Bowling Green attorney and Warren County Master Commissioner David Broderick (center) auctions several houses Thursday as administrative assistant Judy Lee (right) watches. About 10 people turned out on the fourth floor of the Warren County Justice Center for the auction of four homes. Photo by Joe Imel

An increasing number of people are finding their dreams on the auction block. Attorneys attribute the increasing number of foreclosures on homes and property to a variety of reasons including poor money management, divorce, a changing economy and the bottom line people getting themselves in financial debt up to their ears. In Warren County last year, there were a total of 85 master commissioners sales, according to county Master Commissioner and Bowling Green attorney David Broderick. On Thursday, Broderick on the fourth floor of the Warren County Justice Center conducted the 84th sale so far this year. It is more than weve had in the past, said Broderick, who makes a point to keep in touch with master commissioners in surrounding areas. It is such a large number that you have to assume that people are having trouble making their financial obligations. Everybody seems to be having trouble in terms of numbers. In Warren County, the foreclosed properties may range in value for a small home on Vine Street to more exclusive homes in newer neighborhoods such as one in Greyrock Drive, which sold for $98,000 on Thursday. The owners owed about $115,000, in addition to interest and fees. A master commissioners sale is when property is ordered by the court to be foreclosed and sold, usually by the holder of the mortgage, because the payments are not being made. In Barren and Allen counties, foreclosures on property, and especially mobile homes, have boomed in the past two years a fact which attorneys attribute to a thin amount of equity needed to acquire the property and long payment plans. Many homeowners are feeling the pinch of the building boom in previous years, where a small amount of equity was required for a down payment. It seems like more and more people are getting into a house with the smallest down payment they can get away with, Allen County Circuit Court Commissioner Kelly Powell said. And when difficult times come, as they will in a 30-year mortgage … youre going to be letting it go. Powell said the number of foreclosures in Allen County have grown substantially in the past two years. In Barren County, the number of foreclosures seem to have increased since January 2000, when master commissioner and Glasgow attorney Temple Dickinson took office. Dickinson has scheduled 55 sales so far this year. Roughly 50 percent of those involved in mobile home and land packages have difficulty, Dickinson said. In Allen County, it is common for people who placed a small amount of equity into mobile home property to simply abandon it when they cannot maintain the mortgage payments, Powell said. Of the eight sales scheduled in upcoming weeks, six of them involve mobile homes, Powell said. Often other factors contribute to foreclosures such as divorce or estate disputes. I think there are any number of reasons you find yourself in over your head, one of them is the economy, one of is divorce situation, or major medical problem, Dickinson said. Sometimes the banks or mortgage companies will buy property back to eventually resell it and usually purchase the property below value, sometimes giving credit to the lender for the amount they already owe, Dickinson said. These things usually do not bring what theyre worth at a master commissioners sale, Dickinson said. Four properties were auctioned Thursday and an additional seven sales are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday on the first floor of the Warren County Justice Center, where Broderick estimates a crowd of 30 to 40 people will attend.