Ohio's REO Property Prevention Program

County Corp. in Ohio is intensifying its efforts to stop the spread of REO property in the state. Former mortgage broker Alfred Patterson Jr. is leading the County Corp.’s outreach efforts which aim to help troubled homeowners remain their homes and avoid turning their houses into REO property.

According to Patterson, everyone involved in the real estate market loses when a property is foreclosed, including the lender or bank, homeowner, neighborhood and tax collector.

Homeowners because they will lose their properties which they worked hard to acquire, banks because they incur losses and neighborhoods because abandon and vacant properties are eyesores and reduce the value of other houses in the area.

Dayton’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Manager Aaron Sorrell likens the foreclosure crisis to the 1913’s Great Depression. To address the growing foreclosure problem, Dayton has allotted $4.5 million in federal and state funds to demolish deteriorating abandoned foreclosed properties in some neighborhoods.

A study by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed about 12 percent of homeowners defaulted on their mortgage payments or are at risk of foreclosures and the number keeps increasing as the crisis spreads to those with good credit.

According to the MBA, the delinquency rate in the country increased to 9.12 percent, seasonally adjusted, while loans on the brink of foreclosure jumped to 1.34 percent.

Because of this unabated flood of REO property in the market, County Corp. has created a foreclosure prevention plan customized for each household. The REO property prevention plan will depend on whether loans originated with government-sponsored agencies Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. or Federal National Mortgage Association, Veterans Administration of subprime lenders.

The funding for the program comes from the Ohio Housing Trust Fund which is created to help distressed homeowners transition into affordable loan terms.

Under Patterson’s strategy, he will make contact with distressed homeowners in church get-togethers, neighborhood and civic groups and by making personal calls.

He explained that his experience as a mortgage broker showed him how even rational, competent and intelligent people are not spared from the impact of foreclosure because they do not know the exact conditions of their loans.

Currently, the Homesaver REO property prevention program of County Corp. failed to meet its target of about 2,000 distressed homeowners who will be saved from foreclosures. Only 237 homeowners responded to the company’s appeal to avail of the Homesaver program.

Related Posts:

• A Plan to Make Mortgage Affordable and Reduce Repo Homes
• Foreclosed Home Prevention Program Costly, Carrington Says
• MBA Says Repo Property Prevention Program Moving Slowly
• Repo Homes Prevention Plan Sets Off Hotline Calls
• Fannie Mae's Foreclosure Properties Prevention Work