Across the nation, the once-pernicious foreclosure crisis nearly has abated, but in Lucas County, Ohio, foreclosure activity is stronger than it was a year ago.
Attom Data Solutions, a California real estate data firm, released figures today showing that in April metro Toledo (Lucas, eastern Fulton, and northern Wood counties) had a total of 241 housing units — or one for every 1,134 — in the foreclosure process. The process includes default notices, notices of trustee's and sheriff's sales, and real estate owned properties that have been foreclosed upon then repurchased by a bank.
April's total was down 9 percent from 266 units in March, but up 17 percent from a year ago when there were 206 housing units in the foreclosure process.
Ohio had 4,037 units in foreclosure in April, or one for every 1,273 housing units. That was down 9 percent from March and down 23 percent from a year ago. And nationally, Attom said April foreclosure activity was down 23 percent from a year ago — the lowest level for foreclosure activity since November, 2005.
Daren Blomquist, Attom senior vice president, said foreclosure activity is like a "low-grade fever" that remains steady and pesky for Midwest cities like Toledo.
"If you compare back to seven years ago, it looks like between 2007 and 2009 we were seeing months with more than 1,000 properties going into foreclosure. In April it was 241, so it's not as bad as it was, but it's still elevated," Blomquist said. "That is a fairly common story line that we see especially in rust belt cities," he added.
Metro Toledo's problem is really just Lucas County's problem.
Only five houses in Fulton County were in foreclosure in April, compared to nine in March and 21 a year ago. Likewise, in Wood County, just 18 properties were involved in foreclosure activity in March, and 18 a year ago.
But for Lucas County there were 218 units involved in foreclosure in April, 239 in March, and 167 a year ago.
Jon Modene, a foreclosure expert at Remax Masters in Perrysburg, said metro Toledo's suburbs are healthy. "We're back to pre-crash levels in valuations in the suburbs."
But Modene said Lucas County has many "intractable properties" -- those with complicated situations such as IRS or Ohio tax liens or two mortgages with different lenders who disagree on whether to foreclose.
"If you have a normal loan on your house, you can through the process pretty quickly," Modene said.
Modene said Lucas County's problems could linger. Ten years ago investors bought many duplexes hoping to use them for rental income. However, many of them now are underwater (the amount owed on them is greater than their appraised value) and their owners can't generate enough rent to pay the mortgages.
"They thought they were buying a good deal, then the crash came. They're over-leveraged and they owe more than these are worth and have no hope of selling," Modene said. "So they're going to walk away and that's just starting to happen," he added.
