Foreclosures are slowly becoming the order of the day with the distressing crash in Cincinnati real estate prices. Though they are fairly common, certain foreclosures downtown are particularly heartrending. One, for instance, is the Kettering Tower, Dayton’s tallest building. It was late Virginia Kettering’s dream that Dayton should have a skyscraper. The Kettering Tower was the result of that dream. Today, the dream is in receivership. The former Fifth Third Center, a wonderful modern building built with the intention of giving downtown a classy office space, faces the same fate.

The Kuhns building at Fourth and Main, is following in the same footsteps. Lovingly renovated by Oakwood’s Robert Shiffler, it is also heading towards foreclosure. Shiffler is trying hard to refinance the debt that he incurred to make the building an example of how old buildings and construction still have the potential to be aesthetic and useful.

It would be very unfair if, after all the hard work and the passion that went into the building, someone were to buy off the building at throw away rates. It would leave Shiffer considerably impoverished. What’s really upsetting is that it could, in all probability, come true.

Up until now, the focal point of the mortgage crisis-related predictions and discussions has been about home owners whose residences are now below their originally evaluated prices.

But experts who have been following financial trends and changes are now observing that commercial real estate too is overvalued. In such a state, developers who have loans that have to be renegotiated will find it difficult to do so.
Home mortgages have a longer pay-back period (so it will be easier to buy one of the Cincinnati OH homes for sale). Commercial mortgages, on the other hand, are written for shorter periods. A good many loans were taken out before the real estate prices started crashing. These are now due.

If one government expert is to be believed, by early 2011, half of the commercial real estate loans could be underwater, i.e. less than the amount of money taken in loan.

Under pressure from federal regulators, banks are curtailing their business loan transactions with commercial properties. This means they will be wary about refinancing loans or give extensions to those loans that may look even slightly unstable.