“Are you gonna pay for you food, fuel or mortgage?” asks Hampden County Register of Deeds Donald Ashe.

That’s the question plaguing homeowners across Hampden County. In the past 12 months 1,027 foreclosures were filed, the most in the county’s almost 200 year history. But Ashe says rising fuel and food costs aren’t entirely to blame. Many homeowners bought when the market was rising, and treated their home like a credit card.

“They bought a house for 150,000 dollars, within a year and a half it’s worth 250,000 dollars. They decide to go in and re-mortgage, add an addition, take a trip to Hawaii, or this, that and the other,” says Ashe.

It’s a problem economists say isn’t going away. Many predict we are only halfway through the foreclosure crisis. Ashe says there is a simple solution. Lenders need to give up on the adjustable rate mortgages that are forcing people out of their homes, and refinance to the mortgage’s original interest rate.

“It’s better to get four and a half percent then to have somebody foreclose,” says Ashe. “The lawns grow five feet high, there’s broken windows and the whole neighborhood goes down.”

But with money to lose, and no bottom in sight, Ashe says it’s a solution many lenders won’t buy.

“Do I think they are going to do it? No. Do I wish they would do it? Yes.”

But the good news is if you can afford it, and have good credit, now is a great time to buy a home. But don’t expect to be able to get out quick, Ashe predicts house prices won’t rebound to market value for another four or five years.