Getting Real

Treasury Department Spotlight On Chicago Housing Market

On Friday the Treasury Department came out with their March Housing Scorecard with a Spotlight on the Chicago Housing Market for 14 area counties in 3 states. The headline of the report is that the Chicago housing market is more challenged than the nation as a whole and, while it showing some signs of recovery... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
April 8, 2012 at 11:17 am

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November Home Sales Finally Show Meaningful Improvement In Chicago

When the Illinois Association of Realtors releases the November home sales numbers for Chicago and Illinois in two weeks they will once again show a significant increase in closings over last year – this time approximately 20.3% higher. However, as I’ve pointed out on numerous occasions, it’s not really appropriate to compare 2011 sales to... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
December 7, 2011 at 3:19 pm

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Chicago September Home Sales Pathetic

When the IAR announces September home sales in a week and a half they will be trumpeting the fact that sales were up about 6.9% from last September. But the reality is the same as it has been for the past 4 months: this time last year was not normal. Sales were way depressed by... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
October 10, 2011 at 1:40 pm

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24% Increase In Foreclosures Not As Bad As It Seems

Despite the fact that RealtyTrac just released their August Foreclosure Market Report showing a 24% increase in foreclosure activity in Chicago from July it’s probably not as bad as it seems. As you can see from the more than 2 years of foreclosure activity in the graph below, fluctuations of this magnitude are not that... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
September 15, 2011 at 5:00 pm

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10 Months Of Low Chicago Foreclosure Activity Doesn't Mean A Damn Thing

RealtyTrac came out with their July Foreclosure Market Report the other day and it shows a continued depressed rate of foreclosure activity in Chicago and the nation. In the Chicago graph below you can see that this is the 10th month in a row where the foreclosure activity is below the previous year, which was... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
August 12, 2011 at 6:48 am

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Chicago Foreclosure Acitivity Remains "Low". Good News?

Once again the foreclosure activity for Chicago has been reported by RealtyTrac and it shows a continued subdued level of activity. That’s on a relative basis. Relative to 2009 and 2010, which were pretty awful. See the graph at the bottom of this post. So you would think that’s good news but RealtyTrac voices a... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
July 14, 2011 at 9:27 am

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Million Dollar University Village Foreclosure Closes Only 10% Below Bubble Peak

Ever since this single family home at 1420 S Emerald in University Village went into foreclosure I’ve had my eye on it, trying to guess what it was going to sell for. My guess was that there was no way it was going to sell for more than $1 MM. In fact, I had the... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
July 9, 2011 at 7:10 am

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More Foreclosure Delays: Slowly Peeling Away The Band-Aid

At this rate the pain of the current housing crisis is never going to end. RealtyTrac just came out with their April Foreclosure Market Report and on a national basis foreclosure activity reached a 40 month low as a result of “massive delays” in the foreclosure process, NOT because of any improvement in the housing... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
May 12, 2011 at 6:57 am

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After Lengthy Upward Trend Chicago Foreclosures Moderate

Late last week RealtyTrac came out with their 1st quarter foreclosure activity report. Accordingly they updated their March numbers. In Chicago the foreclosure activity was still subdued as a result of the delays caused by improper foreclosure processing. Although activity was up 39% from last month it was still down 5% from last year. At... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
April 18, 2011 at 2:53 pm

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Declining Foreclosures In Chicago Probably A Head Fake

After all the negative data I’ve been presenting lately regarding all the distressed or underwater homes in Chicago we have come to find out that foreclosure activity is actually on the decline. RealtyTrac actually released their numbers for January yesterday and it shows a continued decline in foreclosure activity in Chicago as shown in the... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
February 10, 2011 at 4:42 pm

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