BY BILL DOLAN, Times of Northwest Indiana
bdolan@nwitimes.com
CROWN POINT | The number of Lake County residents losing their homes to foreclosure accelerated by 40 percent during 2008 as a plummeting economy took its toll on homeowners' ability to pay their mortgages, the county's sheriff said.
Lake County Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez said his department's civil division held public auctions to sell 3,960 foreclosed homes last year -- the largest number of foreclosures recorded in 13 years.
MORE: View property listings included in the March Lake County Sheriff's Department auction.
"When I saw the numbers, I thought they were kidding. My thoughts go out to the families who lost their homes, but we have a moral and legal obligation here," Dominguez said.
State law requires his office to evict nonpaying homeowners and resell the properties at public auction.
Dominguez said the worst is yet to come.
More than 200 other Lake County homeowners are scheduled to have their homes sold out from under them March 6, and nearly 300 more are scheduled for the sheriff's April sale. He said the foreclosure process usually takes about 19 months, so residents struggling with the recession won't go up on the sheriff's computerized listing in the coming months.
Home foreclosures in Porter County reached at least a 10-year high in 2008 and there is no sign of the trend letting up.
There were 603 foreclosures last year, which amounted to a 22 percent increase from the year before, according to Kathy Nichols, who arranges for the homes to be auctioned off by the Porter County Sheriff's Department.
Foreclosures shot up in Illinois last year, with two-thirds of the state's filings in Chicago. More than 77,000 Chicago properties were foreclosed in 2008, a 53 percent increase over the year before, property listing site RealtyTrac reported.
Jessica Gnemi, a Hobart health care worker, said she received her foreclosure papers this Christmas season.
"I don't sleep too much. I have an 11-year-old son, Gregory, who sees me getting upset," Gnemi said. "I've explained to him I'm fighting with the mortgage company. I don't want to lose my home. It's not like my family (is) going to reject me, but I've already lost so much money as it is. And to have to walk away with nothing -- lose it to the bank -- (that) is not what I want."
She said she bought her Hobart duplex in 2004. She lives in half and rents the other half. Her troubles began in July when her tenant stopped paying rent and she had to evict him.
"That put me in the hole because I can't afford an extra $900 out of my pocket every month," Gnemi said. "I'm a return college student, so I'm not making overtime anymore."
Gnemi said she fears she will end up living with a relative.
Eric Weathersby, a spokesman for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, or ACORN, said last week his grassroots activist group will be rolling out action teams to stem the foreclosures in Northwest Indiana.
The ACORN Web site states it is launching a "homesteading effort" with other activists around the country next week to build "home defender teams" to help families stay in their homes.
The sheriff said he hopes ACORN doesn't engage in civil disobedience as it has threatened in other communities. He said homeowners have the opportunity to stop a foreclosure by renegotiating with lenders at any point in the process.