Foreclosure info AND loan modification info for So. Cal.

The Los Angeles Times had two interesting articles about our local real estate market yesterday.  The first is titled Foreclosure activity soars in third quarter, ending lengthy lull.  No, this isn't the much discussed "shadow inventory" hitting the market.  It's just that the lending banks have stopped suspending foreclosures due to the robo-signing scandal.  Other salient facts from the article, as if you didn't know: "Defaults hit lower-cost neighborhoods harder. Areas with a median home sale price below $200,000 saw 11 default notices filed for each 1,000 homes, compared with 8.1 per 1,000 homes statewide and 2.8 per 1,000 homes in areas with a median sale price above $800,000." And people wonder about the 99% protestors.

The second article is titled Plan would allow refinancing of some underwater mortgages.  Don't get excited yet.  The article states: "The new proposal would apply to people who are underwater on their homes but making mortgage payments on time. Only mortgages owned by banks — about 20% of all mortgages — would be eligible. Most mortgages are owned by investors as part of mortgage-backed securities."  How and who is this going to help? I think the amount of mortgages owned by banks are much less than 20%.  Why not just write down the interest rates if people aren't behind (yet) on their mortgage payments?