The idea seemed simple enough.

Buy a foreclosed home through a sheriff’s sale at a below-market price; fix it up and then resell it making a small profit. It’s called flipping.

Gary Cahill of Elyria knew the plan wouldn’t net him millions, but he and his wife, Janice, were eager to start a new hobby.

But that was before a record number of foreclosures hit the county, leaving no neighborhood unscathed and “For Sale” signs as far as the eye can see.

The year 2007 was definitely a tough one for foreclosures in the county. A record 2,243 were filed in the Clerk of Courts office — an increase of 15.6 percent over 2006.

The city of Lorain led the way with 750 foreclosures, and Elyria followed with 514. In fact, almost every city in the county saw an increase in 2007.

The county’s relatively upscale communities suffered the worst, according to Clerk of Courts Ron Nabakowski. Avon Lake had a 38 percent increase while Avon foreclosures were up 34 percent and Amherst increased 33 percent in 2007.

The foreclosure numbers definitely speak for themselves, and Cahill is waiting for the day one of his rehabbed houses start selling.

“It’s not as easy as those television shows would make it seem,” said Cahill, 52, standing in the updated kitchen of a home he owns on Xavier Street.
“I can’t even get one bad offer to turn down, let alone a good one. Now, I’m not even thinking about making some money off this house. I just want to break even.”

Whether that will happen remains to be seen.

The county’s foreclosure crisis has hurt the housing market with a powerful ripple effect, said Tom Kowal, executive vice-president of the Lorain County Association of Realtors.

“Houses are staying on the market a lot longer,” Kowal said. “While a lot of them are just average people who want to upgrade or move to bigger homes, a number of them are bank-owned homes. A lot of homes are being purchased back by the bank, but a bank can only absorb so much inventory before they start unloading them for cheap.”

When banks start lowering their prices, people like Cahill realize they are stuck in a Catch-22 situation. If he lowers the price too much, he won’t make any money on the sale.

But if he doesn’t lower the price, the house will stay on the market as buyers pass it up for cheaper bank-owned properties.

“This is not Bank of Cahill. I can’t afford to just give this house away,” he said. “I’ve put too much work into it.”

Making a house a home

Cahill knew the three-bedroom split-level home was a fixer-upper when he purchased it in 2005 from a bank after its previous owners lost it. However, after putting $10,000 into it, he thought he had polished the little piece of coal into a shiny diamond.

As he walked from room to room Thursday, he pointed out each little job he tackled to make the house a home.

The deteriorated kitchen cabinets were ripped out and replaced. He tore out the old bathtub, so rusted it had holes in it, and replaced it with a new one, surrounded by ceramic tile. He repainted all the walls and installed new carpeting. The list goes on.

“When we first looked at it, we knew it needed work. But we also knew it was a nice looking house that just needed a little attention,” he said.

After about six months of work, Cahill said he was ready to put it on the market. That was in 2006. He had it listed with a real estate agent but now he’s trying to sell it himself.

Cahill has come down on the price. He started out by listing the house for $159,000. Six months later, he lowered the price to $132,500. Now, he’s willing to let it got for $129,000. He is even prepared to pay up to $3,000 in closing costs.

“It’s not like this is my only house. I have four mortgage payments to pay plus my business to run,” he said. “I don’t know how long I can keep this up. I guess I’m going to have to get creative with selling this house.”

Willing to trade

Visually impaired and living on the west side of Elyria, 73-year-old Phyllis Stydnicki said she just wants to live near her daughter. The only problem is she has a Jackson Avenue home she can’t sell.

Six months ago, she stuck a “For Sale” sign in the front yard, but only one person has even stopped to look at it.

“It wasn’t that long ago that — if I was willing to sell — I could have gotten a good amount of money for it,” she said. “It’s not a palace, but it’s certainly a nice house.”

Still, Stydnicki said she is determined to move and has taken a new tactic.

Two weeks ago, she put a classified ad in The Chronicle that said, “I have a nice two-bedroom ranch on West side of Elyria. I wish to trade for same on East side of Elyria.”

Swapping houses may sound crazy, but at this point Stydnicki said she is willing to try just about anything.

“The ad only cost me $20, and if it gets me out of my house, then it was $20 well spent,” she said.

Stydnicki has lived on Jackson Avenue since 1980 when she bought the 720-square-foot home. She said it needed work, but she got a good deal on it, and she worked for a home builder and was able to use her contacts to renovate the home.

Everything was fine, she said, until about a year later when she woke up blind after diabetes took its toll.

Early on in her disability, Lorain County Transit kept her mobile. But the waiting list for the public transportation is sometimes at least two weeks, forcing

Stydnicki to depend on family and friends to take her around — an arrangement that would be much more convenient if she lived closer to her daughter, she said.

And, that’s why Stydnicki said she is determined to move.

“I’m not losing my home. I’m not defaulting on any of my home payments. But I’m still a victim of this foreclosure crisis,” she said. “I put a “For Sale” sign in my front yard in August, and it’s going to stay there until I sell or die.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.  

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