The Gazette.net reports that Home foreclosures in Montgomery County are at their lowest level in two years, according to a county report released last week.

There were 1,428 foreclosure events in Montgomery County in the third quarter of the year — July through September — data shows, a number that is down about 10 percent from the previous quarter.

Among those county residents who narrowly escaped foreclosure is Carol Smouse, who nearly lost her Germantown home last year when she was laid off from her job as a saleswoman and couldn't pay her bills.

After losing her job in February 2009, Smouse, 50, was able to make her $1,500 mortgage payments for about two months using money from her savings and retirement funds.

"Eventually I ran out of money and was unable to make my payments," she said.