November foreclosure numbers for Charlotte and Sarasota counties say different things to different people.

Depending on who’s reading the tea leaves, the region either is primed for a major comeback, or banks and federal lending policies still have a stranglehold on the average working Floridian, who is barely keeping his head above water. Whatever the case, there were 155 foreclosures filed in Charlotte County in November, a decrease from the 216 filings in October, according to the Charlotte County Clerk of Courts office. Both months were ahead of the same time frame in 2011, when there were 162 foreclosure filings for October, and 131 for November. In Sarasota, there were 370 foreclosure filings for November, a decrease from the 405 foreclosure filings in October, Sarasota Clerk of Courts records show. Year over year, the numbers were nearly identical, as 390 foreclosures were filed in October 2011, and 338 in November of last year. What do the numbers mean? Well, not a lot, according to David Hicks, a foreclosure attorney with offices in Sarasota and other parts of the state, who said 900,000 Floridians are currently 90 days behind on their mortgages or are already in the early stages of the foreclosure process. Declining foreclosure numbers don’t mean the crisis is over, Hicks said. Instead, they represent a lull for certain counties, while others are still experiencing numbers closer to those when the entire nation was rocked by record foreclosure figures.