and nearly 275,000 since the beginning of 2007.
• More than 7,700 new foreclosures in the eight-county Sacramento region (Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties). That brings the 2008 tally to more than 19,000. Since the beginning of Jan. 2007, that's more than 29,000 capital-area households that have been displaced by foreclosure. 

You'll note that the news release [says defaults are falling. That's not because fewer people are having problems, though. It's due to a new state law that requires lenders to spend more time contacting troubled borrowers before starting the foreclosure process.