This graphic gives a good picture of Ohio's foreclosure problem, and serves as marching orders for why Governor Ted Strickland's Foreclosure Prevention Task Force may be the first surge in a calvary needed to manage the current situation and set in place laws or regulations to prevent the next debacle from happening.

GOV. STRICKLAND, COMMERCE DIRECTOR ZURZ RIDE TO THE RESCUE

This article in The Columbus Dispatch covers the core of a developing plan to educate home buyers about the deals they sign on to, enlist the help of neighborhood housing groups to turn a hard landing into a soft one and to provide state funding to fuel the recommendations that will be put before Ohio lawmakers. The group's chairwoman, Kimberly Zurz, a former state senator from Northeast Ohio Strickland tapped to lead the Ohio Department of Commerce, the agency overseeing Strickland's task force, said her group's recommendations will likely be ready for release at the end of August.

A Strickland spokesman said the governor, from what he knows of the work so far, "is very pleased," and will give the group's recommendations to the Ohio General Assembly when he has finished reviewing it so it can hold hearings, according to the Dispatch article.

THE FORECLOSURE PREVENTION TASK FORCE'S RECOMMENDATIONS

-- Using $10 million in state, local and federal funds each year to pay for housing and financial counseling programs and mortgage-payment assistance programs for people at risk of foreclosure. About $2 million of that would go to the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, which gives money to community organizations that help low-income Ohioans with home repair, rental assistance and counseling.

-- Expanding an Ohio Housing Finance Agency program that helps people with adjustable-rate loans refinance into low-interest, fixed-rate 30-year mortgages. It isn't yet clear how much or where the money would come from. The agency already plans to issue about $500 million worth of bonds this year to fund the loans. The agency also would be allowed to channel $1 million into a program allowing nonprofits to buy foreclosed homes and rent them back to the former owners.

-- Earmarking $50 million in state-funded grants to help cities redevelop neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures, tear down blighted and abandoned houses, and fund mixed-income housing developments.

The money would come from Ohio's capital budget, funded by the sale of state bonds.

-- Encouraging county auditors to review suspicious property sales in their counties and then turn the information over to the state attorney general for investigation. When a home's sale price rises or falls dramatically in a short period of time, it's often a sign of mortgage fraud, said Franklin County Auditor Joe Testa.

Testa's office already reviews sale information, turning over some cases to the state attorney general or to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for investigation.

-- Streamlining sheriff's sales on foreclosed properties, and requiring sheriff's offices to file property deeds and sale information on foreclosed homes at the county recorder's office.

An official with a Statehouse group that represents Ohio's homeless and poor on a variety of issues said in the Dispatch article that "Ohio was the Wild West of (predatory) mortgage lending for many years" and then added Ohio is where it is on this issue because "borrowers just don't have ability to repay."

WORDS OF CAUTION FROM OHIO TREASURER CORDRAY

Ohio Treasurer Rich Cordray sent out a bulletin Wednesday related to the high ranking of six of Ohio's cities on home foreclosures. Hoping to heal a clearly bad situation, Cordray, who was one of four Democratic statewide winners last year, said he'll work with community leaders in more than 40 counties to establish local anti-foreclosure coalitions that provide information and referrals to homeowners at risk.

Gleaned from his bulletin, Cordray said:

"With many adjustable rate mortgages held by Ohio homeowners, experts expect that the numbers of foreclosure filings will rise even further as those rates continue to reset to higher levels over the next year and a half. I encourage Ohio homeowners to review the terms of their mortgage loans, keeping an eye out for adjustable rates or balloon payments. It may make sense to pursue alternatives for more sustainable mortgage financing.

"The most important message we can send to Ohio homeowners is to reach out and make contact with their lender as soon as possible if they do begin to have problems making their payments. Workout terms can often be reached allowing that person to stay in the home or minimizing the potential financial damage of a foreclosure action."