Ohio group seeks to ease Dayton area foreclosures

A northern Ohio foreclosure prevention group is bringing its services to the Dayton area.

Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP) received $650,000 from the Ohio Financing and Housing Agency to expand its programs to areas in the state who are at the forefront of the foreclosure issue.

ESOP has negotiated lending agreements with more than a dozen Ohio lenders and mortgage servicers and helped more than 1,500 homeowners avoid foreclosure last year.

The nonprofit held a workshop with Montgomery County officials and Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray Tuesday to brief them on how to use the services of the organization to aid people facing foreclosure.

Ohio had the seventh highest foreclosure rate in the country for March with one filing for every 448 households and Dayton had the 15th highest foreclosure rate in 2007 with 2.1 percent of households in foreclosure.

ESOP has fair lending agreements with a number of lenders including Countrywide, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo but said it will work with homeowners who have mortgages with any lending company.

Homeowners in trouble can contact the organization by phone to set up an appointment. ESOP has an 85 percent success rate for stopping the foreclosure process and obtaining affordable loan modifications for homeowners.

E-mail kmaurer@bizjournals.com. Call (937) 528-4427.