With every passing month, more Kokomo area homeowners have had to turn their house keys back over to the banks because they could not pay their mortgages.

The Howard County Sheriff Department has handled an average of about 67.5 home foreclosures per month so far this year. That is about 10 percent more than last year’s average of about 61 foreclosures per month.

Banks foreclosed on 83 homes in Howard County for July. It takes several months for the banks and courts to process foreclosures, meaning all the homes on the July auction block were foreclosed upon months ago.

For the sheriff’s auction on July 22, 80 of those foreclosures were up for auction as of Tuesday. One of the foreclosures up for auction, The Preserve at Bridgewater near Jackson-Morrow Park, includes about 50 individual lots and tracts.

“It’s not good. If you look at those numbers, it appears to be reflective of our economy,” Sheriff Marty Talbert said.

The number of home foreclosures in July is marginal – slightly more than .001 percent – compared to the total number of about 28,000 homes in Howard County.

But the sheriff’s department is keeping busy because the current foreclosure rate is eight times more than it was several years ago, Talbert said.

“In the past, if we had 10 or 12 [foreclosures], it was a busy month,” he said.

The foreclosures are not limited to any one socio-economic level.

Minimum bids start as low as $5,000 and range up to $180,000, according to listings for Howard County on foreclosures.com.

“They’re just popping up everywhere,” Talbert said. “You’re seeing them in some of the nicer, more fluent neighborhoods because this economy has failed across the spectrum. It’s not only affecting the blue-collared neighborhoods, but also the white-collar neighborhoods.”

Most months, about half the foreclosed homes actually make it to auction.

In a lot of cases, the home owners are able to pay off their mortgage debts or back taxes before the monthly auctions, Talbert said.

The mortgage companies also work with homeowners to help them keep their houses, he said.

“I think when a lot of these homes are canceled,” he said, “they try to work something out with the home owner. They don’t want to be stuck with the property.

“If you lost your home, maybe if you refinance it, you can keep it. You may have had a 30-year mortgage with 20 years left, but if you spread it back out to 30 [more] years, you might be able to pay [the mortgage].”

Howard County Not Alone

By mid-year, Tipton County has had almost as many home foreclosures as it used to have in an entire year, Tipton County Recorder Marla Featherstone said.

There have been 30 foreclosures so far this year. In 2000, there were 11.

“It used to be we might get one or two in a year,” Featherstone said.

Steve Edson, executive director of the Tipton Plan Commission, said time lags between home owners have caused a lack of maintenance for several houses.

“There’s just so many distressed properties, more than there used to be,” he said.

Edson referred to a home that sits on the corner of Poplar and Washington streets in Tipton. The house has sat empty for several months, leaving the grass to grow knee-high.

The city and county have noxious weed ordinances that require property owners to cut grass when it gets too long.

In most cases, the county will contact the banks or mortgage companies that have foreclosed on homes and ask them to take care of the yard work, Edson said.

“It’s a case-by-case basis because all the ownerships are separate,” he said, “some owners and some financial institutions who have foreclosed on properties are more responsible than others.”

If the banks do not take care of the yards, the Tipton Street Department will cut the grass, then bill the companies. If the companies do not pay the bills, Edson said, the county might put a lien on the property.

The liens are a rarity, he said.

“By persistently going after that, we usually get the job done,” he said, “but it’s very time consuming.”

Not All Banks so Bleak

The foreclosure rates for Howard and Tipton counties may have increased several times, but some individual Kokomo banks have noticed few problems.

Skip Florea, regional president for Star Financial Bank, said the company has two foreclosed Howard County homes in its portfolio.

The more noticeable increase is the rate of delinquencies for mortgage payments, which has increased from 2.5 percent a year ago to 3.4 percent, Florea said.

“[But] compared to the national and state averages, that’s just a marginal increase,” he said.

The bank’s delinquency rate is about one-third of Indiana’s rate for prime and sub-prime mortgages of 9.89 percent.

Community First Bank has also had similar results this year, said bank president Mike Stegall.

“We haven’t hardly had any [foreclosures] in previous years,” he said. “There were just a couple this year that I can think of.”

Stegall and Florea said their banks try to avoid foreclosures as much as possible.

“It’s always a burden because now you’ve got lawyers involved, the court system is involved, notices have to go out, court dates are set,” Stegall said. “... It’s a pain in the neck is what it is.”

Banks will try to work with homeowners to avoid having to take over the responsibilities of maintaining the homes and paying the bills.

Instead, Stegall and Florea said, the banks will try to modify payment plans that accommodate the debtors’ budgets.

