| By Bob Weaver
West Virginia, over the years, has been the target of predatory money lending, but in the more recent housing foreclosure problem that is sweeping America, the primary information gatherers have essentially reported the state has not been affected.
It's incredible to learn citizens have been laboring under that false assumption that the state is not part of the foreclosure crisis.
The Charleston Gazette, following a study, reported Sunday that five times more West Virginia homes and businesses were sold in foreclosure in 2007 than the nation's most popular foreclosure statistics reported.
According to a 55-courthouse canvas of foreclosure records, at least 2,550 West Virginia mortgages ended in foreclosure sale in 2007.
RealtyTrac Inc., reported only 473.
The 2,550 number is based on houses sold on the courthouse steps, but does not include homes lost by bankruptcy or mobile homes which are 15% of the housing market. There are a large number of foreclosures on mobile homes.
RealtyTrac, the nation's most reported source of foreclosure statistics, routinely does not count a significant part of West Virginia foreclosures, a RealtyTrac executive told the Gazette.
RealtyTrac, a California-based Internet company that also helps people buy foreclosed properties, generates the statistics most often reported by The Associated Press, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, and other national media.
The company routinely ranks West Virginia third lowest in foreclosures in the nation. That ranking is widely cited by state officials.
Lobbyists have used RealtyTrac statistics in the Legislature to help kill anti-predatory mortgage proposals, arguing that it proves West Virginia has no foreclosure problem.
Calhoun with 3,975 housing units was the only county in the state that reported no foreclosures, according to the Gazette study.
That would indicate few people are actually financing homes or that banks have taken a conservative bent against home loans in the poverty-stricken counties.
Essentially, the poorest counties had the fewest foreclosures.
"This is flabbergasting," said Delegate Carrie Webster, D-Kanawha. Webster is chairwoman of the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee.
"Decisions have been made on the basis of those numbers that affect people's lives," she said. "Bad numbers don't make good policy."
Foreclosures in regional counties: Roane 17;
Wirt 9;
Ritchie 10;
Braxton 10;
Clay 2;
Gilmer 1;
Calhoun 0
See How many foreclosures? www.wvgazette.com
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