Foreclosure activity has slipped this month, but only slightly as the high rate of foreclosures continued into May.

There are 423 foreclosures being advertised today in the Cherokee Tribune, the county's legal organ. The total is a small drop from the 425 published last month but up from 366 published in May of last year.

So far this year, there have been 2,162 foreclosures advertised in the paper, an increase form 1,782 advertised at this time last year.

Dennis Burnette, president of Cherokee Bank, said the current job market is "extremely weak."

"There are so few opportunities out there," he said. "People who are unemployed cannot find jobs and are unable to make house payments."

He said that as long as that problem exists in the economy, there will be a high number of foreclosures.

"I just don't see any improvement in the availability of jobs," he said.

Rudy Gordon, a Woodstock attorney who handles bankruptcy cases, said he is still seeing many clients facing the possibility of losing their house, though the number seems to be getting smaller, albeit just barely.

"I have not seen a significant reduction," he said, adding that he has seen "nothing to indicate that (we) are on the upswing."

He said the amount of foreclosures might begin a downward trend going forward.

"Most people who are going to lose it have lost it," Gordon said. "There are not that many new people out of work."

Becky Babcock of ERA Sunrise Realty in Canton, who maintains a listing of local foreclosed properties online at www.beckys realestate.com, said homes for sale and not in foreclosure are becoming more appealing than those in foreclosure.

"I think people have figured out that regular sellers are easier to deal with," she said. "Buyers are tired of dealing with the bureaucracy."

She said high numbers of foreclosures could continue due to the unemployment rate, which was 9.4 percent in Cherokee for March, the most recent number available.

"People capable of hiring are cutting back," she said.