ImperialValleyLiving.Com

The number of Notices of Default filed with the Imperial County Recorder's office in February shot up by 33 percent over the January figure.

The 326 Default Notices filed in February were by far the highest filed in the last 14 months.

According to figures from the Imperial County Recorder's office, there were 326 Notices of Default (NOD) filed with the county in February. That number compares to the 245 NOD  that were filed in January. The 326 Default Notices filed in February were by far the highest filed in a one month period in the last 14 months. In December of 2008, 296 Default Notices were filed in Imperial county.

A Notice of Default is the first step in the process of foreclosure on a home. If a borrower misses a series of consecutive payments, the lender will send the default notice to the borrower, and file the notice with the county.

Figures from the recorder's office also indicate that 130 Notice of Trustee Sales have been filed with the county in February. That number is slightly lower than the 139 that were filed in the county in January.

Notices of Trustee Sales occur three to four months after the Notice of Default has been filed, and  indicate that the borrower has not corrected the problems outlined in the Notice of Default, and that the property will be set for auction at a Trustee's sale.

Here's a breakdown by month of the number of Notices of Default and Notice of Trustee sales in Imperial County for 2008 and the first two months of 2009.

SOURCE: Imperial County Recorder's Office

For the year of 2008, 2,568 Notices of Default , and 1,912 Notice of Trustee Sales were filed in the Imperial County recorder's office.