Foreclosures: a growing issue for communites

Brandon Township Supervisor Ron Lapp trudges through the waist high grass surrounding the abandoned township home and wonders when it will end.
‘We’ve had nine foreclosures so far this year in the township, we’ve never had this many,? said Lapp. ‘When owners or builders just walk away from the property, someone still has to take care of the building and surrounding area. The grass grows up, then neighbors complain about the property. Sometimes neighbors mow the lawn, but that’s rare. Homes are meant to be lived in. When residents move out, the house and property goes through a natural progression of deterioration.?
The recent spike in Brandon Township home foreclosures follows a nationwide surge.
In the fourth quarter of 2006, the percentage of loans that were seriously delinquent, defined as the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more delinquent or in the process of foreclosure, was 2.21 percent nationwide, higher than for the third quarter of 2006, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington D.C.
The report also included foreclosure rates across all loan types, with the top three states being Ohio (3.38 percent), Indiana (2.97 percent), and Michigan (2.39 percent).
In a foreclosure procedure, the homeowner is notified by the bank that payments are missed prior to posting the foreclosure in the newspaper. The sheriff then sends out a deputy to the property’posts the home with a foreclosure notice and lists the home in one of their sales. After the sale, the homeowner has time, about five weeks, to redeem the property from either the high bidder or the bank.
While unsightly weeds and tall grass may be common at some abandoned homes, said Lapp, recently a rotting deer carcass was discovered in a refrigerator left behind by owners.
‘Taxpayers should not have to pay for this,? said Lapp. ‘Often the clean up? from mowing the lawn to garbage removal’can cost several hundred dollars. The township puts the costs of mowing or clean up back on property taxes and the money is recovered when the property is sold, or received from the previous owner.?
A similar increase in foreclosures are reported in Groveland Township.
Shirley Scramlin, Groveland Township Treasurer since 1984, says area foreclosures over the past few months have been significantly higher.
‘We’ve had six foreclosures in the past five months, that’s in a community of about 1,600 homes, too,? said Scramlin. ‘There have been years past where there has been none or maybe one foreclosure. Our responsibility is to take the name of the property owner off the deed and put the bank name on (the deed).?
Dennis Sights, president of Oxford Mortgage Service, says that in his 34 years of banking the current rash of foreclosures is the worst he’s ever encountered
‘In the 90s we would go a year or two with no foreclosures,? said Sights. ‘Then, in about 2000, it got up to six (foreclosures a year). Last year it went to 18, and now we’re projecting as many as 50 foreclosures this year.?
‘While some unscrupulous lenders are out there causing difficulty for homeowners, most of the problems for us here in Oakland County have been job loss. A few years ago, the big home builders just kept building homes while sales slowed’jobs were lost and it made it impossible to sell any home.?
‘Now people are just walking away from their home, they owe more than the property is worth. But just letting it go is not the right thing to do. Later on, when the economy improves, your credit is trashed. When the economic times change, and they will, you’ll regret that move.?
‘Lenders will do creative things to save your home for you, from loan extensions to forbearances. We are not in the real estate business. We don’t want your house. But right now we have four-times the foreclosures and it’s a real problem.?
The drastic increase in foreclosures has kept Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Chodak, in charge of the civil division, busy. For the past 10 years, Chodak has been responsible for delivering and posting many of the foreclosure notices on property and says a variety of issues have prompted the crisis.
‘The foreclosures are all over the county’small homes, big homes, old and new homes’not a township or village has been spared,? he said. ‘A lot of times people don’t come to the door or are not around when the foreclosure is posted. Sometimes I hear some pretty tough stories, including lost jobs, but it seems many that may lose their home, it’s been the adjustable rate mortgage. The interest rates have gone up and the higher payments have kicked in’I hear that story a lot. I think too many people were talked into bad deals.?