Sheriff’s sales soar

Pike residents losing homes on an average of 90 a month

By TOM KANE

PIKE & WAYNE COUNTIES, PA - Debbie and Bill (not their real names) from Milford, PA in Pike County, lost their family home last month. It was nearly paid for, but they had to move themselves and their two kids to an apartment.

“We fell behind in our payments and couldn’t sell the house,” Debbie said. “We had a flexible mortgage and the monthly payment took a big leap.”

Four years ago, the Deutsche Bank had offered them a “nothing-down” mortgage so their monthly payments were high but affordable. “Not after the bank put the payments way up,” she said. “I can’t believe that I am actually losing my home. I think the bank shouldn’t have done what they did. They didn’t give us good advice.”

Now, their home will be publicly auctioned in a sheriff’s sale, and the couple will get nothing from the sale, even if it brings more than the outstanding amount owed on the house.

According to Pike County Sheriff Phil Bueki, sheriff’s sales are increasing at an alarming rate. A sheriff’s sale is an auction of real property that takes place at the end of the foreclosure process. “We are averaging about 90 a month,” Bueki said.

A foreclosure occurs when payments have not been made on a mortgaged property. As a result, the lender files suit in court to terminate the property owner’s rights of possession so that the lender may sell the property to recover its loss. If the lender prevails, the court then directs the sheriff to schedule the property for sale. The sheriff posts a notice on the door of the home, announcing the date when the house will be up for auction in the county government center or courthouse. If the people who live in the house do not leave, the sheriff must put them out.

“That hardly ever happens,” Bueki said. “Almost all the time, the people leave on their own.”

Once last month, however, two deputies had to wait outside a house for three hours while the inhabitants packed their belongings into a rented truck. “I guess they didn’t think it was going to happen,” he said.

“It’s really upsetting to see it. It’s the worst duty I have to do as sheriff. Almost all the banks listed in the sales are not local banks but big out-of-state banks. I think local banks try to help people through tough times.”

Things are not as bad in Wayne County, although the numbers there are also mounting.

“We’ve been averaging about 125 sheriff’s sales per year, but now there are 125 already and we have six more months to go before the end of the year,” said Wayne County Chief Deputy Mark Steelman.

Why are there such high numbers in Pike?

“I think the builders in the southern part of the county built a lot of homes to satisfy the flow of people coming from the city,” Bueki said. “I learned that about 70 percent of the defaulters there commute to the city. When something goes wrong, like your car breaks down or some other crisis, it’s easy to get over your head.”

“Just to see how bad things are getting, the sale has always drawn a lot of people who are looking to get a bargain,” Bueki said. “The sale we held yesterday had only eight people attending and four of them were banks. People today are not in a position to even look for a bargain. That tells me a lot about what’s happening.”

One of the main reasons for the defaults is that banks gave mortgages with nothing down, said broker Stan Tashlik of Tashlik Real Estate in Milford.

“When the market got bad, many of these folks couldn’t make the payments,” he said.

Maybe it’s not so much of a tragedy for people to lose their houses, he said. “It’s probably better to lose the house rather than be behind in payments for long periods. Why carry a house that has depreciated considerably in value and never be able to catch up?”

Tashlik said that any bailouts that may come will benefit the banks, rather than the buyers.