“The biggest mistake is to not be in contact,” Florea said of home owners who are behind on their mortgage payments. “If you disappear and don’t return calls, the bank will foreclose to protect its interests.”

• Daniel Human is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He can be reached at (765) 454-8570 or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com.



Foreclosed Homes for July 22 Sheriff’s Sale

1. 3017 Whitehouse Drive, Kokomo

2. 1033 S. Washington St., Kokomo

3. 824 E. Elm St., Kokomo – CANCELED

4. 1513 N. Lafountain, Kokomo

5. 2537 W. Carter St., Kokomo

6. 290 N. Liberty St., Russiaville

7. 516 S. Armstrong St., Kokomo

8. 1904 S. Webster St., Kokomo

9. 734 S. Jay St., Kokomo

10. 3614 S. Webster St., Kokomo

11. 1735 S. Union St., Kokomo

12. 5104 Algonqu Trail, Kokomo

13. 5367 W. 100 North, Kokomo

14. 1410 S. Dixon Road, Kokomo

15. 1308 Greenacres Drive, Kokomo

16. 89 N. 820 West, Kokomo

17. 1525 Boca Raton Blvd., Kokomo

18. 418 Branded Blvd., Kokomo

19. 420 Ruddell Drive, Kokomo

20. 2605 Mill St., Kokomo – CANCELED

21. 5909 Yale Blvd., Kokomo

22. 124 E. Grant St., Greentown

23. 915 W. Lordeman St., Kokomo

24. 3701 Oakhurst Drive, Kokomo

25. 2301 E. Harrison St., Kokomo

26. 824 East 550 North, Kokomo

27. 720 N. Courtland Ave., Kokomo

28. 1310 S. Armstrong St., Kokomo

29. 318 S. Courtland Ave., Kokomo

30. 4042 South 450 East, Hemlock

31. 1028 N. Lafountain, Kokomo

32. 904 Waterfront Drive, Kokomo

33. 713 W. Monroe St., Kokomo

34. 1001 Tomahawk Drive, Kokomo

35. 104 Lafayette Circle, Kokomo

36. 202 W. Lordeman St., Kokomo

37. 2130 Justice Lane, Kokomo

38. 1107 Wildwood Drive, Kokomo – CANCELED

39. 1701 N. Diana Ave., Kokomo

40. 21 Alta Lane, Kokomo

41. 5563 E. 250 North, Kokomo

42. 922 N. Wildwood Drive, Kokomo

43. 4341 South 450 East, Kokomo

44. 609 W. Madison St., Kokomo

45. 529 S. Courtland Ave., Kokomo

46. 216 Breezy Lane, Kokomo

47. 215 N. Purdum, Kokomo

48. 1230 W. Madison St., Kokomo

49. 1933 S. Armstrong St., Kokomo

50. 806 Williamsburg Drive, Kokomo

51. 1818 N. Leeds St., Kokomo

52. 618 N. Courtland Ave., Kokomo

53. 520 W. Monroe St., Kokomo

54. 1408 N. Phillips St., Kokomo

55. 5902 Mendota Drive, Kokomo

56. 4688 W. 400 South, Russiaville

57. Preserves at Bridgewater: Lots 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 24-35 inclusive, 37-44 inclusive, 46, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62-66 inclusive, Tracts A, B, C, D, E and F

58. 3705 Holiday St., Kokomo

59. 1735 S. Courtland St., Kokomo

60. 1907 Mohr Drive, Kokomo

61. 695 S. 300 West, Kokomo

62. 305 E. North St., Kokomo

63. 931 Live Oak Court, Kokomo

64. 701 Jeff Drive, Kokomo

65. 3785 E. 400 South, Kokomo

66. 235 E. Walnut St., Greentown

67. 721 S. Dixon Road, Kokomo

68. 1136 S. Elizabeth St., Kokomo

69. 1405 W. Mulberry St., Kokomo

70. 315 E. Poplar St., Kokomo

71. 1314 W. Taylor St., Kokomo

72. 1821 N. Delphos St., Kokomo

73. 4371 N. 300 West, Kokomo

74. 903 S. Armstrong St., Kokomo

75. 3709 Oakhurst Drive, Kokomo

76. 1111 N. Lindsay St., Kokomo

77. 801 S. Purdum St., Kokomo

78. 811 E. 400 South, Kokomo

79. 1136 S. Bell St., Kokomo

80. 5412 E. 100 North Kokomo

81. 2910 S. Reed Road, Kokomo

82. 2645 Apperson Way N., Kokomo

83. 316 S. Western Ave., Kokomo