Foreclosure Home

This website is available to make Medina County residents aware of the steps that can be taken to avoid foreclosure. It is also a resource to provide general foreclosure information.

Commissioners Corner

MEDINA COUNTY FORECLOSURE PREVENTION TASKFORCE

By Pat Geissman, Chair

     While traveling to Hinckley in July of 2008, I noticed several homes that were vacant and overgrown with weeds. I knew there was a great possibility these homes had gone into foreclosure and neither the owner nor the bank holding the mortgage was tending the property. I knew also this had a negative affect on the surrounding homes by lowering property values and encouraging crime.
    Upon checking records, I found that we had 856 foreclosure filings in Medina County in 2007. In 2008, foreclosure filings totaled 981 and that number skyrocketed to 1,160 filings by the end of 2009. That’s not just numbers – it’s families in crisis.
I contacted local bankers, real estate brokers, members of the county’s Housing Network, and others that were concerned about the high rate of foreclosures in Medina County and were interested in doing whatever could be done to keep these families in their homes. At our first meeting, we determined families were facing foreclosures because of loss of jobs, illness, divorce, and other life-changing events. From this key group of people, the Medina County Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce was created, as we believed there were ways to help these families in crisis.
    We decided to dig our heels in and go to work! An analysis of the available foreclosure information at the regional, state or national level did not provide Medina County residents with many choices to help them in their time of need. Collectively, the group began the task of identifying as many opportunities for local assistance as possible and to make those sources more readily available to local residents who wished to utilize those agencies, businesses or organizations in a convenient, confidential and informative format
    The taskforce has developed this foreclosure prevention website for assistance. The taskforce is also working on a continuing public awareness campaign through our speakers bureau who are available to speak at clubs and organizations and who will encourage homeowners who are faced with foreclosure to seek help as soon as possible. The county taskforce also includes guidance to pre-foreclosure families through Community Legal Aid. This is a free service regardless of income or the home’s value. Community Legal Aid can be contacted directly at 1-800-998-9454 or through the Auditor’s office.
In 2008, our county auditor and taskforce member Mike Kovack, after extensive research partnered with ESOP to assist homeowners having difficulty with their mortgage payments in Medina county. This partnership has become the most effective form of assistance to help howmowners facing the foreclosure dilemma. Through the auditor's website, the fastforce's website, press releases and other publicity including TV presentations, as well as many newspaper and other local publications, his office receives requests for help on a daily basis.
The success of his program with ESOP and partnership with the Medina County Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce has made Medina County stand out in Ohio for taking the leadership in dealing with the results of the current economic crisis.
The taskforce had promoted other state and local agencies in our first year of organizaiton, but thos agencies tended to refer people further, causing confusion. The taskforce now recommends the County Auditor's office as the first step in obtaining assistance.

Please call 330-725-9137.