Home foreclosures in the Tampa Bay area eased a bit in January but still showed massive gains from a year earlier. About 6,222 properties received some sort of foreclosure notice last month, compared with 7,196 properties afflicted in December, according to the firm RealtyTrac. At one foreclosure for every 211 properties, our foreclosure rate was the 21st worst in the nation. Cape Coral, the center of the speculative housing boom of 2005, was fourth worst. In the Greater Tampa Bay area, Hernando and Hillsborough counties had the worst foreclosure rates. Pasco and Pinellas counties were slightly better off. Tampa Bay area foreclosure cases numbered 4,210 in January 2008.