CARBONDALE - While Illinois rates ninth in the nation in the number of foreclosed homes, a look at the numbers shows the state's southern 19 counties are fairing better than their more populated counterparts in the Metro East and Chicagoland.

According to RealtyTrac, a real estate sales and tracking firm, the likelihood of a property being foreclosed is higher in the state's more densely populated areas. For instance, Kendall County in northern Illinois leads the state with one foreclosure on every 109 homes, while the far less-populated Alexander County in Southern Illinois has one in every 4,620 homes foreclosed.

Numbers from the state show 13,000 homes were foreclosed in Illinois in September alone.

But, while the foreclosures are concentrated with population - and the accompanying higher property prices - officials in Southern Illinois said this week foreclosures are increasing in the region.

At Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation in Carbondale, attorney Sandy Gordon said her office is seeing an increase in the number of homeowners looking for assistance in avoiding foreclosure.

"We are getting more contact from people looking for help; but I don't think it's representative of the help that is needed," she said. "There are a lot more people that need help, but they not asking for it. Even though more people are facing this, they give up or they try to navigate the system on their own with the banks and then they give up."

The foreclosure process is a fluid one, with properties entering and exiting the process regularly, meaning hard statistics are tough to come by.

"Unfortunately, because we are so rural, they don't do the (foreclosure) studies as often because it's more difficult to get the information," Gordon added, before noting most of the foreclosures now are the result of job loss.

And while help is available, including government programs implemented to stem the flow of foreclosures nationwide, many peo-ple are not seeking it, Gordon said.

The Making Home Affordable Program began in March, and provides assistance to people looking to modify their mortgages. But so far, Gordon said the program has not been used as she'd hoped.

Those who attempt to resolve their mortgage issues without legal assistance face a daunting process, Gordon said. Difficulty navigating through the mounds of paperwork and onerous documentation requirements of some lenders can be discouraging fac-tors, even with legal assistance.

"The banks are not always easy to deal with, and that's an understatement; they are understaffed and they often lose records," she said.

And while homeowners may be looking to renegotiate their mortgage, it does not slow the foreclosure process, Land of Lincoln Deputy Director Linda Zazove said from her East St. Louis office.

"For those who are three to four months behind, the machinery to institute foreclosure doesn't stop just because you are talking about (mortgage) modification," she said. "Oftentimes they (lenders) don't know anything about the attempts to modify, so they move full speed ahead on the foreclosure while you are trying to modify."

With all of the moving parts and different entities involved in the process, it can be overwhelming - and even the most basic of information can be lost, Zazove said.

In a development that goes right to the heart of the mortgage crisis, which was set off in part by risky loans being spliced, repackaged and parceled off as separate investments, sometimes homeowners don't know who owns their loan.

Gordon said the best advice she could give to homeowners in danger of foreclosure is to seek help.

"Don't give up," she added.

blackwell.thomas@thesouthern.com

618-351-5823