By LISA NICELY
nicely@crescent-news.com
Nothing may be dreaded more among homeowners than the word foreclosure. It's also a word more and more homeowners are hearing lately. There is hope, however, officials say.
Information on foreclosures in the Defiance six-county area show there was more than a 406 percent increase in foreclosure filings from 1995-2007, according statistics from the Ohio Supreme Court. The statistics were recently released in a report from Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute.
"Foreclosure filings grew by double-digit rates in 39 of Ohio's 88 counties, and statewide have more than quintupled since 1995," the report states.
"It's (foreclosures) been on the upswing for a few years now," said Jennifer Wiswell, administrative assistant at the Paulding County Sheriff's Office who handles the sheriff's sales of properties in foreclosure. "I doubt that they go down."
A foreclosed property ends up in a sheriff's sale after the financial institution obtains a judgment through common pleas court. Not all foreclosures, however, become sheriff's sales. If the owner files for bankruptcy, then that house or property will not be sold by the sheriff's office.
Wiswell said she's handled about 50 sheriff's sales so far this year alone.
Other local sheriff offices have also experienced an increase in foreclosures.
Pam Stephens, administrative officer for the Defiance County Sheriff's Office, has been handling sheriff's sales since 1967. She said there's been a definite increase in the number of sales in recent years. Last year she scheduled 137 sheriff sales; in 2006 there were 120.
"We used to have maybe 20 a year several years ago, now I'm up to 56 so far this year," she said. "They've really increased. It's not getting any better. They just keep coming."
In Putnam County, the sheriff's office is seeing the same.
"When I started doing them I was told I'd have 17 a year," said Deputy Greg Westrick of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office. And about nine years, he added, "Now it's now possible to do 17 at a time."
Westrick said he's been talking to other deputies in the state and has found that they, too, have seen an increase in sheriff's sales.
"Some deputy in the Dayton area is doing 200-250 a week," he said. "They are up everywhere."
Statistics show that's true here, too.
In Defiance County, there were 172 foreclosure filings in 2007, compared to just 22 in 1995. That's a 681.8 percent increase. In 2006, there were 170 new foreclosures.
Henry County experienced the greatest percentage change from 1995-2007 in new foreclosures. In 2007, it had 120 new filings, compared to only seven in 1995. That's a 1,614.3 percent change.
Putnam County had the lowest percentage change from 1995-2007 with 406.3 percent. It had 81 property foreclosures in 2007, compared to 16 in 1995.
Paulding County had 126 new foreclosures filed in 2007, compared to 24 in 1995, a 425 percent increase. Williams County experienced 191 foreclosures in 2007 (), a 1,023.5 percent increase from 17 filings in 1995. Fulton County had 192 foreclosures in 2007, compared to 17 in 1995, for a 1,029.4 percent increase.
Looking at the percentage of change from 2006-2007 in the region, counties ranged from a 10.1 percent increase for Henry County to a 5.8 percent decrease in Putnam County.
Because of the number of foreclosures around Ohio, the state has established a Foreclosure Prevention Task Force. The task force encourages homeowners to contact their lenders and see if they can reach an agreement with them to resume payments and pay the past due amounts over an extended period of time or modify the loan that may lower the interest rate or extend the loan.
Individuals are also asked to call the Homeownership Preservation Association's HOPE toll-free hotline at 888-995-HOPE (4673). The hotline is staffed by counselors and is available around the clock seven days a week.
The task force also encourages homeowners to ask their local banks for information on how to prevent foreclosure, even if those banks do not hold the mortgage.
"If we have people coming in asking what they can do, we tell them to contact the lender as soon as possible and not avoid the situation," said Pat Rothgery, senior vice president of retail lending at First Federal Bank. "There are nonprofit credit counseling agencies that are good that they can be referred to."
Rothgery said if the bank holds the mortgage and a homeowner is having problems, they work with them the best they can.
"We do as much as we can to avoid the foreclosure," he said, adding the bank does not have above-average delinquencies or high foreclosure rates. "If there are other issues we refer them to credit agencies."
Rothgery stressed that while foreclosures and the housing market is down, people can still buy a home.
"I still think there are great opportunities out there for qualified buyers to obtain home ownership," he said. "We remain busy so I don't think the market is totally dead."
At Sherwood State Bank, just a few people have come in for advice with their mortgages.
"We haven't had a lot of request," said Mickey Schwarzbek, president/CEO of Sherwood State Bank. "I think a lot of people know their credit is already damaged and they haven't come into a local institution for repairing it."
Schwarzbek said representatives at the bank are more than willing to talk to residents and give them guidance to repair their credit in order to help them refinance their home.
At the Henry County Bank, not many people have come in asking for help avoiding foreclosure either.
Tim Okuley, mortgage loan officer, said the bank works with its borrowers if they need help.
"That's the last resort we want to do is foreclose on somebody," he said. "We work with them a lot better than a big bank in a big city. Everytime someone gets 10 days late, we send out a late notice. We give them an 800 number and tell them if they need help to give us a call."
Denise Davenport, mortgage loan officer at the State Bank and Trust, said she's had only a few people ask for help with their mortgages.
"If someone comes in and asks to see if we could do something we see what we can do," she said. "The reigns have been tightened as far as PMI (private mortgage insurance) and higher loan financing. We still do what we can to help anyone out."
Davenport said the bank still has a lot of people coming in to finance a new home.
"Rates are still good and people are still buying," she said.