No, Slavic Village, Ohio is not the scene for the next Hollywood teenage drama. Far from it.
Instead, the 44105 zip code has the dubious distinction of leading the nation in foreclosures. It doesn’t end there either.
Cleveland Ohio is one of the nation’s leading cities for foreclosure, and for good reason. Ohio has some of the weakest predatory lending protections for home buyers of any state.
RealtyTrac calculated that these neighborhoods recorded more foreclosure filings within the past 3 months than anywhere else in America. The pain doesn’t stop there however.
Homeowners must vacate foreclosed properties and find somewhere else to live. In Slavic Village, they can forget about getting a good sale price on the home.
Looters have been stripping these empty homes of anything of value. Materials including siding and gutters are stolen and often sold for scrap.
According to Mark Wiseman of the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program, “in the inner city, it takes about 72 hours for a house to be looted after it is vacant.” Any lender would be hard pressed to obtain a reasonable sale price at auction on one of these distressed properties.
The real losers are the homeowners that lost their assets and any real chance at homeownership within the next few years. Even finding a rental home or apartment may be difficult when a credit check is involved.
