Light glimmers in tunnel of state foreclosures

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By Tim Tresslar, Staff Writer 6:29 PM Saturday, August 1, 2009

A new round of foreclosure figures released Thursday, July 30, offer a glimpse of hope for some parts of the state.

During the first six months of this year, major metropolitan areas in Ohio, including Dayton, saw a drop in total foreclosure filings, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that monitors the real estate industry.

In the Dayton area, foreclosure filings fell 19.5 percent to 4,717 for the first half of the year.

The Cleveland metropolitan area saw foreclosure actions drop by 30 percent, to 12,862, during the first half of this year, RealtyTrac said. In the Cincinnati-Middletown area, filings fell 11.52 percent to 8,827 for the first six months. Toledo and Columbus also reported fewer filings compared to a year ago, RealtyTrac said.

Ned Hill, dean of Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, said he believes statewide filings have fallen in part because the crisis hit Ohio “early and hard,” so a lot of people already have been through foreclosure.

“We’re kind of running out of people to bankrupt,” Hill said.

In Montgomery County, Recorder Willis Blackshear said he looks for about 5,000 foreclosure actions to be filed this year, versus 5,193 actual filings in 2008. Of those, he estimates about 2,548 will be sold through sheriff’s auction, compared with 2,781 a year ago.

“I believe we’re on pace for that right now,” he said.

In June and July, both foreclosure filings and homes sold through sheriff’s auction spiked, compared to the first several months of this year. Blackshear said he blames the sudden jump in both figures to slow passage of state-level legislation that would set a moratorium on foreclosures. And going forward, he expects that interest-only mortgages and resets of adjustable-rate loans, along with high unemployment, will continue to keep foreclosure numbers high in the county.

Staff writer Tim Tresslar covers commercial and residential real estate for Dayton Daily News. His Real Estate Notebook appears every Sunday. He can be reached at (937) 225-7317 or via e-mail at ttresslar@coxohio.com.

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