More than 55,000 U.S. properties were tied to foreclosure filings – such as default notices, scheduled auctions, or bank repossessions – in October 2019, according to a report issued by ATTOM Data Solutions on Thursday.

The figure is up 13 percent from September but down 17 percent from a year ago, according to the report.

“While foreclosure activity across the United States rose in October, in looking at historical trends, October numbers tend to increase as lenders may be pushing filings through the pipeline before the holiday season,” Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions, said in a press release. “The latest number is still below where it was a year ago and less than 15 percent of what it was during the depths of the Great Recession.”

Texas was among the states with the greatest number of completed foreclosures (912), trailing only Florida (1,493) in October 2019.

Lenders repossessed 13,484 U.S. properties last month, hitting the highest point for the year thus far, according to the report.

Before The Foreclosure

There are options to avoid foreclosure, including the popular short sale.

“A short sale is when a seller is in financial hardship due to a variety of reasons (loss of employment, divorce, death of the borrower, etc.),” states the “Short Sale Queen” Nicole Espinosa, a Dallas Realtor, on her website. “In this case the seller owes more than the house is worth and can’t afford to sell their home. We get the seller’s lender to take a loss, so the seller does not owe any money in the transaction, avoiding foreclosure.”

Other options include refinancing the home, contacting a Housing and Urban Development representative, selling the home, or paying the money owed, according to PocketSense.com.

Monthly Increases

Lenders started the foreclosure process on almost 29,000 U.S. properties last month alone, according to the ATTOM report. That’s up 17 percent from last month but down 1 percent from a year ago.

Texas doesn’t appear to have drastic month-to-month changes. Arizona (up 52 percent), Ohio (up 52 percent), Florida (up 48 percent), New Jersey (up 47 percent), and California (up 36 percent) saw double digit increases from September.