Reading the City of Delaware, Ohio 2008 Annual Report, presented by the Department of Planning and Community Development, the number popped out at me.
“For 2008 the number of foreclosed properties was 134, 0.96% of our housing stock …”
Something here didn’t jive with what the news media had been reporting. Obviously something was an error, there were only 134 homes that went through the final stages of foreclosure in 2008. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s is 134 more than we’d like to see, but I think any Delawarite would be surprised to see the number that low.
Are foreclosures up in the city?
Yes, but not at the numbers that you would be led to believe by the national media. In 2006 there were 115 Sherrif Sales and in 2007 there were 111. During Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall for Hope presentation on Thursday, he highlighted that five states — and 11 counties in particular — account for the majority of the “ballooning” foreclosure market. A good sign was that he didn’t list Ohio as one of the states, considering at one time Ohio was No.1 in the nation in some reports.
According to the report about 225 homes were in the foreclosure process during 2008, with 60 percent ending up being sold at the Sherrif’s auction. I think that is the saddest number in this report. There are things that can be done that will help the home owner avoid going all the way through the foreclosure process — and depending on the bank can provide some credit relief — from deed in lieu of foreclosure to short sales to loan modifications.
Thanks for the information