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Sheriff: Home auctions decline in Butler County

Foreclosures down from a year earlier, figures show.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 1:04 AM Friday, September 18, 2009

HAMILTON — Foreclosures dipped again across the county last month as legislation and mortgage workouts seem to finally be taking hold.

According to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, 147 properties were received for foreclosure and 74 were sold at sheriff’s auction in August compared to 163 properties received and 97 sold at auction for the same month last year.

More properties have been pulled prior to auction over the last several months, making for fewer foreclosures countywide, said Jim Allen, sheriff’s office civil administrative specialist who organizes and executes the auctions.

“There are a lot more (foreclosure) moratoriums in effect and there are still a lot of people filing bankruptcy instead,” he said. “A lot more of them are being withdrawn.”

Overall in Ohio, foreclosures spiked in August.

According to RealtyTrac Inc., Ohio logged 11,368 default, auction and bank repossession notices in August, up one percent from the August 2008 and 3 percent from July. That made for one in every 446 households involved in a filing, the 14th-highest rate in the U.S.

Realtor Bill Hobbs, who specializes in foreclosure sales at the Coldwell Banker Oyer offices in Middletown, said the number as well as the scope of foreclosed properties is changing, with a slow-down of lower prices homes and more coming in at the $200,000 to $300,000 range.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.

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