Home foreclosures at epidemic levels in large states are no less serious in Mississippi, as 11 percent of all home loans in the state during the fourth quarter of 2007 were delinquent — tops in the nation, according to a leading national banking industry survey.

However, as with state-by-state trends, the bulk of the state’s foreclosures are concentrated in some of the most populous areas. Realtors contend the prognosis for Vicksburg’s place in the mortgage mess appears to reflect a minor cold rather than a serious disease.

Even as local Realtor Tim DeRossette fields calls for homes on Drummond Street and East Avenue, both available for some time, he sees little to fret about when it comes to the local housing market.

“The market is good here if you look at it,” he said, adding homes in the $130,000 range remain hot sellers in a local market of rising land valuations attributed to a few high-end commercial developments.

The Washington, D.C.-based Mortgage Bankers Association also tracked subprime lending in Mississippi, as 26 percent of loans to those with less-than-stellar credit also led the nation. In 2006, nearly 37 percent of all first mortgages originated for owner-occupied single-family homes in the state were subprime, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

Those “sins of predatory lending,” as Derossette put it, don’t figure to change the ingredients of what he said leads up to most foreclosures — divorces, job losses, gambling and bad overall personal finances.

“It’s simple. If you don’t pay, they’ll come and get your house. What makes you exempt is when you pay your house note,” DeRossette said.

In the recent past, foreclosures in Vicksburg and Warren County have clustered in subdivisions featuring small- to-moderate-sized homes. This year, they appear more widespread — from the county’s most expensive subdivisions to older homes in central Vicksburg.

A recent check of required legal notices during the first quarters of each of the past five years shows homeowners have been faced with foreclosure at about the same rate during the time span.

This year, 77 properties were available at foreclosure sales at the Warren County Courthouse steps between Jan. 1 and April 15. While that figure is up by four over last year, it is in keeping with a general trend since 2004.

A notable exception was the opening months of 2006, a time when federal disaster aid joined with the banking sector to ease financial burdens on homeowners after Hurricane Katrina.

“Some mortgage companies forgave late fees,” DeRossette said.

Effects of Hurricane Katrina linger in the housing scene in Mississippi, industry watchers contend. Since the devastating 2005 storm, 12 percent of Mississippi’s homeowners have been past due on payments, compared to 4.8 percent of loans nationally, according to statistics released from the Jackson-based Mississippi Economic Policy Center, an arm of the regional economic development group Enterprise Corporation of the Delta.

Aside from hurricane recovery, the state’s lower population and per-capita income conspired to push conditions in such states as Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia to the top of delinquency lists.

“There’s an underlying economic undercurrent to that story,” said Doug Duncan, MBA’s chief economist and senior vice president of research and business development, during a teleconference releasing the results.

Economists indicated the challenges facing the housing market vary by location.

“Declining home prices are clearly the driving factor behind foreclosures, but the reasons and magnitude of the declines differ from state to state,” Duncan said.

Statewide, new foreclosures might be slowing down. A review by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac showed 92 in February — down more than 8 percent from January but up about 2.8 percent from a year ago.

Separate national surveys show home mortgage woes continuing through the fourth quarter of 2007 through February — a continuous, 26-month string of year-over-year increases in foreclosure filings.

Though filings were down 4 percent from January, and the RealtyTrac report concluded the 223,651 filings for the month represented a jump of about 60 percent over a year ago. About half the homes on the list had slipped into default for the first time.

Lenders typically deem borrowers delinquent if payments fall behind by three months. In the fourth quarter of 2007, delinquency rates for mortgage loans on one- to four-unit residential properties climbed to a new high — 5.82 percent, according to the MBA survey.

Foreclosure starts continue to be concentrated in a handful of states — particularly in California and Florida, which combined for 30 percent of all new foreclosures. Nevada had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate in February, with one in every 165 households receiving at least one foreclosure-related notice. In all those states, overbuilding has been mentioned as a contributing factor. Defaults on subprime loans — the type approved for those with less than ideal credit — have risen precipitously in the past year, with the MBA study finding more than 20 percent seriously delinquent.

As for Vicksburgers facing foreclosures, futures appear murky. Most houses up for foreclosure are vacant, regardless of location — whether their owners lived beside the manicured lawns of the county’s most expensive subdivisions or packed tightly within central Vicksburg’s oldest neighborhoods.

Some of them reflect the financial world’s “teaser-rate” mortgage loans, which have fluctuating interest rates depending on financial markets. Those loans usually start out lower and increase over time.

But local attorney David Sessums said the adjusted ratings are not necessarily the cause of the foreclosures in which he has acted as trustee.

Instead, he said, they reflect a downturn in the fortunes of homeowners.

“Three years ago, you saw a really nice occasion. Young couples were happy about getting a house,” Sessums said, adding details on loan terms are often overlooked — buried inside “an inch- to an inch-and-a-half-thick” stack of paperwork when people sign for a house.

“He who has the gold makes the rules whether they read them or not,” Sessums said.

Tracking foreclosures in Warren and other counties nationwide is possible but reveals varying results.

Foreclosures and bankruptcies in all 50 states can be searched on a number of Web sites. Lists of active cases found varies depending on the number of financial institutions contributing information.

The largest, foreclosure.com, lists more than 1.2 million distressed properties nationwide. Last week, 21 properties in Vicksburg and Warren County were listed in foreclosure and 37 were involved in a bankruptcy filing. Four more homes are listed by Hooks Van Holm, Inc., which handles marketing of homes in Mississippi financed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The site lists 1,483 properties in foreclosure statewide. More than half are in three counties, 466 in Hinds County, followed by 235 in DeSoto County and 68 in Rankin County.

Factors keeping foreclosures in Warren County low compared to other counties include Vicksburg’s relatively low unemployment rate and balanced mix of industries, said Realtor Pam Powers, licensed in Mississippi and Louisiana and also chairman of the communications committee for the National Association of Realtors.

Monthly jobless figures in Warren are typically less than the statewide average, even after a 1 percent jump in jobless claims in January.

News of the housing slump in other states “scares some people” from buying a home, Powers said, because market conditions in Florida, California and other places experienced an “elevated price situation.”

“In my experience, every market is different,” Powers said.