Getting Real

Chicago Foreclosure Activity Declining Again

RealtyTrac released their April Foreclosure Market Report yesterday and it shows a continued decline in activity for the nation as a whole. Foreclosure activity in Chicago continues in a general decline for the third month in a row after trending upwards for 6 months. Declines were experienced across the board in default notices, bank repossessions... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
May 18, 2012 at 7:09 am

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RealtyTrac's March Foreclosure Report: Chicago Static

RealtyTrac’s March Foreclosure Report just came out and it shows fairly static foreclosure activity for Chicago in March vs. February. It’s hard to tell from the graph below but bank repossessions were actually down a bit, offset by increases in default notices and auctions. The foreclosure report focuses on the first quarter and at the... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
April 12, 2012 at 9:16 am

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Maybe The Chicago Housing Market Isn't So Fragile After All

Yesterday I posted on the Treasury Department report on the Chicago housing market which characterized the market as “fragile”. However, that report seemed to focus on the hardest hit parts of this market and the most distressed homeowners. It makes sense, given their agenda. However, now that I’ve pulled the March transaction activity for Chicago... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
April 9, 2012 at 6:30 am

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How Long Do Foreclosures Take In Illinois?

If you do a Google search for Illinois foreclosure timelines you will see that most legal experts seem to think it should take about 210 – 270 days. However, that’s in theory and the reality is far different. We all know of lots of anecdotes of people being able to live in their homes for... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
March 26, 2012 at 7:53 am

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Chicago Foreclosure Activity Down 18% In February

RealtyTrac just released their February foreclosure activity report and it shows Chicago foreclosure activity for February down 18% from January. The decline was manifest in all 3 foreclosure stages tracked by RealtyTrac: default, auctions, and bank repossessions. However, you have to look at this decline in the context of the historic variability of these numbers... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
March 15, 2012 at 10:43 am

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Chicago Home Sale Activity Skyrockets In February

It will be another 2 weeks before the Illinois Association of Realtors releases February home sales for Chicago. When they do the headline increase will be around 12.5% (it may actually be as high as 17.4% but there seems to be another data discrepancy that I need to report) – not bad – and I’m... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
March 7, 2012 at 8:08 am

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Chicago Foreclosure Activity Taking Off Again

RealtyTrac released their January Foreclosure Market Report the other day and on a national basis it shows that foreclosure activity is gradually increasing after a long period of hibernation. The report also shows that foreclosure activity in Florida, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania increased on a year over year basis for the first time in a... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
February 18, 2012 at 7:14 am

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Is The Foreclosure Abuse Settlement A Good Thing?

I’ve been debating all day about whether or not to write this post about today’s announcement about the $25 Billion foreclosure abuse settlement between the US government and 5 major banks. As I understand it the settlement includes several provisions as to where the money from the banks will go: $1.5 Billion goes to borrowers... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
February 9, 2012 at 10:34 pm

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University Village Mid-Rise Lofts: 2011 Was A Tough Real Estate Market

At the southern end of University Village, just north of the railroad tracks, are 4 mid-rise loft/ condo buildings. At the eastern end are the newer construction loft buildings at 811 and 833 W 15th St. Just west of them are the converted loft buildings at 1524 and 1525 S Sangamon. Each of these 4... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
January 27, 2012 at 2:46 pm

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Don't Get Too Excited About 2011's 34% Drop In Foreclosure Activity

Yesterday RealtyTrac released their 2011 Year-End Foreclosure Report which included the December data. The big headline of this report is that there was a 34% drop in foreclosure activity last year and that foreclosure activity was at the lowest level since 2007. But when you read beyond the headline it doesn’t sound quite as good... Read more »

By Gary Lucido,
January 13, 2012 at 6:17 am

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