Surprise! But only if you thought that a recover was in the works:

U.S. home foreclosures jumped 12 percent last month, but the sharp divide between states  suggests the industry remains backlogged by investigations into the foreclosure process.

According to a report from real estate data firm RealtyTrac, lenders foreclosed on 78,133 properties in January, up 12 percent from the month before, but down 11 percent from January a year ago.

Bank seizures at states with non-judicial foreclosure processes jumped 23 percent, while states with a judicial process saw a decrease of 7 percent.

“It suggests the system is still frozen up. We should have seen a much larger increase in both overall activity and bank repossession,” said Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac.

“The numbers will inevitably go up, it’s just a question of will it be sooner or will it be later.”

The number of foreclosure filings, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, rose 1 percent to 261,333 in January. Compared to January last year, filings are down 17 percent.

So I guess in places where judges are allowing people to not pay and stay in their houses banks are giving up, but in states where that hasn’t happened yet banks are picking up pace to get people out before lefty lawyers get involved. No matter the outcome your savings and house values are not safe.