Monroe County, Indiana Court Filings Intelligence

• Filing volume accelerating (+68.7%) — last 3 complete months (194 filings) vs prior 3 complete months (115 filings). Excludes the current calendar month (in progress).
• Max gross cap rate 4.7% at HUD Fair Market Rent — $14,520/year (2BR FMR × 12) on the $309,300 median estimated market value. Section-8-eligible rent ceiling; real-market rent typically exceeds FMR; excludes operating costs (taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management).
• 41.4% of filings are Divorce — the dominant lead category in Monroe County during the observed window.

About Monroe County

Monroe County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 1910 the US Census Bureau calculated the nation's mean population center to lie in Monroe County. The population was 139,718 at the 2020 United States census. The county seat is Bloomington. Monroe County is part of the Bloomington, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Source: Wikipedia

At a glance

Filing type breakdown

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

Monthly filing activity

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 Monroe County account for 0.6% of all tracked filings, showing where distressed real estate activity clusters.

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

Property value distribution

Source: third-party property enrichment (1% coverage on Monroe County filings). Median $309,300; mean $388,561.

Day-of-week filing pattern

Filings cluster Monday through Friday, with weekend filings essentially absent (court system closed). Computed for 4931 filings with a parseable date.

Building characteristics

Per-property details from third-party property enrichment, aggregated across the 32 filings with characteristic data:

Housing stock + distress signals

Underlying housing stock and distress indicators across all 64850 Monroe County housing units, from US Census ACS 5-year data. National reference values shown for context.

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. Monroe County sits within the Bloomington, IN. Used to set Section 8 voucher amounts; investors use it as a defensible rent-estimate floor for buy-to-rent underwriting.

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 Monroe County from the US Census Building Permits Survey. Trend signal on whether new housing demand is accelerating or contracting in this market.

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

Monroe 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.

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.

Post-filing sale outcomes in Monroe County

What happens to distressed properties after a court filing? By cross-referencing each filing's property with county assessor and deed-transfer records, we track which properties sold, how long the process took, and at what price. This analysis covers 32 filings (0.6% of all 4931 filings) where parcel-level tracking is available.

Time from filing to sale

How quickly do distressed properties sell after a court filing is recorded? This distribution shows where post-filing sales cluster.

Sale rates by filing type

Not all distress types lead to property sales at the same rate. Foreclosures tend to result in eventual sales more often than probate or divorce filings.

How sales relate to the filing

Not every post-filing sale is caused by the court case. We classify each sale's relationship to the original filing so investors can focus on the highest-signal outcomes. 66.7% of confirmed sales were directly driven by the filing.

Source: county assessor and deed-transfer records cross-referenced with court filings by parcel ID. Sale outcomes tracked for 32 of 4931 filings (0.6% parcel coverage). Timing based on 3 sales with valid filing and sale dates.

FEMA flood zone exposure

Are distressed properties concentrated in flood-prone areas? By checking each property's coordinates against FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer, we identify which filings fall in Special Flood Hazard Areas (mandatory flood insurance zones). This analysis covers 27 properties with geocoded locations.

Source: FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), queried by property coordinates. Zones A/AE/AH/AO/V/VE are Special Flood Hazard Areas (1% annual flood chance, mandatory flood insurance). Zone X is minimal risk. 27 properties checked.

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.

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 Aug and are lowest in Dec. Filing volume is relatively steady year-round.

Average filings per calendar month across all observed years. Relative column shows each month as a percentage of the peak month (Aug), with a 1.4x peak-to-trough ratio.

ZIP code distress hotspots

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

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.

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.

Distress composition and shifts

Divorce share is rising. Probate, Guardianship share is declining.

Distress diversity score: 1.55 (Shannon entropy; higher = more diverse distress sources). "Recent" = last 2 complete months; "Earlier" = all prior months.

Property Value Profile

The median assessed value of properties in court filings is $309,300. Guardianship filings involve the highest-value properties (median $323,600), while Probate filings trend lower (median $282,400). The largest segment (54.8%) falls in the $250K - $500K range.

Based on county assessor records for 31 properties with court filings (0.6% of total filings). Values are tax-assessed amounts, not market listing prices.

