Changing economic climates and shifts in US industry have driven people away from the Midwest leaving behind an awesome but mounting collection of unoccupied and (most importantly) affordable houses. While many of these are bank foreclosures and auction homes left behind by those fleeing for warmer weather, even still there are a large number of owners that still keep up on the mortgage and are willing to do alternative sales and financing such as rent-to-own, lease purchase and owner financing.

It is rare to see a housing report released from a government agency these days about growing supply of houses up for pre-foreclosure, foreclosure or auction that doesn’t mention Ohio being at the center of it all. Take notice the next time a “top 10 dirt cheap houses” article or other any other top 10 available-housing list hits the wire, and almost certainly either Ohio, or one of its famed cities, will make the list. The recent down trend in housing prices and upward trend in available supply of housing (including rent-to-own homes, foreclosures, lease-to-own homes and owner financing homes) is not without cause.

Ohio’s two largest industries by total dollars earned are manufacturing and financial activities, and with recent declines in demand for the manufacturing workforce in Ohio this is causing home prices to fall in the housing market in Ohio, the Great Lakes region, and even the Midwest as well. Some of the harder hit areas are those cities that fall into the Rust Belt such as Cleveland, Cincinnati, Youngstown and Toledo. What is now the Rust Belt was formerly known as the backbone of America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when large scale manufacturing drove the US economy. The fact is people follow jobs and so when the jobs in manufacturing, one of Ohio’s biggest industries, have left town, many Ohioans chose to leave, but their homes remain. Many of them are bank owned at this point, but many still have owners holding on, keeping up with the mortgage and hoping to sell or rent their homes.

Now homes aren’t usually abandoned freely, and most people unfortunately are so upside down in their mortgage that it only makes sense to stop paying the mortgage resulting in pre-foreclosure and then foreclosure before the public auction and of course, eventually REO foreclosure.

But while it may all seem to be doom and gloom from news and media reports, Ohio the “buckeye state” and “heart of it all” (given its central location between Chicago and New York City) has plenty to offer and a bright future. Housing prices are at historic lows and when out-of-state buyers start looking for incredible deals in rent-to-own homes, foreclosures or lease-option-to-buy homes and they consider Ohio, the tide could soon shift. Stick around and search Ohio’s magnificent inventory of homes and you will see for yourself.