Housing Crisis Still Has Grips on Maryland, Allegany County

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in," said Michael Corleone in "The Godfather III." Corleone thought he was breaking free of the trappings of the mob life only to find he was still in its grip.

Many in Allegany County and Maryland are feeling somewhat the same sentiment these days when it comes to the housing crisis and home foreclosures.

Although foreclosures had peaked in 2010 in many states and metropolitan areas, statistics show a different story for Maryland. A surge in foreclosures that began in early 2013 is still gripping Maryland and Allegany County.

"We definitely have our fair share of foreclosures in the area," said Marty O'Toole, a broker with Century 21 Potomac West on South George Street in Cumberland.

"There are quite a number of homes that are in foreclosure," said Marcia Conrad, executive director of Allegany Law in Cumberland.

According to RealtyTrac, the firm that provides foreclosure statistics to state and local governments, Maryland consistently remains in the top five, often at number one, for total foreclosures in the country. RealtyTrac statistics show the situation is not improving.

Foreclosure events peaked nationally at 937,840 in the third quarter of 2009 but began to fall dramatically by 2011. U.S. foreclosures for the third quarter of 2014 (the most current figures available) totaled 317,171. The national trend has been steadily downward.

In Maryland, foreclosures peaked in the fourth quarter of 2009 at 16,788. They fell to 3,514 for the same period of 2011. However, beginning in 2012, a surge began that sent Maryland up to 9,339 foreclosures. In the third quarter of 2014, foreclosures in the state reached 11,637. Maryland foreclosures have risen nearly 75 percent since 2011.

Allegany County foreclosure statistics mirror the state numbers.

"This is still the aftermath of the housing debacle that started in 2007 and 2008," said O'Toole.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Allegany County had a staggering 156 foreclosure events. Numbers fell for Allegany to just 5 foreclosures in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Since then the numbers have risen steadily. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Allegany County had 28 foreclosures. By the fourth quarter of 2013, foreclosures had risen to 110 with RealtyTrac reporting 98 foreclosures in the third quarter of 2014.

"We are still getting to the end of it, but there are still houses that are underwater," said O'Toole.

"A lot of the houses are in bad shape and don't have a lot of value; people can't sell them," said Conrad.

The tell-tale sign of multiple notices attached to front doors of homes can be seen once again across Cumberland.

Conrad's firm, Allegany Law, has up to 14 attorneys that help individuals with foreclosures and bankruptcy issues. They offer quarterly workshops, which are open to the public, to assist those under severe financial duress.

"We get the dockets from the circuit court every month. We send out notices that we have services available and programs to assist them," said Conrad.

Conrad said Allegany Law has assisted 89 families to date. She said the reasons for foreclosure can vary from loss of income to emergency financial issues to a death in the family.

Foreclosed homes are often given to real estate firms to sell and are sometimes simply auctioned off.

"They can be assigned to realtors. They often come in poor condition. People have let them go. They don’t take care of it and they vacate and the utilities are shut off. The house just sits there and they are not winterized," said O’Toole.

The statistics can be seen on the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development website at dhcd.maryland.gov, under the Foreclosure Prevention tab.

©2015 Cumberland Times News (Cumberland, Md.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency

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