FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio -- A major backlog at the Franklin County Sheriff's Office threatens to delay the sale of foreclosed homes to buyers trying to take advantage of an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit that is set to expire November 30.
Boxes are stacked and deed transfer requests are piled up inside the office's real estate division, where banks are looking to officially take ownership back from home owners who lost their homes in foreclosure.
Two weeks ago, the office's four staffers were just getting to August deed transfers. With one week left in October, they are now beginning to tackle September requests following a Saturday of overtime work.
"This is something that's not going to clear up overnight," said Sheriff Jim Karnes. "We don't have a set budget for overtime for real estate because we've never had to do that before."
The backlog has frustrated real estate agents and home buyers, including Allison Wenger, an NBC 4 employee trying to buy a foreclosed house in time to get the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit.
"That's the reason we're frustrated because we know that deadline is coming up and we really would like that money," Wenger said. "That $8,000, we could be spending it in Franklin County."
Karnes said Wenger and other should not blame him for the backlog.
Instead, he blames legislators who changed state law last year to make the process more cumbersome, as well as attorneys who have made numerous paperwork errors.
"It's not my problem. I did not create the bill. I did not create the backlog. It was created by the change in the bill, along with the attorneys that can't get their paperwork right."
While Wenger and other homebuyers sweat out the November 30 deadline, Karnes said he will request more overtime funding for staff to continue processing the backlog. But Karnes said if a foreclosure property does not clear his office in front of the deadline, the bank deserves blame for selling a home they technically do not own.
"How can a bank loan money to someone for property, make a deal to someone for property, to sell that they don't have a title for," Karnes asked.
Karnes said training additional staff before next month's deadline would take too much time. Asked if the properties that qualify for the tax credit could be prioritized to beat the deadline, Karnes was adamant in saying he would not do that, believing that it would be unfair to others waiting for their deed transfer to process through.
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