ATLANTA -- The housing crisis is hitting home in Georgia. Foreclosures hit record highs this month, and real estate prices across Metro Atlanta are plummeting.

"I couldn't tell you what will happen to me," Ruby White, 74, said. Her house was scheduled to be sold to the highest bidder at this month's foreclosure auction on the Fulton County courthouse steps. "I can't sleep at night," White said.

White's mortgage payments jumped from $780 a month to more than $1,200. That's more than she takes in on her monthly fixed income.

"I've been living here for 38 years," White continued.

Her lawyer, Donald Horace, claims White was a victim of predatory lending practices. White is just one of a more than 7,000 foreclosures scheduled to be auctioned off this month in Fulton County alone.

"Prices are still going down," Steve Palm said. His company, Smart Numbers, tracks trends in home values across the Metro Atlanta using actual home-buying and selling prices. According to Palm, White lives in one of the hardest-hit areas for foreclosures and price reductions in the metro area.

"In these areas, we saw the price go down by 8 percent or more," Palm said, pointing to a map that showed areas in Clayton, South Fulton, and DeKalb County.

According to Palm, more than half of Clayton County is in what he considers a "crisis zone," where home prices have dropped 8 percent or more in a 12-month period.

"Pretty much the south side or below Interstate 20 has seen the greatest reduction in price," Palm continued. "Clayton County, South Fulton, South Atlanta, we have some areas in DeKalb."

But Palm said while some people are feeling the pinch, there are other areas where home values have increased.

"Even in our down market, the prices have still gone up," said Palm. In the area he calls the "Golden Triangle," which is north of downtown Atlanta in the area between the U.S. 78 –Interstate 85 corridor. His figures show prices in some of those areas have gone up as much as 18 percent in just the last 12 months.

Palm has one piece of advice.

"I think the economy is going to turn, and now is the time to buy," he said.