Firm sees foreclosure rate in Ohio leveling off
A lawyer helping homeowners says numbers could begin to decline in a year or two.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
COLUMBUS — — A firm keeping tabs on foreclosure activity nationwide says filings may be leveling off in Ohio, and a lawyer helping Ohio homeowners says their numbers could begin to decline within a year or two.
During the second quarter, Ohio had the nation's sixth highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 134 households receiving a foreclosure-related notice, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
The Irvine, Calif-based firm said Friday that 37,689 Ohio properties entered the foreclosure process, 21 percent more than during the previous three months and up 27 percent from the same period in 2007.
Nationwide, filings more than doubled from a year ago, and those numbers are likely to keep surging, said Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman. "But in Ohio, that trajectory seems to be flattening," he said.
The shockwaves from the meltdown in subprime mortgages are still rippling out, said Paul Bellamy, an attorney the Equal Justice Foundation, a Columbus-based advocacy group that helps homeowners fighting foreclosure.
"This has been going on for about 10 years in Ohio," Bellamy said.
He looked for foreclosures to begin to decline in Ohio by the end of the decade — but only if the economy remains relatively stable.
"If it doesn't, people will lose their homes — not just as a result of bad mortgages, but also because of the more traditional issues: losing their job, inflation," Bellamy said.
The U.S. Senate on Saturday gave final congressional passage to a bill meant to calm the housing market turmoil. An estimated 400,000 homeowners would escape foreclosure through affordable loans.
