Homes in Lancaster County are still being foreclosed at a record clip.

But the pace could slacken because of the still-mushrooming foreclosure crisis now being dubbed "foreclosuregate."

The crisis has prompted four major lenders to suspend foreclosures as courts, lawmakers and state attorneys general investigate whether banks or mortgage servicers violated laws by failing to follow proper foreclosure procedures. Three of those institutions — Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc., GMAC Mortgage Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — filed a total of 126 foreclosures in Lancaster County this year, 12 percent of the 1,044 foreclosures filed through September.

A fourth lender implicated in one aspect of the problem — so-called "robo-signers," where employees signed hundreds of foreclosure documents daily without reviewing them to ensure their accuracy — filed even more foreclosures. In the first nine months of the year, Wells Fargo & Co. filed foreclosure notices for 198 homes in Lancaster County, according to county records — 19 percent of all foreclosure filings during the period.

Wells Fargo does not plan to halt foreclosures, saying it has discovered no problems in the legal documents used to process them.

Pennsylvania is one of 23 "judicial" states, meaning foreclosures are handled through the courts.

PNC, GMAC and JPMorgan Chase have halted foreclosures in those 23 states; Bank of America has halted foreclosures in all 50 states.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and the state Department of Banking have joined a 50-state investigation into the foreclosure issues. "We encourage homeowners to contact our office as soon as possible if they believe they have been targeted by inappropriate foreclosures," Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said.

The controversy came to light after foreclosures began to increase in the wake of the housing bust that began in 2007. As more homeowners failed to make payments, lenders stepped up foreclosures — in some cases, critics say, circumventing state laws that required them to fill out forms, sign titles and file paperwork as mortgages were "securitized," bundled together and traded around the globe.

Nationwide, a growing number of class-action lawsuits are being filed, asserting that required paperwork was destroyed or falsified, and that banks in some cases may be foreclosing upon properties they cannot legally prove they own.

Last year 1,319 foreclosures were filed in the Lancaster County courthouse, an average of 109.9 per month. A decade earlier, in 1999, foreclosures averaged just 61 per month.

So far this year, an average of 116 foreclosures per month are being filed. But the voluntary moratorium by PNC, GMAC, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase could reduce that monthly average as long as the halt remains in effect.

None of the four lenders have filed any foreclosures in October, according to courthouse records.

While there have been no local reports of paperwork snafus or other issues that might invalidate a foreclosure attempt, "I think it's inevitable that there are going to be cases where people come to me with these kind of mortgage issues," said Mitchell Sommers, an Ephrata attorney who handles foreclosure cases.

"I would tell a client that we need to look at these securitization issues, with an eye on going to the bank and saying, 'If you're not going to modify this [mortgage], you may have some problems.' "

Local banks have not been implicated in the problem, with bank officials noting that local lending standards were stricter during the boom years — meaning less "sub-prime" lending, and ultimately fewer defaults.

In addition, local banks, in general, don't "service" the mortgages they originate, instead selling most mortgages to investors such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"Some [mortgage loans] do stay in our portfolio," said Stephen Trapnell, spokesman for Susquehanna Bank. "But we're really not a big servicer, and our procedure is what probably should be the industry standard.

"That's worked to Lancaster County's advantage," Trapnell said.

Laura Wakeley, spokeswoman for Fulton Financial Corp., said the low volume of foreclosures at Fulton Bank and its eight subsidiaries means the foreclosure "process is sound" at the company: "We file less than 50 foreclosures per month at all of our banks combined," said Wakeley in an e-mail. "The volume of foreclosures ... is a fraction of that of the companies that have been featured in news stories.

"Our process for approving foreclosures requires personal review and a signature by an employee in our Special Assets area who is experienced in reviewing foreclosure documents," Wakeley said. "We are confident that our employees are following the appropriate process as required by law."

Though foreclosures represent less than 10 percent of homes sold in Lancaster County, some local Realtors think the lenders' moratorium could actually help the market — by reducing inventory, and boosting prices.

"If it doesn't drag on too long, it could have a big impact in the short term," said Glenn Yoder, a broker with Hometowne Realty Professionals in New Holland and president-elect of the Lancaster County Association of Realtors.

But if the moratorium drags on, a large number of properties could be "dumped" into the market once the problems are finally resolved and big-bank foreclosures resume, Yoder said. "We wouldn't be as affected as some places," he said. "But we would see some effect."

Foreclosures don't always result in sheriff sales, but the number of sheriff sales in the county remains at record highs as well. Last year, 361 homes were sold at six sheriff sales; through the first five sales this year, 293 homes have been sold.

"We had more in September [at the Sept. 29 sale] than we had last September," said Chief Deputy Mark Reese, who runs the sales.

He's seen a spike in the number of people attending sheriff sales this year, though not necessarily a spike in the number of buyers.

"These buyers are out there doing their homework, looking at the value of the property, doing title searches," he said.

But Sommers, the Ephrata lawyer, thinks buyers are going to need to be warier than ever in the wake of the still-unfolding crisis.

"What about houses that have already been foreclosed on, and now the bank is trying to sell it, or worse, has already sold it?" he asked. "Does somebody who bought a house in good faith have to worry about a claim from the previous owner saying [the bank] never had the right to foreclose in the first place?

"There are so many shoes left to drop, it's unbelievable."

Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.