There was recently an article in New West Magazine by Robert Struckman that discussed the national foreclosure rates. He provides a national map from RealtyTrac of foreclosure rates.

You'll notice that the RealtyTrac map includes county-by-county shading. The color shows the foreclosure rate - the number of foreclosed homes as a portion of the total number of homes. You can also go to the RealtyTrac website for a list of foreclosure rates by state.

That means that in low population counties with relatively small numbers of homes and foreclosures, small increases can seem dramatic. If you go to RealtyTrac's state foreclosure rankings, you'll see something that's  been missed by the aggregate news about the national housing market.

This all goes to show that the West is a complex real estate market and that understanding your local market when buying or selling real estate is extremely important.