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Jay County, Indiana Court Filings Intelligence

Live court-record analysis of property-related filings (foreclosure, probate, divorce, partition, guardianship). Data sourced direct from Jay County court dockets. Updated 2026-07-16. See methodology.

Investor takeaway

About Jay County

Jay County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 20,478. The county seat is Portland.

Source: Wikipedia

At a glance

882 verified property-related court filings tracked across 52 months (Jan 2020 to Jul 2026).

0% of filings involve owners whose mailing address differs from the property address (4 of 882 filings).

$136,400 median estimated property value across the 5 filings with property-enrichment data (1% coverage).

3.2% Indiana unemployment rate (BLS, as of 2026-05). Filings should be read against the local-economy backdrop.

Filing type breakdown

Filing typeFilingsShare
Divorce 406 46.0%
Probate 213 24.1%
Guardianship 91 10.3%
Partition 87 9.9%
Pre-Foreclosure 85 9.6%

Each row is a distinct case verified for current owner-of-record before inclusion.

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Monthly filing activity

MonthFilingsvs prior
Jan 2020 20
Feb 2020 23 +3
Mar 2020 18 -5
Apr 2020 15 -3
May 2020 14 -1
Jun 2020 13 -1
Jul 2020 23 +10
Aug 2020 18 -5
Sep 2020 24 +6
Oct 2020 21 -3
Nov 2020 12 -9
Dec 2020 14 +2
Jan 2021 22 +8
Feb 2021 13 -9
Mar 2021 27 +14
Apr 2021 12 -15
May 2021 12 0
Jun 2021 8 -4
Jul 2021 8 0
Aug 2021 13 +5
Sep 2021 10 -3
Oct 2021 16 +6
Nov 2021 15 -1
Dec 2021 13 -2
Jan 2022 17 +4
Feb 2022 19 +2
Mar 2022 27 +8
Apr 2022 21 -6
May 2022 23 +2
Jun 2022 16 -7
Jul 2022 18 +2
Aug 2022 24 +6
Sep 2022 18 -6
Oct 2022 22 +4
Nov 2022 22 0
Dec 2022 10 -12
Jan 2023 16 +6
Feb 2023 23 +7
Mar 2023 22 -1
Apr 2023 16 -6
May 2023 19 +3
Jun 2023 17 -2
Jul 2023 19 +2
Aug 2023 20 +1
Sep 2023 17 -3
Oct 2023 12 -5
Nov 2023 11 -1
Dec 2023 14 +3
Mar 2024 20 +6
Apr 2024 10 -10
Jun 2026 17 +7
Jul 2026 8 -9

Each row reflects new filings entering the dataset that month, after ownership verification. Most recent month may be partial.

Geographic concentration by ZIP

Top 4 ZIPs in Jay County account for 0.7% of all tracked filings, showing where distressed real estate activity clusters.

ZIPCityFilingsShare
47371 PORTLAND 2 0.2%
47326 BRYANT 2 0.2%
47369 PENNVILLE 1 0.1%
47373 REDKEY 1 0.1%

Based on filings with a parseable property address (1% of Jay County filings).

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Property value distribution

Estimated valueFilingsShare
Under $75k 2 40.0%
$75k - $150k 2 40.0%
$150k - $250k 1 20.0%

Source: third-party property enrichment (1% coverage on Jay County filings). Median $136,400; mean $113,340.

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Day-of-week filing pattern

DayFilingsShare
Sun 2 0.2%
Mon 181 20.5%
Tue 151 17.1%
Wed 188 21.3%
Thu 189 21.4%
Fri 168 19.0%
Sat 3 0.3%

Filings cluster Monday through Friday, with weekend filings essentially absent (court system closed). Computed for 882 filings with a parseable date.

Housing stock + distress signals

Underlying housing stock and distress indicators across all 8908 Jay County housing units, from US Census ACS 5-year data. National reference values shown for context.

Indicator Jay County US average
Vacancy rate (incl. seasonal + for-sale)10.7%10.5%
Share of owner-occupied units carrying a mortgage58.3%60.8%
Pre-1940 housing stock35.1%12.3%
Single-family detached share of housing stock84.1%61.2%
Residents age 65 or older18.1%17.3%

Source: US Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS 2023 5-year). National reference values are ACS 2022 5-year US totals. Why these matter: vacancy rate is the strongest single proxy for distressed inventory; mortgage-carrying share defines the risk pool exposed to rate environment; pre-1940 stock signals deferred maintenance and renovation opportunity; senior population correlates with probate pipeline depth.

Rent benchmark (HUD Fair Market Rent)

HUD sets Fair Market Rents at the metro area level — the same FMRs apply to every county within the metro. Jay County sits within the Jay County, IN. Used to set Section 8 voucher amounts; investors use it as a defensible rent-estimate floor for buy-to-rent underwriting.

