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$1 home bargain bought by city

HUD sale to Tallmadge allows razing foreclosed property, selling land

By Kimberley Sirk Special to the Beacon Journal

TALLMADGE: In the near future, Tallmadge will be handed the keys to a foreclosed house on Sunset View Boulevard.

The city is looking to strike a blow against a rising tide of foreclosed and abandoned properties that are cluttering the area's landscape.

Through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Dollar Homes initiative, local governments can buy foreclosed houses that HUD has unsuccessfully listed for sale for longer than six months, paying only $1 plus closing costs.

Tallmadge has set its sights on a house at 949 Sunset View.

It is the city's first foray into foreclosure purchases. The house's previous owners filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in May 2005, leaving behind their original mortgage of more than $85,000 and a second mortgage of nearly $16,000.

The house was sold at sheriff's sale on June 21, 2006, with the property ultimately ending up in HUD's hands.

City officials estimate the house has been vacant for about three years.

HUD advertises the Dollar Homes program as a way for communities to repair the dormant houses and resell them to help revitalize neighborhoods, but Tallmadge has a different plan.

Law Director Penny Taylor said it is likely the city will tear down the house and sell the land. The sale proceeds would be put into the city's historic preservation programs.

HUD Cleveland Field Office District Director Douglas Shelby said Tallmadge's plans of demolition, sale of the land and use of the proceeds for other housing-related purposes fits within the agency's guidelines.

City Councilman Jerry Feeman, who has been in the house, said it is far beyond any reasonable hope of repair. Dead rodents are visible inside the disintegrating interior walls.

The home, built in 1951, was recently appraised at $84,000.

Gloria Dunn of Chapman Law Firm Real Estate Services said the city's acquisition of the property should be complete within a few weeks.

City officials have not indicated whether they will participate in the program again soon, or whether they have their sights set on other parcels.

The Chapman Law Firm handles foreclosures for HUD in Ohio and Michigan.

Forty other similar $1 sales are pending in Ohio. The firm has about 2,573 active foreclosed HUD homes.

Dunn, who is the firm's operations manager for sales and marketing, said that even though HUD is absorbing a loss on the Tallmadge property, it is far more important to the federal agency to help cities clear their landscapes of eyesore properties.

''As long as it will help a city and positively influence a city, it is helpful,'' she said.

TALLMADGE: In the near future, Tallmadge will be handed the keys to a foreclosed house on Sunset View Boulevard.

Get the full article here.

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