Illinois Bucks the Foreclosure Trend

The number of U.S. homes now in foreclosure has more than doubled in the third quarter according to an Associated Press article published on November 2nd. Illinois foreclosure filings however, have declined in the through the same period. Illinois claimed 20,008 foreclosure filings in the third quarter on 19,128 properties, bucking the trend with a 4.2 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a slight 3.4 percent increase over the same period last year.

The lead story regarding foreclosures nationally paints a bleak picture but not necessarily for Illinois. For more information regarding foreclosure data and general real estate questions, please visit my consulting page at Heldt Realty.

Foreclosure Activity Down in June

Here's some invaluable foreclosure information from RealtyTrac. They publish the largest and most comprehensive national database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over 1 million properties from nearly 2,500 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.

New Wave of Foreclosures with Lower Price Tags

An article published today on MSN entitled Foreclosures: Will Banks cut their losses? sheds light on how the foreclosure market works and how it has been affected by the current economic indicators. The article states that in the Chicago area for example, lenders are beginning to offer foreclosure properties at below the judgement amount. On the flip side of this scenario is the fact that profitable foreclosure deals for real estate investors have become increasingly hard to come by. Chicagoland banks however, are starting to consider pre-foreclosure deals called "short sales" where a buyer negotiates with a lender to purchase for less than the property is worth before it goes into foreclosure.

Heldt Realty's exclusive On-Call Consulting Program enables real estate investors to pursue their own endeavors while also providing them a professional “on-call" real estate services. Please contact me through my office should you have any questions.