York County Continues to be in the Grip of the Foreclosure Mayhem

Although there is talk about recovery in the housing sector York County continues to be in the grip of the foreclosure mayhem. Homeowners continue to be at risk from losing their houses. New figures are showing that York County is still struggling to get out of the crisis.

In the first quarter of this year there has been an increase in the number of residential foreclosures – including those in it and those facing it. The numbers sold at sheriff’s auction together with filings also increased during the first quarter as per the records of the county.

Those houses sold at foreclosure auctions jumped from 83 to 137 showing a 65% from the 1st quarter of 2009 said Belinda Feeser of the York County Sheriff’s Department. So far this year one sheriff’s sale has been held. In the last quarter of the previous years two sales were held where 145 properties had been sold in October and 126 in December. Feeser commented, “We have no idea when it will end. We’re just trying to keep up with it.”

Foreclosure filing numbers have not sharply risen – it means those houses that have not gone up for sale. But Prothonotary Pam Lee does not see much positivism in the situation. She remarked that it is disturbing to see the sales number increasing at a speedier rate than the new filings recorded because it shows there are more homeowners who are failing to get the help they need to enable them to keep their houses.

In 2008 there were 434 foreclosure postings during the first quarter. The figure increased to 478 during the same quarter in 2009. During the first quarter of this year the number has further increased to 540 showing 12.9% increase from the previous year. In the last quarter of 2009 there had been 532 foreclosures. Pam Lee commented, “I’m surprised and saddened that it’s not leveling off. We’re wondering when it might go down because we really want it to … not just for our workload, but for the people involved.”

Her opinion is that the various plans of the federal government, state and other non-profit bodies to help the foreclosure victims are not having any effect in reducing the numbers. She had presumed that “some of the safety nets would be of help.” Her office has been extremely busy processing the foreclosures and this has not given them much time to compile the data showing trends so as to locate the areas in the county that have been worst hit or what the price range is.