Distress Capital Analysis

$12,045,400 in assessed property value is currently tied up in 31 court-filed properties. Divorce filings represent the largest capital pool ($7,740,200 across 17 properties).

Capital at Risk by Filing Type

Based on 31 properties with assessor valuations (0.6% of 4931 total filings). Values are county assessor estimates. Equity calculated from estimated value vs outstanding mortgage balance where available.

Market Absorption & Turnover Analysis

4,931 court filings tracked with 0 resolved (0.0% absorption rate). The court system is accumulating cases faster than they resolve, creating a growing backlog of 4,931 active cases.

Resolution by Case Type

Absorption rate measures the percentage of filed cases that have reached a terminal resolution (judgment, dismissal, settlement, or sale). A low absorption rate indicates a growing backlog of active cases in the court system. Resolution timing based on 0 resolved cases out of 4931 total filings.

Property Type Distribution

60.0% of distressed properties are classified as Single Family, followed by Single Family (Rural) (20.0%). Notably, Probate filings skew toward Single Family (Rural) (66.7%).

Property classifications from county assessor records for 30 properties (0.6% of total filings). Categories normalized from assessor codes.

Case Aging & Stall Analysis

4,714 cases (95.6%) have been active for over a year without resolution. 31 filings in the last <30 days represent fresh opportunities.

Case aging computed from filing date to present for unresolved cases. Resolution classified from court docket entries (judgments, settlements, dismissals, sheriff sales). Cases with a resolution event are removed from the stall count.

Quarterly Filing Volume Trends

Filing trends across 10 comparable quarters show 2,546 tracked filings in Monroe County. Probate shows the largest composition shift, declining share from 26.9% to 20.9%.

Composition shift: Probate filings are declining share, moving from 26.9% to 20.9% of total filings (-6.0 percentage points).

Only comparable quarters shown (collection ramp-up periods excluded). Filing dates from verified court records. Current partial quarter excluded from trend calculations.

Property Value Distribution

The median property value in distressed filings is $316,450, with the largest concentration (37.5%) in the $300K–$500K range.

Assessed property values from county assessor records for 32 properties (0.6% of total filings). Values reflect tax-assessed amounts, not market price.

Ownership Duration Before Filing

The median ownership duration before a court filing is 8.5 years, with 30.4% of owners holding the property 10+ years (a strong equity signal for investors).

Duration calculated from last recorded property sale to court filing date for 23 properties (0.5% of total filings). Longer ownership often correlates with higher equity.

Repeat litigation patterns in Monroe County

Of 4,351 unique property owners in court filings, 343 (7.9%) appear in multiple cases, including 97 with 3 or more filings. The most active repeat filer has 13 cases spanning 45 months. Probate cases have the highest repeat rate at 15.6%.

Repeat rate by case type

Analysis based on 4,351 unique owner names across court filings. Repeat filers are property owners appearing in 2 or more distinct cases.

Land vs improvement value composition

Across 31 properties with assessed value breakdowns, the median land share is 18.5% (median land value $60,000, median improvement value $268,000). 1 properties (3.2%) are land-dominant (50%+ land value) — potential teardown or vacant-lot targets.

Land share distribution

Land share by case type

Analysis of 31 properties (0.6% of filings) with assessed land and improvement value breakdowns.

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

• Court filings are collected directly from Monroe County court records, which are public information.
• Every filing in this dataset has been verified for current owner-of-record. Entity-owned filings (LLCs, trusts, banks) and properties where the named party is not the current owner are excluded.
• Property value figures come from third-party enrichment (1% coverage on this dataset).
• Individual case data, defendant names, and property addresses are not published. Reports show aggregated statistics only.
• The methodology page at /reports/methodology documents data sources, sample sizes, and known limitations in detail.
• This report was generated 2026-07-15 from the live database. Numbers reflect the dataset at that moment.

Top cities for filings within Monroe County

Where filings concentrate inside Monroe County, by parsed property city or township.

Share is computed against filings with a parsed property city (not against total Monroe County filings — addresses missing the city portion are excluded from the denominator). Top 5 shown; smaller cities aggregate into the long tail.

Related Indiana guides

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