Virginia’s Ranking in the Foreclosure Race

Posted in Foreclosures, September 25th, 2008 |

Opinions differ as to Virginia’s ranking in the foreclosure race. Is Virginia the third lowest or is the state in the middle?

On Tuesdays auctions are held on foreclosed houses on the steps of the court. On June 10th Heath Greathouse stood on the top of the steps of Kanawha courthouse and read out the notice of default. Passersby hardly paid attention to him. Heath was foreclosing on a 67-year-old woman from Dunbar who was a health care worker. The Notice for Sale was being read out. None attended – neither the owner nor the bidders.

According to a law dating back to the 19th century it is mandatory for the trustee to read the sale notice aloud in the courthouse where the property is situated on the day the sale is scheduled to be held. After this reading out session the staff of the county registers the sale particulars in the Record of Trustee Sales Boom.

The present mood of the sluggish market dominated by the foreclosure crisis, is such that generally none attend the sales and the property becomes the property of the lender – is repossessed by the banks. Greathouse concluded the deal by saying loudly “Sold to the bank.”

Foreclosures have created jobs for many – jobs of a different nature. Greathouse is in the employment of Liberty Title Services of Parkersburg. He was doing the reading as a representative of Riverside Trustees of Martinsburg. The lenders were foreclosing on behalf of Ace Mortgage Funding Company that had its headquarters in Indianapolis.

Six miles away from the scene of foreclosure sale, the woman of Dunbar was sleeping. She had just lost her property. Later she bemoaned that she had “been working overtime to make these payment. I’m doing the best I can, but I’ve had to take care of my mama too, and that’s just how it is.” She shrugged, as there was nothing else to be done but accept the inevitable foreclosure sale. She declined to be named, as things were already tough. But she permitted the Sunday Gazette-Mail to take a photograph of her front door. Ironically the doily hanging from the door read “Bless our home as we come and go.” Her property was the 181st foreclosure sale noted in Kanawha County in 2008. In 2007 there had been 357 foreclosure listings while in 2000 the number of foreclosure postings was 220.