Foreclosures hitting home in Portage NDS offering prevention program to help owners

Mike Sever

February 17, 2008

By Mike Sever

Record-Courier staff writer

A Ravenna resident thought his home and family were safe from the foreclosure crisis that has driven hundreds from their Portage County homes.

He had a good job, a fixed-rate 5.9 percent interest mortgage on a house on Mill Road in Ravenna, and no massive credit debt. The man didn't want his name used, but felt his experience might be instructive to others in a similar situation.

"I've got a really good job and I thank God for that," he said.

He thought he was safe -- until his plant cut back on overtime. And then he got hurt and had to take a further pay cut while on light duty. He went from $1,000 a week to $300, he said.

"My paychecks were cut back to a quarter of what I'd been getting. After paying bills, we were living with a few bucks a week," he said.

Then his mortgage payment of $808 a month went up when his taxes increased. He worried what his mortgage holder would do. Foreclosure became a worry.

"It was always on my mind," he said.

He took money out of his 401K retirement account to make ends meet, but found himself falling two months behind on his mortgage.

At that point he remembered reading about Neighborhood Development Services and its foreclosure prevention program.

He called NDS' foreclosure prevention specialist Elizabeth Atkinson at (330) 297-6400, ext. 248.

She set up a conference call with a statewide foreclosure helpline (at 888-995-HOPE) to gather information. Then Atkinson helped him apply for rescue funds.

"Liz really helped me out. It was very easy," he said. "The process took only a couple days, they did so well."

That included helping him work with his mortgage holder.

He got $3,000 at no interest-- the maximum allowed in the state program -- to get him current on his mortgage. He has to pay it back when he sells his home. Then the money goes back into a revolving loan fund to help other homeowners.

But he warned that the homeowner has to follow through on their part.

"You have to communicate with your lender. That's key," he said.

"And you gotta fill the paperwork out. You can't just leave it on your desk. You can't just throw it in the garbage or say I'll get to it."

The Mill Road resident lauded NDS and the foreclosure prevention program.

"They eased my mind, they took a big burden off me. When you're working and busting your butt and you go off because of injury or hours are cut, I didn't know which way to turn," he said.

Dave Vaughn, executive director of NDS, said 3.8 percent of all homes in Portage County are "at risk' for foreclosure.

NDS is a chartered member of Neighborworks America, a federally chartered organization created by Congress to assist with housing issues. NDS covers a 16-county area of Ohio.

In the past two years NDS has counseled 281 property owners in Portage County (540 in NDS' 16-county service area) who were under threat of foreclosure.

Rescue funds of up to $3,000 were loaned to 74 property owners in Portage County (127 in the service area).