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Foreclosures down 18% in Illinois

filed under: Buyers, Edgewater, Foreclosures, Market conditions posted on December 14th, 2009

Good news on the foreclosure front this week: The number of Illinois homes in foreclosure fell almost 18% in November, compared to the previous month.

Illinois, however, remains one of the hardest-hit states nationwide. It landed at Number 7 on the list of states with the most foreclosure filings last month, according to Realty Trac’s Foreclosure Market Report. There were 16,422 homes in foreclosure statewide.

While this destructive trend seems to be improving, if you look at the entire year rather than just a month-to-month snapshot, you can see the magnitude of our state’s tidal wave of foreclosures. Foreclosure filings have more than doubled since November 2008 in Illinois.

Written by Sue Fox // 1 Comment »

More foreclosures hit Illinois

filed under: Foreclosures, Market conditions posted on October 15th, 2009

A sad tale: This home at 5027 W Argyle in Jefferson Park, now owned by a bank, slid slowly into foreclosure over the course of two years. Once listed for sale at $479,000 in February 2007, it is now $299,000.

Sigh. That’s how I felt this morning when I saw the latest foreclosure numbers for Illinois, which were considerably worse than those of most other states.

Foreclosure filings jumped 30.3% in Illinois in the third quarter, compared with that period a year ago, according to RealtyTrac Inc. That gives us the 10th-highest foreclosure rate nationally, with one out of every 136 properties slapped with a filing. Experts point to rising umemployment as the main reason homeowners are defaulting on their mortgages.

On the ground in Chicago, I’m seeing more foreclosures creeping into stable, middle-class neighborhoods like Irving Park, Portage Park and Jefferson Park. Many of them follow a predictable ride downhill, as their owners first attempt to sell them for what they owe on the mortgage, and then franctically try to sell them for less (a short sale.) But short sales require lender approval, which often does not come.

And so several months later, I’ll see the same property pop back up on the MLS. Except now it’s owned by the bank.

The Obama administration said last week that it had helped 500,000 homeowners avoid such a fate with its mortgage relief program. But new defaults are on the rise. This was the seventh month in a row where foreclosures were filed on more than 300,000 properties.

If mortgage relief efforts don’t kick in for millions of homeowners soon, we’re likely to see a fresh wave of foreclosures next year.

Written by Sue Fox // Please leave a comment.