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Cuyahoga county Housing Issues IN The Shadow Of The ForEClOSURE CRISIS. Prepared for the Fair Lending and Vital Communities Conference Frank Ford Senior Policy Advisor Thriving Communities Institute June 27, 2014.
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Cuyahoga countyHousing IssuesIN The Shadow Of The ForEClOSURE CRISIS Prepared for the Fair Lending and Vital Communities Conference Frank Ford Senior Policy Advisor Thriving Communities Institute June 27, 2014
Cuyahoga Median Home Prices 2000 – 2013Residential 1-3 Family properties with no Sheriff Sale in the chain of title since 1995. Source: NEO CANDO at Case Western Reserve University
Foreclosure: down 47% from 2007But still double the pre-crisis rate
Judicial Tax Foreclosures Are Down – Replaced By Sale of Tax Debt to Private Investors? 1,200 Aeon & Woods Cove Foreclosures in 2013
Tax Delinquency Is An Issue – But How We Address Delinquent Vacant Property Is A Concern Cuyahoga County • $400Million + Approximate Tax Delinquency Vacant and Distressed Property • $70 Million • Send these to the County Land Bank – or • Sell to low value investors at Sheriff Sales? • Sell At Forfeiture Sales?
Emerging Problem: Condemned Property Being Sold by the County at State Forfeiture Auctions Properties currently listed by CWRU NEO CANDO as being on the State Forfeiture List • 559 Cuyahoga County • 364 City of Cleveland (subset) • 99 Cleveland Condemned Structures Recent Forfeiture Sales 50+ Properties sold to Parcelnomics and Toledo Investment Team (related to Lime Deeds.Com)
Address In Public Records for Parcelnomics and Lime Deeds - UPS store in a Strip Mall in Las Vegas
Harvard REO Investor Study – January 2014Outcome By Investor Type The failure rate for properties acquired by out-of-state investors was double that for Ohio investors. Failure defined as: • Vacant • Condemned • Demolished, or • Tax Delinquent
Harvard REO Study - Outcome By Investor Type • Properties acquired by large investors (100+ properties) were 5 times more likely to fail than those acquired by small investors. • Properties acquired by non-profits, land banks or government were three times more likely to succeed than those acquired by small investors.
Shift of Tax Burden to Outer Suburbs • Blighted property in distressed Cleveland neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs has caused property owners in the rest of the county to pay a larger share of property tax. • $45 Million in tax burden has shifted to other suburbs. Thomas and Gillespie. “The Cost of Vacancy - Everyone Pays”. Thriving Communities Institute (March 2014).
Foreclosures Are Down But They’ve Left Us With An Epidemic of Market-Crippling Blight City of Cleveland Distressed Property Estimates
Blight and Vacancy Are Predominantly in Housing Markets With Weaker Sale Prices Cleveland Distressed Survey (August 2013) • 6,669 (83%) Cleveland East Side • 1,326 (17%) Cleveland West Side US Postal Vacancy (NST as of 6-26-14) 19,616 Cuyahoga 12,480 (64%) Cleve East Side and East Inner Suburbs 7,118 (36%) Cleve West Side, West and Outer Suburbs Low re-sale prices limit options for renovation.
2620 E. 114th – foreclosed by Wells Fargo then sold to an investor who did nothing. Eventually condemned by the City of Cleveland. 2616 E. 114th Street - New home built by Buckeye Area Development Corporation in 2004. Cost - $141,000. Appraised value in 2014 is $71,900. Tale of Two Houses
Blight and Low Sale Prices Have Undermined Market-Based Solutions Low Sale Prices Have Made Traditional Renovation Approaches Unsustainable In Many Cleveland Neighborhoods • Full “gut rehab” of home in 2006: no subsidy required. • The same rehab in 2013: $50-80,000 subsidy required in distressed neighborhoods.
Rehab Analysis – Harvard Study Test Homes Code Only = Replace mechanicals and finishes only if code not met. E.g. 20 yr furnace stays if it works. No sidewall or attic insulation. No Green Standards.
A More Accurate Statement Would be “We Can’t Rehab Our Way Out of This”
Solutions Need To Factor In Market Reality And A Limited Supply of Subsidy In Depressed Markets, Rehab Requires More Subsidy Than Demolition. + Market Conditions Will Not Improve Until Blight Is Reduced. = Until Market Conditions Improve, Demolition Will Be A More Cost Effective Means of Blight Removal In Severely Distressed Sub-markets.
For further information contact Frank Ford, Senior Policy Advisor Thriving Communities Institute 2012 W. 25th Street Cleveland, Ohio 44113 fford@wrlandconservancy.org