Most people look at the small number of foreclosures from a state like Delaware and say “things can’t be that bad!” But what they really need to look at is the percentages. With a smaller land mass and population, even the slightest increases in the foreclosure market can have a huge impact of the state as a whole.

According to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in California, banks took ownership of 42 homes covering four of the zip codes in Sussex County including Laurel, Georgetown, Seaford and Bethel last year because of mortgage defaults or foreclosures.  Compare this with just two in 2006 and zero in 2007 and that’s a 2000% increase over a two year period. I don’t think many areas can touch those types of increases on a percentage basis.

And if we look at foreclosure auctions, there has been a huge increase there too. By the end of 2008, there had been 136 auctions that had take place which was a 616% increase from 2006.

So even though Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada get all the ink about their foreclosure crisis, sometimes if you read between the numbers, you can find areas that are far worse. And these foreclosure issues may take a lot longer to bounce back from.