These days, it is hard to find a person who has not been touched in some way by the foreclosure maelstrom that seems to feed off its own fuel as it swirls across the nation, turning homeowners into renters and leaving many homes vacant, neglected, abandoned, and in the worst cases grossly vandalized. Foreclosure-related filings on U.S. homes during the first three months of the year were up 9 percent from the previous quarter and 24 percent from a year ago, surpassing previous highs for the current downturn, data aggregator RealtyTrac said today. The 803,489 properties subject to some kind of foreclosure filing during the first quarter -- including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- was a new record since RealtyTrac began reporting in January 2005.