Until the Obama Administration lays out a clear program to stem the wave of foreclosures, we won't likely see a reversal of this pattern of devastation to the housing marketplace. "Workout programs can help some people who intend to stay in the house, but the big problem is people who don't want to carry an underwater house," University of Michigan Adjunct Professor Robert Van Order told Bloomberg.

RealtyTrac reports that "hundreds of thousands" of home loans are worth more than the property or are located in neighborhoods where values have eroded by 50 percent or more. California topped the list with the most total foreclosure filings -- 76,761. Nevada topped the list with the highest rate of foreclosure -- one in every 76 housing units received a filing in January. Its filings jumped 137 percent from a year earlier to 14,444.

The hardest hit cities with populations over 200,000 were Merced, California, where one in 59 housing units is in some stage of default, which is about eight times the national average. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nevada held the number two spot with one in 63 housing units in default. Filling out the top five cities are Cape Coral-Fort Myers Florida, Riverside-San Bernardino, CA and Modesto, CA. In addition to California and Nevada, the hardest hit states include Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Oregon, Michigan, Georgia, Idaho and Ohio.

The Obama administration has promised a plan to stem the foreclosure rates and assist people with modifying loans so they can stay in their homes. But, if that plan does not include modifying the outstanding loan amount so the mortgage is no longer underwater, most people will probably still walk away, especially if they need to move to find a job. People feel trapped in homes they can't sell without coming up with cash for closing. If Congress can bailout Wall Street so they don't take loses on bad mortgage assets, it should do the same thing for homeowners in the same boat.

Lita Epstein has written more than 25 books including "The 250 Questions You Should Ask About Buying Foreclosures" and the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Improving Your Credit Score."