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Fewer filed in first six months of year by banks, lenders. Seven-year low set in June with 167
By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Thursday, Aug 21, 2008
The number of foreclosure lawsuits is dropping slightly in Summit County, bucking national and statewide trends.
Banks and mortgage lenders filed 2,088 foreclosure suits here during the first six months of the year compared with 2,268 during the same period last year.
The lawsuits — a legal step in the process that leads to people losing their homes — hit a seven-year low in June with 167.
If the trend continues, the county will experience a decline for the second consecutive year.
Officials are at a loss to explain the drop, especially when other communities are continuing to see increases.
''In some areas, it could be that we've worked through the problem and a lot of the properties that were susceptible to foreclosure have already gone into foreclosure,'' said Daren Blomquist, spokesman for RealtyTrac, a California company that monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
Other theories include banks and lenders working more with homeowners because of negative media coverage, and
homeowners reaching out for help sooner through new programs like the state's ''Save the Dream'' campaign.
Any dip could be temporary, because some banks and lenders have been so overwhelmed with foreclosure actions that they are backed up in filing, Blomquist added.
Cynthia Sich, director of the Summit County office of consumer affairs, attributed the local drop to outreach efforts.
''My fingers are crossed that we'll see another slight drop this year,'' she said.
Officials also couldn't explain why suits dropped so low in June. Every lawsuit doesn't result in an actual foreclosure.
RealtyTrac has identified the Akron metropolitan area, which includes Portage County, as the 22nd worst region in the U.S. for foreclosures.
The company reported this month that foreclosure filings grew nationwide by more than 50 percent in July compared with the same month a year ago.
But while the news was dim nationwide, the number of foreclosure filings in Summit dipped from 369 in July 2007 to 340 last month. Meanwhile, the filings remained nearly the same in Portage, going from 64 to 65.
But Portage also experienced a higher number of foreclosure suits in the first six months of the year compared with the previous year, jumping from 368 to 443.
Stark County saw a similar increase, climbing from 1,383 to 1,584.
''It's certainly not slowing down,'' said Nancy Reinbold, the Stark clerk of courts.
''I'm very jealous,'' she added, referring to the trend in Summit. ''I wish I could say the same about Stark.''
In Summit, Sich and her staff are reading individual lawsuits to study why people are having difficulty paying their mortgages. More foreclosure suits are being filed today for economic reasons — job loss and divorce, for example — than predatory lending, she said.
The study, when completed, will help the county determine how to best help homeowners, she said.
Meanwhile, Common Pleas Court started a mediation program earlier this year to try to avert some foreclosures. Homeowners who respond to a lawsuit are referred to the program, which brings together the lender and borrower for a settlement conference.
So far, 108 such meetings have taken place. Sixteen of those cases have either been settled or a tentative settlement has been reached. Twenty-nine have been referred back to the court. And most of the remainder are still being worked on.
The problem is the majority of homeowners never respond to notices from the lender or even to a lawsuit.
''I assume some of that is that they are just overwhelmed,'' Administrative Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer said.
She said it's important for the court system to try to resolve the dispute so people aren't kicked out of their homes.
''A neighborhood with three empty homes becomes an economic-development problem,'' she said.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.
The number of foreclosure lawsuits is dropping slightly in Summit County, bucking national and statewide trends.
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