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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 83 IN THE NEWS Wayne County, Michigan, Officials Help More Than 4,000 Avoid Foreclosure Officials from the Wayne County, Michigan, treasury office assisted more than 4,000 homeowners delinquent on taxes with various plans to avoid foreclosure during the county's recent show cause hearings, according to Wayne County Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski. Wayne County hosted two events over a week and a half in late January and early February to assist homeowners who are three years or more behind on their taxes and facing foreclosure. Approximately 4,000 homeowners turned out to Detroit's Cobo Center during the seven-day show cause hearings that ended Friday, February 6, and another 700 came out for another event on February 7 at Wayne County Community College. County officials reviewed each case and discussed assistance options and foreclosure alternatives with every homeowner who turned out. Of the 4,700 homeowners who came out for both events, Szymanski said about 90 percent of them were able to work out various payment plans to keep their homes. e plans will go into effect as soon as the homeown- ers get the funds for the down payment and pay the county treasurer's office, according to Szymanski. "As to those remaining, we continue to work with taxpayers at our offices and in different events," Szymanski said. "We are coordinating with United Way and an army of organizations and volunteers to reach out to those remaining. e most frequent and difficult impediment to avoiding foreclosure is lack of participation by the taxpayer. is effort to reach taxpayers is unprecedented and the process is ongoing in implementation and de- velopment. Our hope is to reach the owner or occupant of every occupied residential property first and then continue to reach all others." Last year, Wayne County began an ag- gressive foreclosure campaign on about 75,000 homeowners who were three years or more behind on their property taxes. About 62,000 of those homes are located in Detroit, and ac- cording to some estimates, only about 37,000 of those homes are occupied. e goal of Wayne County's aggressive foreclosure campaign was not to remove the homeowners from their homes, however; in fact, it was designed to help keep people from losing their homes. Of the 56,000 homes for which Wayne County began foreclosure pro- ceedings in 2013, only about 20,000 of them— roughly 36 percent—actually completed the process, according to Szymanski. e two recent events came just two weeks after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed off on legislation that allows homeowners in the state who are facing financial hardships to work out a payment plan to satisfy their tax obligations and avoid foreclosure. Minnesota RANK: 47 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 1.12% 0.57% 3.6 YEAR AGO 1.35% 0.78% 4.7 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -17.0% -26.7% -1.1 Top County PIPESTONE COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 2.03% 2.18% YEAR AGO 3.54% 1.11% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -42.7% 96.8% Top Core-Based Statistical Area NEW ULM, MN 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 1.97% 1.33% YEAR AGO 2.41% 1.76% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -18.4% -24.7% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the November 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary November 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Minnesota www.MinnesotaREO.com 612-669-6324 952-829-2938 763-432-7640 612-821-7500 952-844-1511 763-533-9133 651-209-8444 Bruce McAlpin Jeff Detloff Long H. Doan Maribel Garcia Garth Johnson Craig Murphy Michael Olsen Missouri RANK: 37 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 2.22% 0.79% 5.4 YEAR AGO 2.47% 1.02% 6 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -10.2% -22.2% -0.6 Top County DENT COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 1.68% 2.63% YEAR AGO 1.48% 2.58% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 13.5% 2.0% Top Core-Based Statistical Area KENNETT, MO 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 3.43% 2.33% YEAR AGO 2.72% 1.72% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 26.1% 35.6% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the November 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary November 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Nebraska RANK: 48 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 1.51% 0.56% 2.9 YEAR AGO 1.69% 0.83% 3.6 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -10.9% -32.1% -0.7 Top County BURT COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 2.62% 2.54% YEAR AGO 3.22% 1.99% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -18.6% 27.2% Top Core-Based Statistical Area BEATRICE, NE 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 1.86% 1.35% YEAR AGO 2.39% 1.26% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -22.1% 7.2% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the November 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary November 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics.