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After five months of decline, the number of foreclosures filed in 20 Oregon counties – including Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Lane and Marion – increased slightly in January, and the CEO of a company that purchases distressed real estate says many more are looming.

Court foreclosures and notices of default were up from 277 in December to 371 in January (a 33.9 percent single-month increase), according to Eugene-based Gorilla Capital, which buys, redevelops and sells foreclosed homes in several states.

That could be just the beginning of foreclosures, said John Helmick, Gorilla Capital’s CEO, because of a sizable backlog caused by a “perfect storm” of legislative and judicial rulings.

“We have gone from being one of the most efficient states processing foreclosures to one of the slowest,” he said. “People say that’s really good, but half the homes in foreclosure are vacant, abandoned or what we call ‘zombie homes.’ ”

Helmick expects foreclosures to continue to climb in the first quarter of 2014, but not reach the high totals of 2008 through 2010. He said there were roughly 22,000 foreclosures in the waiting process. Lenders are unable to file them until they receive a certificate of compliance through a mediation process. That process has been taking six months or longer, he said.

“While the mediation process does not appear to be reducing the number of foreclosures, it has created a void of foreclosure actions filed with the courts over the last six months,” Helmick said. “As lenders receive the certificate of compliance from the mediator, we expect foreclosure filings to increase to early 2013 levels.”