ForeclosureS.com: Job Cuts Fuel Foreclosures in Midwest

February 12, 2007 07:00 AM Eastern Time
ForeclosureS.com: Job Cuts Fuel Foreclosures in Midwest

SACRAMENTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Foreclosure hit home for thousands more Midwesterners last month. Fueled by job cuts and layoffs in major manufacturing metropolitan areas, the region reported 18,207 foreclosure filings in January, with Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan, leading the way. That’s according to numbers from ForeclosureS.com, a California-based real estate investment advisory firm which has been analyzing housing markets since 1992.

Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) accounted for well more than half of that state’s 5,849 foreclosure filings. Lucas County, Ohio, which includes Toledo and Bowling Green, accounted for nearly half that state’s 3,898 filings. And in Michigan where the auto industry is king, Wayne County which includes Detroit, along with its wealthy northern suburb county, Oakland, accounted for more than half of all that state’s 3,484 foreclosure filings for the month.

Nationwide, 103,075 filings were reported in January. That’s on top of the nearly one million (983,290) filings reported all of last year, according to ForeclosureS.com.

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On a bright note, too, the American Dream is alive and well. The homeownership rate in the United States remains basically steady at around 69 percent, according to 4th quarter numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070212005473&newsLang=en

We took care of it, and everything is okay now, but what a ride.

As an aside, I'm always struck when I see "wealthy" Oakland County mentioned (always with the wealthy). I was born and raised in Oakland County, and most of my family still lives there. It's one of those things... there are a few EXTREMELY rich areas, but the majority of it is middle class and there is a lot of poor, especially in Pontiac. It skews things a bit.

call home without this type of pressure.

CONNERSVILLE, Ind. -- Banners bearing the label "Positively! Connersville" beam happy thoughts to drivers passing through downtown, while storefront signs in this eastern Indiana city remind pedestrians "the future is in our hands."

That wave of optimism, however, hasn't washed over the entire community, which is reeling from the news earlier this month that its largest employer, Visteon Corp., plans to shutter its enormous factory.

The September shutdown will idle 890 employees. One of them, Gary Mays, has no idea what he'll do when his 20-year run at the factory ends. "This town is down to nothing," Mays, 44, said as he finished lunch at Maggie's Diner before the start of a recent shift. "You're looking at a ghost town for business."

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Bell said business leaders have started spreading the word about his city by literally knocking on doors. Several months ago, they began showing up unannounced at companies in other regions and states, looking for anyone in need of a good work force.

They've visited Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee. They ask for someone in purchasing and human resources, and then they deliver their Connersville pitch. Bell said a company owner who saw her business starting to fade due to the Visteon cuts first suggested this. "It's a different approach to marketing communities ... it's literally the old Kirby vacuum cleaner sales routine, you know -- you knock on doors and ask for business," he said.

http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070212/NEWS01/702120302/1008

Very sad stuff, depressing in the worst kind of way.

by only 10% of the population

it causes
Depressions

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, too bad about you Little People, and all that shit.
But if you had been smart, you would have invested a couple of million
in munitions and oil, and then you would be reaping Massive War Profits
like me and my republicon cronies. So, since you Little People were so stupid,
now you are broke. Tough shit. Why don't you just shut up and sit down."

- Commander AWOL & Cabal of Corrupt Republicon Cronies