SAN DIEGO -- Homeowners had good news when the median price of a single-family San Diego county home ticked up a bit over the summer.

But the 10News I-Team has uncovered a new trend that could hurt the value of your home.

Anne is worried and too embarrassed to disclose her real identity. The South Bay condo that she lives in with her husband and three daughters is upside down in value and may go into foreclosure. She had high hopes when Washington promised help and billions of taxpayer dollars to keep families like hers in their homes.

"I thought, perfect, that's us! We fit into that. That's everything they're saying; that's us. And turns out, they can't help us," said Anne.

Even though their mortgage was modified last year by Washington Mutual, it wasn't the solution promised.

"I think they're basically doing as little as they can to quiet you down," she said.

It took a year of constant effort to get that first loan modification, which only lowered their interest rate from 7 percent to 6.271 percent.

"You're willing to take whatever they offer you because you don't feel like you can haggle with them," she said.

The tiny bit of relief was short-lived. Anne's husband became ill and lost one of his two jobs. Their only car broke down. Now they're hoping for a second loan modification. It's a disturbing trend that experts have noticed.

"A lot of the lenders are not willing to make a modification that would actually help the consumer," said Dan Siegel, a local mortgage broker. "As a result of that, the person is not really able to make the payment and out of desperation, they accept it."

Siegel explain that this has a potential of extending the housing crisis.

"After about nine months, we're seeing about half of the people that get a modification back in default again," he said, citing a U.S. Department of the Treasury mortgage metrics report.

Another industry expert sees more foreclosures on the horizon, and more problems for the economy.

"I'm somewhat concerned about what's going to happen in 2010," said Mark Goldman, San Diego State University real estate instructor.

"There's a deluge of what we call 'shadow inventory' - there's a lot of people who are in default and the banks have not yet foreclosed on that property, and there's going to be a large supply coming online of foreclosures."

A shadow inventory gives the illusion that there are not many homes for sale, which artificially raises home prices. But once they come on the market, inventory grows and home prices go down.

In the meantime, Anne is doing her best to avoid becoming a foreclosure statistic.

"I refuse to give up -- something that I've worked so hard to keep," she said.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a progress report last week on the Making Home Affordable program. Looking at the three largest participating mortgage servicers, Bank of America has 11 percent of its eligible loans in trial modifications; Wells Fargo has 20 percent; and J.P. Morgan Chase has 27 percent.