I would like to digress a little, back to the summary of foreclosures by metropolitan area, as reported by Realty Trac and reproduced here by Bloomberg.com. Problem area’s such as California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona are no surprise, based on their large population base. But if you scroll down the chart, Ohio does not fare very well. In particular, Akron, Ohio reported 3,283 foreclosure filings in the second quarter of this year alone. The rate was 1 foreclosure for every 93 households, for a 27% year-over-year increase. Further review also shows problems in Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton and Cincinnati, too. Ponder this information reported for Ohio: foreclosure filings were reported on 37,689 Ohio properties in the second quarter, the third highest total among the states and a rate of one in every 134 households–the nation’s sixth highest state foreclosure rate! Foreclosure activity in Ohio was up nearly 21% from the previous quarter and nearly 27% from the second quarter in 2007.
With Summit County’s Fiscal Office reporting only a 1.1% decrease in its soon to be mailed property revaluations, taxpayers, in my opinion, are being overvalued on their properties, and as a result, overtaxed.
Pay close attention to your revaluation. Review it, evaluate it, or perhaps even obtain a professional appraisal. The appeal process at the County costs you nothing, and instructions for the procedure are listed on this web site.
