Evictions are keeping sheriff's office busy

Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer Deputy Craig Harney with the Chesterfield Sheriff's Office finalizes an eviction notice.

When one thinks about evictions, the first image that comes to mind is probably the Hollywood version of a poor family weeping and yelling while all their belongings are bounced to the sidewalk.

The reality isn't nearly so dramatic, says Sgt. Anthony Dowdy with the Chesterfield Sheriff's Office's civil process unit. "By the time we put the notices on the door, they've already been vacated in a lot of the cases."

In fact, Dowdy can't recall any arrests connected with evictions or foreclosures in the county, let alone any real problems with outgoing renters or homeowners. But just because there hasn't been any drama doesn't mean that the growing number of evictions and foreclosures isn't making a big impact on the sheriff's office.

Earlier this year, the Virginia Sheriff's Association held a press conference at the General Assembly Building to bring attention to the growing burden being placed on sheriff's offices statewide by the national mortgage meltdown. In light of state budget cuts, these sheriff's offices worried that law enforcement could suffer from the added resources needed to serve papers for foreclosures. (Unlike Chesterfield County, where the sheriff's office is responsible for jails, court security and serving legal documents, other sheriff's offices statewide are the primary law enforcement agencies in their localities.) The Stafford County Sherriff's Office said that its evictions nearly tripled from 2007 to 2008, and the Newport News Sheriff's Office recalled serving 100 eviction notices in a single day.

This June, Chesterfield deputies served 255 writs of possession and unlawful detainer - the so-called "eviction notice" served when a property is repossessed and the occupants are to be evicted. That's up from 215 writs in June 2008 and 140 writs in June 2007. They also served 392 summonses for unlawful detainer, the paper served prior to an eviction or foreclosure.

The Chesterfield Sheriff's Office doesn't distinguish between evictions of renters and home foreclosures in the records it keeps of the writs served. However, Dowdy says that writs for home foreclosures have been far eclipsing the writs served for eviction of rental properties in the county.

"The foreclosure issue is most definitely [caused by] the economy," Dowdy says. "You can ride around any neighborhood in the county, and we cover the entire county, and there's not a place we go where there [isn't] foreclosure signs all over the place."

According to RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure data and listings nationwide, Chesterfield County saw a 71 percent jump in foreclosures in June 2009 compared to the same time last year. (Statewide, the numbers were about 36 percent for the same year-toyear period.)

One mortgage lender in Chesterfield County who asked not to be identified says that the vast majority of recent foreclosures within the county can be divided into two categories: homeowners who have abandoned their homes due to negative equity and homeowners who have excellent credit and good equity but have been unable to make payments because of losing a job.

However, despite the annual increase in foreclosures in Chesterfield County, the numbers of foreclosures have actually fallen almost 12 percent in the short term between the second and first quarter of 2009.

While RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist says it's "too early to say that's a sign that the numbers [of foreclosures] have turned a corner and are headed downward" in the county, he believes it could be a "microtrend" showing the early impact of foreclosure prevention programs that have been put in place in recent months.

Regionally, the Central Virginia/Richmond area is following the national foreclosure trend, which manifested first statewide in Northern Virginia, he says. It may take a few more quarters to know whether the number of foreclosures in Chesterfield County is trending downward significantly, Blomquist cautions, noting that "Virginia is one of the states we've seen in the last year posting quite a few significant increases in foreclosure activity. For the [second] quarter, it was ranked No. 14 in the nation among foreclosure rates. It's not in the top 10, but it seems to be coming up there in the ranks compared to some of the other states."