OHIO — Foreclosures in the United States have been increasing to the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic. That's according to the real estate property data provider Attom Data Solutions. Their findings put Ohio among the five top states with the greatest number of foreclosures initiated in January of this year. Northeast Ohio is one of the areas most impacted.
What You Need To Know
- Ohio is among the five top states with the greatest number of foreclosures initiated in January 2022
- Northeast Ohio is one of the areas most impacted
- 329 foreclosure cases were filed in January 2022 in Cuyahoga County
- Experts say homeowners should not wait until they fall behind to seek help to pay for their mortgage and tax payments
For some people, the ending of foreclosure restrictions in December may have played a role in their financial troubles. Nina Holzer, assistant director of financial mobility at CHN Housing Partners, says the moratorium helped people stay in their homes.
“The lifting of [restrictions] certainly has impacted people’s ability to pay for their mortgage and their taxes," she said.
In Cuyahoga County, nearly half of the foreclosures cases filed in January 2022 are tax related:
| January 2022 |
January 2021 |
|---|
| Foreclosure cases files: 329 |
Foreclosure cases files: 309 |
| 137 tax; 48 tax certificate; 124 mostly mortgage foreclosures |
150 tax; 19 tax certificate; 160 mostly mortgage foreclosures |
Holzer says CHN Housing Partners is seeing an increase in foreclosure clients, but this could be for a number of things. Still, she says more people looking for help, partly because there are resources they can benefit from.
“There are so many more resources available now than there were at the beginning of the pandemic to help address mortgage and tax foreclosures. We’re seeing more folks now that are reaching out to us."
Still, the report says that foreclosure rates nationally are still below normal levels. In Cuyahoga County, August 2021 was the highest in terms of foreclosure cases filed: 880 in total.
“I think folks are now catching up and people fell behind during the pandemic, people were increasingly housing insecure, and because they didn’t have access to stable income, were falling behind on their mortgage and tax payments again,” Holzer said. “But now that we have support from the Ohio housing financing agency in the form of Save the Dream and the utility assistance plus program, the Homeowner Assistance Fund, we have access to resources that we can use to help folks stay in their homes and prevent foreclosures."
What can homeowners do to avoid losing their homes?
Holzer tells homeowners not to wait to be in foreclosure to reach out and seek assistance.
“Coming in early to solve foreclosure problems whether they be mortgage or tax related really is the key to success," Holzer said.
