LIMA - The good news is you can get a great deal on a home right now. The bad news is that home's former owner may have been kicked out.

The sale price of houses in Lima has been in decline at the same time foreclosure rates have risen. And while the Midwest is feeling less pain on the housing front than other parts of the nation, we're feeling the pinch nevertheless.

Foreclosure rates in Lima have increased for the month of September over the same period last year, according to First American CoreLogic, a group that collects housing statistics for the industry. The rate of foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans is 2.0 percent for the month of September, an increase of 0.30 percent, compared with September of 2007 when the rate was 1.70 percent.

County-wide, those numbers actually have been on the increase for most of the decade. In 2000, there were 186 foreclosures in Allen County. So far this year there have been 364, putting us on track to beat the 2007 level of 374.

"For us, the foreclosures really started going up in 2000 and 2001. Recently, we weren't seeing the big increase like everybody else was. Now we're starting to see it," said Allen County Recorder Mona Losh.

Across Ohio, foreclosure rates shot up by a remarkable 395 percent between 1995 and 2008. That number was 295 percent in Allen County, nearly tripling the number of foreclosures, according to a report by Policy Matters. The numbers are even worse in Van Wert County, with its 728 percent change, or Mercer County, with its 529 percent increase.

Other county increases include Auglaize's 491 percent, followed by Shelby (473 percent), Hardin (459), Putnam (438), Logan (354) and Hancock (346).

At the same time, housing prices continue to drop. In Lima, the national Housing Price Index shows that home prices decreased by 0.61 percent in September compared to last year.

That is good news for people hoping to buy a home, but disappointing to sellers expecting to rake in the sort of profits they were just a few years back.

"The markets are down 18 to 20 percent, so I tell people, when they're selling their homes, to expect to get 18 to 20 percent less," said West Central Association of Realtors President Janet Kroeger. "The feeling's always been, real estate goes up. That's not the case now."

Locally, home sales are actually up for the year by about 3.5 percent, Kroeger said. But a good percentage of those homes are foreclosures, either going directly back to the bank or being sold on the cheap to investors.

And with the recent credit crunch, even established investors are having a tough time getting the money to buy more homes.

"If you go to the Sheriff's website you can see the upcoming foreclosures list. Right now it is 21 pages for the next auction. That's with and average of four or five on each page. So there is going to be an influx of homes coming up," Kroeger said.

The change in the market is thinning out the ranks of realtors locally. Agents have a variety of local, state and national fees to pay, in addition to expenses for marketing and other requirements. Those who can't sell enough to keep up with the costs can put their license in escrow with the state until the market improves. This year, between 30 and 35 of the 363 agents in Kroeger's three county area will put their licenses on hold.

Still, Kroeger remains optimistic about the market. Things may be selling slower and for less money, but homes are selling, she said.

"Things are moving, A lot of people say ‘Oh you're not selling things.' But I can tell you, things are moving," Kroeger said.