Unit size Fair market rent / month
Efficiency / studio$685
1-bedroom$729
2-bedroom$956
3-bedroom$1,261
4-bedroom$1,266

Source: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents (None). 40th-percentile gross rent including utilities. Why this matters: Section-8-eligible tenants are a baseline demand floor for rental inventory at these price points; FMR is the official ceiling for voucher-eligible rents.

New construction (market momentum)

Annual building permits filed in Jay County from the US Census Building Permits Survey. Trend signal on whether new housing demand is accelerating or contracting in this market.

Indicator Value
Total housing units permitted (2025)25
Year-over-year change (2024 → 2025)+31.6%
Single-family share of permits (2025)100.0%
Single-family units permitted25
Multifamily units permitted (2+ units per building)0

Source: US Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, annual cumulative data. Why this matters: permits trending up signals strong demand for new inventory; permits contracting at the same time foreclosure activity rises indicates broader market softening (deals price differently). Multifamily share shows whether the market is densifying or holding to single-family stock.

Macro context: state home prices and national delinquency

Jay County filings should be read against the broader housing-market backdrop. Indiana state home-price trend and the national mortgage-delinquency rate are the two macro signals most directly relevant to foreclosure exposure.

IndicatorValuePeriod
Indiana home price index (year-over-year)+4.3%2026-01-01
Indiana home price index (cumulative since 2020)+64.9%2026-01-01
National mortgage delinquency rate (30+ day, single-family)1.89%2026-01-01

Sources: Federal Housing Finance Agency state house price indices (FRED series INSTHPI); Federal Reserve Board, Mortgage Delinquency 30+Day Rate on Single-Family Residential Mortgages (FRED series DRSFRMACBS). Updated quarterly. Free public data.

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Filing velocity by case type

How each distress category is trending — are foreclosures accelerating while divorces cool, or vice versa? This breakdown is only possible with direct court-record data.

Case type Total Share Trend
Divorce 406 46.0% +170.0%
Probate 213 24.1% -20.0%
Guardianship 91 10.3% -50.0%
Partition 87 9.9% --
Pre-Foreclosure 85 9.6% +16.7%

Trend = recent 2-3 month volume vs prior 2-3 months (current partial month excluded). Positive = accelerating; negative = cooling.

Seasonal filing patterns

Court filings peak in Mar and are lowest in Dec. The 1.8x peak-to-trough ratio suggests strong seasonal patterns — investors who time their outreach around Mar can reach more distressed homeowners.

Month Avg filings Relative
Jan 18.8
82%
Feb 19.5
86%
Mar 22.8
100%
Apr 14.8
65%
May 17
75%
Jun 14.2
62%
Jul 17
75%
Aug 18.8
82%
Sep 17.2
75%
Oct 17.8
78%
Nov 15
66%
Dec 12.8
56%

Average filings per calendar month across all observed years. Relative column shows each month as a percentage of the peak month (Mar), with a 1.8x peak-to-trough ratio.

ZIP code distress hotspots

Distress is geographically dispersed across 4 ZIP codes, with no single area dominating.

ZIP Area Filings Share Median value
47371 Portland 2 0.2% $136,400
47326 Bryant 2 0.2% $68,900
47369 Pennville 1 0.1% --
47373 Redkey 1 0.1% $153,100

Top 4 of 4 ZIP codes with filings.

Non-resident owner analysis

Most filings (100%) involve owner-occupied properties. The relatively low absentee rate suggests distress is primarily hitting homeowners, not institutional investors.

0.5%
Non-resident owners
Case type Total filings Non-resident %
Divorce 406 0.7%
Probate 213 0.5%
Guardianship 91 0.0%
Partition 87 0.0%
Pre-Foreclosure 85 0.0%

Non-resident = owner's mailing address differs from the property address. Could indicate out-of-state landlords, inherited estates, second homes, or in-transition properties.

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Distress composition and shifts

Divorce share is rising. Probate share is declining.

Case type Recent share Earlier share Shift
Divorce 55.6% 45.7% +9.9pp (rising)
Probate 14.8% 24.6% -9.8pp (falling)
Partition 11.1% 9.8% +1.3pp
Pre-Foreclosure 11.1% 9.7% +1.4pp
Guardianship 7.4% 10.3% -2.9pp

Distress diversity score: 1.86 (Shannon entropy; higher = more diverse distress sources). "Recent" = last 2 complete months; "Earlier" = all prior months.

Why these filings are invisible on most public foreclosure sites

The largest public foreclosure-aggregator interfaces surface only post-auction bank-owned properties in Indiana. Pre-foreclosure court filings are not visible to their non-paying users. Keystone tracks the court filing the day it hits the docket, weeks or months before any property reaches the auction stage those aggregators surface.

Methodology and full audit: Court-vs-aggregator coverage gap report.

Methodology and data sources

Related Indiana guides

Indiana foreclosure process How to find leads in Indiana Top foreclosure counties in Indiana Indiana statewide analysis

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Cite: Keystone Court Data, "Jay County Indiana Court Filings Intelligence," 2026-07-16, https://keystonecourtdata.com/reports/jay-in-court-filings-intelligence · Download data (CSV)