News Summary

HAMILTON — The day of the Butler County sheriff's foreclosed property sale, auctioneer Jim Allen prepares to go to work like any other day: up at 6:30 a.m., a cup of coffee, a bowl of cereal and maybe some orange juice. He puts on his suit jacket, grabs a tie and heads for the court house.

There, he reviews his files to check that everything is in order, and searches for any homes withdrawn from the sale — some are sold before the auction, others get a deal worked out with the bank.

He clips on his badge identifying him as a sheriff's civilian administrative specialist, the same way he has prepared since August 2007. Emotionally, he said, there is no way to prepare.

"It's difficult. There is a story behind every one of them," Allen said. "I have talked to people who have been in their homes for 20 years or more and are now losing them."

What makes it even more difficult is knowing once it comes to his hands, not much can be done to help them.

"I know there is a lot of publicity about banks and government agencies trying to reduce the foreclosure problem and help people, but the point we are at here, it's a little bit late. The home is gone," Allen said.

The auction

There is little excitement at the auction. Bids start out at two-thirds of the appraised value of the property.

These days, only a few people trickle in looking to get a deal on a new home. About 99 percent of the people bidding are representatives of the mortgage lender, Allen said.

Joe Ruwe, a lawyer whose firm sometimes represents First Financial Bank at foreclosure sales, said most of the Butler County sheriff's sales are pretty quiet in his experience.

"In Hamilton County, people spill out into the hallway. You are lucky if you can hear," Ruwe said.

To the highest bidder

Mortgage lenders usually bid up to what they are owed on a property, Allen said.

"Sometimes a person will bid $5 over the bank and win the property," he said.

At the Butler County auction on March 6, about 30 people crowded into the small courtroom to bid on the 43 properties up for auction. There used to be larger crowds, but with the downturn of the real estate market, not many people are looking to buy a home, no matter how cheap it might be, Allen said.

Marylee Belcher was the only third party bidder to win herself a new home.

Two more properties went to Don Helton of Liberty Twp., an investor with Pinnacle Management in Fairfield who said he plans to fix up the properties and rent them out.

"I'm not a flipper. I just try to buy the homes before the banks do so I can rent them to the people who lost them or to someone else," Helton said. "When the banks buy them, they might sit vacant for years."

One of the properties Helton acquired was the Hamilton home Ruwe was sent to bid for on behalf of First Financial.

It went to Helton for $28,000.

Last call

When the bidding is done, Allen said he scoops up the piles of foreclosure forms and heads back to his office to file return of sale reports for the clerk of courts.

Then it's back to the daily grind. Appraisers bring their files to Allen on new foreclosed properties ready to go to sale. Allen prepares the information and then works on the foreclosure advertisement for the newspaper.

He also has to work up a report on the cost of mileage to serve homeowners with their foreclosure papers.

"Last year (the amount of foreclosed properties) started getting heavier. When I started doing this back in August, we were processing an average of 40 properties a week. Right now we are averaging 55 to 60 a week."

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