CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In neighborhoods all across Charlotte, there is encouraging news -- fewer homes and homeowners are going through the painful process of foreclosure.

Numbers obtained from the state show Mecklenburg County foreclosures down 18 percent in October compared to the month before. That's 254 fewer foreclosure filings, but there were still more than 1,100 families that did file.

Bruce Hamlett of United Family Services said his nine financial counselors are still slammed with families trying to save their homes.

“Unfortunately, we are at capacity. We will be at capacity for a while. Basically, I'm saying I can't see any more clients,” he said.

On foreclosure counselor Towanna Deese's desk, stacks of files offer telltale evidence that despite the recent drop in Mecklenburg foreclosures, the recovery isn't yet reaching far enough.

“Income has been reduced (for many); went from two incomes to one income. People are just not able to make ends meet,” she said.

Deese said she and others have been able to save more homes at risk of foreclosure. But until unemployment eases, economist John Connaughton at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who Eyewitness News tracked down at an economic conference in San Francisco, said more foreclosures will still be on the horizon.

“People lose their jobs. They cannot make their house payments. It's as simple as that,” he said.

Yet even Connaughton said any drop in foreclosures is still good news.

Mecklenburg isn’t the only county in the region to see a drop in foreclosures. Cabarrus County dropped 22 percent and Union County is down 14 percent. But experts said the real story is whether that trend down continues or whether foreclosures creep back up in the months ahead.

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N.C. Foreclosure Data