Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ohio foreclosures continue to climb

Jay Hanselman

On Tuesday the organization Working in Neighborhoods  will release the latest Hamilton County foreclosure data.

Across Ohio the numbers don't look good. According to RealtyTrac.comin March thousands of properties were repossessed by banks, a 27% increase from a year ago. "That increase was the seventh straight month in Ohio, that we've seen a year over year increase in those bank repossessions, so the numbers are actually going the opposite way in Ohio," said RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist.

Nationally in March there were 44,000 bank-owned foreclosures, down from 55,000 a year ago. There were 73,000 in 2011. There have been thirty straight months of year to year decreases.

Ohio, Florida, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Maryland are the states still lagging behind. One reason Ohio is slow to recover, according to Blomquist, is the state employs what is called a judicial foreclosure process where every foreclosure is a court case reviewed by an individual judge. This makes it more susceptible to delays. But it may be also be better for homeowners where precautions are taken to make sure they aren't being improperly foreclosed upon.

RealtyTrac data shows from March 2012 to March 2013 there has been a 107% increase in foreclosures in Dayton, while just a 2% increase in Cincinnati.

Here is a chart from RealtyTrac for surrounding counties, using these abbreviations.NOD: Notice of Default LIS: default notice instrument used in judicial foreclosure states NTS: Notice of Trustee's Sale: NFS: notice of sale instrument used in judicial foreclosure states REO: Real Estate Owned by the Lender:at the public auction then it is repossessed by the foreclosing lender.

Working in Neighborhoods Executive Director Sister Barbara Busch says there are an average of 3,000 families foreclosed on every year. "In reality we can't afford to continue to have that many families over time. When you add that up and look at it over a period of time that's a whole lot of families who are displaced in one way or another."

Here are the area's foreclosure numbers since 1990 provided by the Hamilton County Clerk of Court's Office:

CUFA, Communities United for Action, will also participate in the WIN news conference Tuesday. It pushed for a pilot program involving five Cincinnati communities where banks are held responsible for taking care of their properties. They have to register with the city and possibly pay a fine if the property is not kept up. President Roger Davis says, "We want 52 communities. We think all the communities deserve a program where they can make the banks accountable to."

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.