Reports are in on October foreclosures, and little has changed in California since a huge spike in new foreclosure filings last August and subsequent drop in September.

While new notice of default filings continue to drop in other struggling Western markets such as Arizona (down 8.9%), California overall saw just a 2.9% dip. A new Nevada law that prohibits foreclosing banks from owning the trustee that completes the foreclosure (as is the case with Bank of America/Countrywide and their ReconTrust outfit) sent new foreclosure filings there plummeting over 80%.

San Diego bucks the trend toward fewer foreclosures, with 2,058 households going into default last month, as compared with 1,802 in September. It’s also an increase over last year’s filing rate, by over 10%.

Investors loaded with cash are happy to take excess inventory out of the hands of banks – properties being purchased at auction instead of reverting to bank ownership a third more often than in October 2010. Some of these investors hope to “flip” their purchases to a new buyer for a quick profit, while others are taking the opportunity to snatch up undervalued units for their rental portfolios.