VIRGINIA BEACH – Home foreclosures in Hampton Roads have tripled since last year.

One in 677 Va. Beach homes was in some state of foreclosure. In Norfolk, it was one in 491 homes; in Hampton, one in 1,322.

"I would say these are anxious times and looks like we are going to have some affect of Wall Street on the Main Street and that is being shown in terms of tightening to the credit terms of the marketplace," says Dr. Vinod Agarwal.

Video: Foreclosures triple across Hampton Roads

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He’s part of the economic forecasting team at Old Dominion University.

He does see a very small piece of a silver lining.

"Notice of default, trustee sales and bank owned properties -- they represent less than seven percent of the number of houses available in the marketplace.  So it's not going to affect the housing market as much as one might think.  This housing market is in pretty good shape," he believes.

Short sale agent Joey Gilmer deals with people who are facing foreclosure.

He says he’s had to add staff to handle the increase.

"Some are desperate, some are in denial, some people just want to understand, give me an idea Joey, what's going on, how does this apply to me and what is my role?" he says clients ask.

Gilmer says he knows it’s an anxious time, but he says people are here to help.

"A, understand, seek help. Contact a real estate agent, a loan officer."

Federal regulators today are telling congress they're working on a plan that could help a lot of homeowners escape foreclosure.

The plan could include setting standards for revising mortgages, and giving loan guarantees to banks that meet those standards.