Even if you take pride in your home, its value could decrease through no fault of your own.

Overgrown lots, vacant or dilapidated houses and abandoned industrial or commercial property can all bring down your home value restricting your ability to borrow money or sell your home.

So, it’s good news that Lucas County Commissioners last week approved the second land bank program in Ohio. It is the first step in providing a number of tools for both homeowners and developers to increase property values and make it easier to invest in the county.

The new Lucas County Land Reutilization Corporation will have the power to acquire and sell foreclosed tax delinquent properties without going through the long court process leading to a sheriff’s sale, according to Wade Kapszukiewicz, county treasurer.

This process, which can be as lengthy as two years, will be shortened to 90 days and will provide buyers with clear titles while eliminating back taxes.

Bill Farnsel, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services, illustrates the importance. He sought to develop the vacant Masonic building at Fourth and Main in East Toledo into a 36-unit senior housing complex, but the owner was hidden in a shell corporation and back taxes totaled $40,000. It took months to locate the true owner and Farnsel had to pay him for an option. The back taxes further deterred prospective developers.

Farnsel said the site is ideal for low-income senior housing. It has an elevator, kitchen, recreation hall, and is within walking distance of a grocery store, pharmacy, off-street parking and a bus route.

“The only other senior housing complex of this kind is in Oregon and at Spieker Terrace. That’s our competition. We would have sold these babies even before we started building,” he said.

Farnsel said the land bank would help return such buildings to the tax rolls by providing attractive options to developers.

Tracking down legitimate owners and obtaining clear titles to 13 properties also delayed by a year the Southeast Toledo Holmes II project, Farnsel said. NHS eventually built six rent-to-own homes and has plans for six more.

Kapszukiewicz said the newly-formed agency hasn’t determined the scope of its services yet, although it is patterned after similar land banks in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County and Michigan’s Genesee County. The following programs are offered by the Genesee land bank:

• Clean and Green: Neighborhood groups can apply for $4500 grants to develop vacant properties into vegetable and flower gardens;

• Adopt-a-lot: Similar to the Clean and Green program, residents can adopt a lot for free and beautify it into a park-like setting or grow gardens;

• Side lot sales: Homeowners can purchase a vacant side lot for one year’s back taxes and $39 in application fees. The lot would then be added to the tax roll and the property owner would be liable for future taxes.

The land bank can also sell properties to prospective homeowners through land contracts and to licensed contractors who want to renovate and resell or rent properties. These would be sold at market rates.

Kapszukiewicz said the program can benefit all county residents. “This will have the ability to increase property values across the board. It isn’t just about the house that is vacant and abandoned or demolished or rehabbed. It’s just as much about the houses on either side of the vacant house that have seen their values go down.”

Funding will come through an increase in the interest rate charged all delinquent property owners. Kapszukiewicz estimates annual income at $1.5 million. The first moneys won’t arrive until tax bills come in March of 2011, so, for now, the agency’s scope will be limited. However, both Mercy St. Vincent Hospital and Toledo Hospital have expressed interest in purchasing properties.

East Toledo property values increased faster than any other segment of the city in the late 1990s due to an expedited process for demolition of nuisance properties and a surge by NHS and Housing East to build new homes and renovate dilapidated homes. These actions spurred other homeowners to renovate their homes. But, when the recession hit, the effort ground to a halt as federal funding dried up. It is hoped the land bank can restart that effort.

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