The Big Island represents two ends of the spectrum in the ongoing flurry of foreclosures.While Kona leads the state in homeowners who decide to cut the strings to their property, Hilo is near the bottom of the scale.

That's because many of the homes in foreclosure are investment properties and second homes, said Jackie Parkinson, executive director of the Hawaii Island Board of Realtors.

'That's what's hitting Kona so hard," Parkinson said. "People are just walking away."

Kailua, Kona had 78 foreclosure filings in July, which represents one home out of every 200, according to the Mainland-based research firm RealtyTrac. Waikoloa had 23 filings — or one out of 125 homes — and the Waimea-North Kohala area had 16 filings, which represents one out of 286 homes.

Not to say East Hawai'i is without difficulties. Puna and Ocean View have significant foreclosure rates, mostly investment homes, Parkinson said.

Puna and portions of Ka'u east of Pahala had 21 foreclosure filings in July, which represents one filing for every 264 homes.

Besides investments and second homes, other dwellings that are in trouble are primary homes that the owners bought or refinanced in the past couple of years, Parkinson said.

That's where the Big Island's 11.5 percent unemployment rate may be coming most into play, as residents struggle to make their house payments, buy gas and put food on the table.

Hilo had 34 foreclosure filings in July — one out of every 613 homes.

Rather than throwing up their hands and walking away from a home that's now worth less than the money owed on it, people who can't make house payments should contact a real estate professional, who may be able to negotiate a short sale, where the bank agrees to sell the property to a new owner for less than what the loan is worth, Parkinson said.

Foreclosures set a record around the state in July, and the Big Island had the second-highest rate, with 197 filings, or one for every 394 households.

"It does appear August is going to be a busy month. We had a lot of filings," said Honolulu foreclosure attorney David B. Rosen. "There has been a steady increase each month."

Six pages of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald's real estate classifieds were filled with foreclosure notices Friday for Hawaii Island properties set to be auctioned Sept. 11.

Rosen is handling the foreclosures and noted that the dramatic increase in newspaper notices does not accurately portray market conditions.

His offices have spent the last few weeks preparing notices rather than publishing them, and are now publishing a backlog all at once, he said.

The increase in foreclosures has been relatively steady from month to month, Rosen said.

"The problem is, there are not a whole lot of buyers," Rosen said of the scheduled auctions. "On the Neighbor Islands, we don't have a whole lot of bidders."