Foreclosure filings in Franklin County fell during the first quarter of this year, continuing the slide begun last year.
Through the first three months of this year, 2,084 foreclosures were filed in the county, 16 percent fewer than during the same period last year, according to figures released yesterday by the Franklin County clerk’s office.
The drop continues the decline that began in the fall, when large banks halted foreclosures because of questions over paperwork.
Some experts think those paperwork issues and related legal challenges remain the primary reason foreclosures are down, and that once they are resolved, foreclosures will jump back up.
“The only banks foreclosing on homes right now are regional and small banks,” said Matt Beckett, a broker with Realty Executives Decision, a Columbus company that sells homes repossessed by banks. “Everyone’s on hold. I don’t know when the dam’s going to break, but it will.”
Others hope the decline is driven by an improving employment picture and successful mediation and counseling programs.
“I hope it’s a sign that things have leveled off and we’re going to experience an actual decline,” said Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio advocacy group.
That might be the case, because recent data from the Mortgage Bankers Association show that more people are keeping up with their mortgage payments in Ohio and throughout the nation.
In addition, a federal foreclosure-prevention program, called the Hardest Hit Fund, is beginning to take hold and is expected to reduce foreclosures this year.
The program devotes $570million to help keep troubled Ohio homeowners in their homes. More than 2,600 Franklin County residents have applied for assistance through the program since it began in the fall.
To date, more than 400 homeowners statewide have received financial assistance through the program allowing them to avoid foreclosure, and 900 applicants have been approved for assistance, said Arlyne Alston, spokeswoman for the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, which administers the program.
“We expect to help at least 8,000 homeowners statewide avoid foreclosure in 2011,” Alston said.
“It’s a fairly new program, but we’re really excited by the response we’ve seen so far.”
(reprinted from CBR website)
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