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Foreclosures are increasing in Pima County as the housing market slows, inflation accelerates and creative financing plans mature, experts say.

The number of foreclosure proceedings in Pima County that were initiated by lenders reached 1,199 in the first three months of 2006, a 27 percent increase over the 943 filings in the first quarter of 2005, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a real estate data company based in Irvine, Calif.

Statewide, the increase in foreclosure filings was 6 percent.

But the news isn't all bad. While the number of foreclosure proceedings has increased at home, we're still faring better than the nation as a whole. For the United States, the increase between the same periods was 59 percent.

One reason for the increase is the relative difficulty in selling homes, experts said.

During the housing market's recent glory days, financially strapped homeowners had an easy option of putting their home up for sale. Creative financing — such as adjustable-rate mortgages and no-down-payment mortgages — and out-of-town investors made selling a home easy, with some homes being snapped up the same day they went on the market.

But a cooler market has changed all that.

"One of the issues facing Arizona might be overabundance of available properties. It extends the time properties are on the market and has a dampening effect on marketing," said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac Inc.

Homeowners who find themselves with just a few weeks or less to sell a home may have trouble in today's market, where the average time on the market is 45 days, according to the Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. About half of all homes on the market sell within 30 days.

And moving isn't a very viable option for everyone.

Stephen Cloutier, 52, an independent truck driver, has been out of work since being diagnosed in October with diabetes. He declared bankruptcy the same month and is roughly $10,000 behind on his mortgage. He lives in a double-wide mobile home west of Saguaro National Park near North Sandario and West Manville roads.

He moved in about four years ago, after securing his first home mortgage loan with an interest rate of about 9.7 percent. With no insurance, no retirement, no disability insurance and mounting debt, Cloutier said he hasn't even considered selling his home, which is scheduled to be auctioned off on the steps of the Pima County Superior Court building on July 14.

"Where else do I go to live? What else do I have? It's a mobile. The banks don't even want to give you a refinance on these things," Cloutier said. "I'm hoping I'm going to get back to work and save it."

Some experts fear the foreclosure numbers may get worse soon because the terms of many adjustable-rate mortgages are about to change. These mortgages typically have a short period — three, five or seven years — at a low, fixed rate before shifting to a free-floating market rate. The fixed periods of thousands of mortgages are about to end, and with interest rates rising, customers' payments may rise dramatically.

Add in the the rising price of gasoline and higher credit-card payments and homeowners may find themselves in a bind, said Dennis Rosen, a Tucson lawyer who deals in foreclosures and also holds a mortgage broker's license.

"They now own a home and something goes wrong (like) their car breaks down and there isn't five cents left in their budget," said Rosen, former owner of the Tucson School of Real Estate. "Most people live paycheck to paycheck, so when the price of their gas went up, when the price of food goes up, what happens? They don't have enough money to make all of their monthly payments. People then have to make choices."

If homeowners find themselves in financial trouble, they should look for ways to get help from their credit-card companies and other creditors.

"Lenders seem to be very creative in ways to refinance because most lenders lend money with the thought of being repaid. Banks and others just don't want to own real estate," Rosen said. " You can make calls to the credit card company and, for lack of a better word, make a deal. The lenders are going to figure out a way not to own every house in the United States."

The trends in the local home market don't bode well for financially strapped homeowners in the future, said William Anastopoulos, co-founder of Tucson Mortgage.

"It has clearly turned into a buyer's market and what's astounding to me is it's happened very quickly. I just think this is the beginning of a hangover," Anastopoulos said.