SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Sitting on the front porch of her home, Debbie Sample was still in shock. She had just learned that the house she had been renting for the last two years was being foreclosed and she would likely have to move out.

"I didn't sleep too well last night and I kept thinking, 'Oh my God, what am I going to do?' " Sample said.

She is among a growing number of people who rent homes who are forced out when the owner faces foreclosure.

Banks that buy property at a sheriff's sale often do not want to continue it as rental property, but instead plan to sell it to someone else.

Sample hasn't worked since she was injured on the job several years ago. She shakes her head when she talks about the task of scraping enough money together to move into another house or apartment.

"I'm looking to have another surgery on my shoulder and I might be sitting out on the street with my arm in a sling," Sample said.

Sample learned about the foreclosure, not from her landlord, but from Clark County Deputy Sandy Lewis.

Lewis delivers court notices to residents for the county sheriff's office.

She says the notice goes to the owner, so renters are often caught off-guard.

When she delivers the final notice to vacate the property, renters often have only ten days to clear out.

"So I have to explain to them that they've lost the house. It's been in foreclosure and the courts have issued a ten day notice that they have to vacate the premises," Lewis said.

It happened to Jimmy Jackson of Dayton in 2006 and it left him homeless for a time.

Jackson, like Sample, paid his rent on time, only to be kicked out.

"That made me feel like I was ripped off for two months. Approximately $1,000," Jackson said.

The scenario has played out again and again for renters across Ohio.

David Rothstein, a researcher for a nonprofit group, Policy Matters Ohio, said renters are the second wave of victims of the foreclosure crisis.

"A lot of these people it is not the first foreclosure they face. A lot of families that we've seen had been foreclosed on the home they used to own and then become renters and then now their landlord has been foreclosed upon so they're part of this process two-fold," Rothstein said.

Rothstein said a recent study of the problem showed renters are forced from homes in at least 30 percent of the foreclosures.

Others close to the issue said the number may be as high as 60 percent.

Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer said he supports a change in state law to give renters more time to move out when the home they are living in is foreclosed.

"Sometimes it takes months to go through the process and let these people know that this is ultimately going to affect you. So here's your notice, you might as well look for a new place now because you are going to be evicted shortly," Plummer said.

Centerville Realtor Roberta Pace said renters should be cautious and take steps to protect themselves.

She urged renters to find out who the actual owner of the property is, not just who accepts the rent check.

Then, Pace said renters should check out the owners on the county real estate Web sites to determine if they have had a string of foreclosures in the past.

"You wonder how these people sleep at night. They take advantage of people because sometime the home has gone into foreclosure, the owner is aware of that and yet we will see ads where they are advertising a home on line or in the newspaper and lining up another unsuspecting tenant," Pace said.

To find the identity of the owner of a particular property, go to the county government real estate Web site where the property is located.

Search by address to find the owner's name. Then go to the Clerk of Courts Web site for that county for a search, using that person's name.

For a list of links to county Web sites click here.

jim.otte@whiotv.com