Robert Plant could just as well have been singing about the Valley's current foreclosure situation when he bleated, "Good times, bad times, you know I've had my share," on the 1969 album "Led Zeppelin I."

On one hand, the number of default notices filed -- the first step in the foreclosure process -- throughout Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties in the first three months of 2010 is down substantially from the first quarter of 2009, according to information released today by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego company that tracks real-estate activity.

But on the other hand, the number of homes ultimately being taken back by banks through foreclosure was up in early 2010 compared to the first three months of 2009.

Here's how the numbers track:

• More than 5,830 notices of default were filed by lenders against homeowners in the first quarter of 2009. That fell by almost 40%, to 3,529 in early 2010.
• The number of trustee deeds -- a document that signals a lender taking back ownership of a house or condo -- was much higher early this year than it was in the first quarter of 2009. DataQuick reports that 1,819 trustee deeds were recorded with counties in the first three months of 2009. That increased by more than 22% to 2,227 in the first quarter of 2010.

The situation also brings to mind the title of an early Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone spaghetti western. Whether you look at the "good" decline in default notices, or the "bad" numbers of increasing trustee deeds, it's all still "ugly" for homeowners facing possible foreclosure. Throughout all of 2009, 19,802 notices of default were filed and 8,978 trustee deeds were recorded in the four-county region.