I've been trying to decide if the economic conditions in the past couple months, which have seemed mild, represented an end to the pain or if they simply represented an eye in the storm.

Its the later.

California and other states are likely to see an enormous wave of long-delayed foreclosure action in the coming year as banks deal more aggressively with 3.5 million seriously delinquent mortgages.

And experts said that dealing with the foreclosure process, from issuing notices of default to selling repossessed homes, is likely to push housing prices lower this year before the real estate market has a chance to recover.

Hold on to your hats - we're going back down.

Foreclosures expected to rise, pushing home prices lower - latimes.com