WHY DOES THE HAMILTON COUNTY SHERIFF TAKE 4-6 WEEKS TO FILL OUT A FORECLOSURE DEED?

We wonder why it takes 4-6 weeks to fill out a foreclosure deed by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office. Once a sale is complete, judgment is entered and the fees are paid, a well run department should be able to have a word processor print the deed by the next day.  Another idea would be to have the foreclosure attorney prepare the deed for the Sheriff’s signature.  There are lender purchased Sheriff sales waiting for deeds that have already been resold to a homeowner and waiting months for a simple paperwork transaction. Another problem is a lack of follow up by some foreclosure attorneys’ and the sheriffs staff when a sale has a problem such as under pay of foreclosure fees or a court entry waiting to be printed, can cause a deed to languish in limbo. The Sheriff’s office use to answer questions on deed status to the purchaser’s agent, but now will only talk to the foreclosure attorney. The sheriffs staff is “too busy” to answer questions. Is the Sheriff’s office a public entity and answerable to the tax payers? We think that the Sheriff should quit wasting money on other unproductive areas and transfer staff to the “deed” department with the goal of turning a deed around the next day after all criteria are satisfied and being proactive with the buyer to resolve any delays. Every day a foreclosed property sits empty because the purchaser of the property is waiting for the deed to close, the more potential damage can occur to the property. A large percentage of vacant properties have the copper plumbing stolen, vandalized or weather damaged. The sooner the buyer can close, the sooner the vacant property can have a family living there. We also question why the sheriff is not able to stop the rampant copper theft from vacant properties. Obviously the police cannot stake out every property, but there are a limited number of “scrap buyers”. Watching who is selling copper at these facilities will make it apparent who are the thieves and who should be watched further.