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Thursday, March 28, 2013 Completed Home Foreclosures Drop to Lowest Rate Since 2007 From the Wall Street Journal: The number of foreclosed U.S. homes that were sold or seized by lenders in February fell to the lowest level in almost five and a half years, while the number of homes slated for foreclosure also eased, data from CoreLogic showed on Thursday. There were 54,000 foreclosures completed last month, down nearly 7 percent from 58,000 in January, according to CoreLogic. Foreclosures were down about 19 percent from 67,000 a year ago. It was the lowest level since September 2007. A foreclosure is completed when a home is sold or repossessed by the lender. The timeline to foreclose on distressed homes has lengthened since the housing market collapsed, leaving about 1.2 million homes in some stage of the foreclosure process in February. Still, the foreclosure inventory was down 1.8 percent from January and down 21 percent from the year before, CoreLogic said. February's inventory accounted for 2.8 percent of all mortgages, down from 3.5 percent in February 2012. Prior to the problems in the housing market, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 a month nationwide between 2000 and 2006. Since the financial crisis escalated in September 2008, there have been about 4.2 million foreclosures. Though they still remain elevated, foreclosures have eased as the housing market recovery has gained traction. "The drop in delinquencies and foreclosure starts will help support a resurgence in the home purchase market this year and next," Anand Nallathambi, chief executive of CoreLogic, said in a statement. Five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures in the country. Florida led the way with 95,000 foreclosures sold, followed by California, Michigan, Texas and Georgia. Florida also had the highest amount of foreclosure inventory, accounting for 9.9 percent of mortgages. New Jersey, New York, Nevada and Illinois rounded out the top five.  4:37 pm cdt  Monday, March 4, 2013 Zombie Foreclosures: Borrowers Hit With Debt That Won't Die From CNN.com on February 20th. In these "zombie foreclosures," borrowers move out after their bank schedules a foreclosure auction only to learn months or years later that the auction never took place or the bank never transferred the deed. That means the borrower still technically owns the house and is on the hook for property taxes, fees and homeowners' association dues. Since the housing bubble burst seven years ago, almost two million properties have started but never completed the foreclosure process, according to RealtyTrac. While no one knows the exact number, it's estimated that tens of thousands could be zombie foreclosures. Many of these homes are in low-income communities where foreclosures are so difficult to sell that lenders sometimes delay taking possession to save on taxes and other costs that then stay under the borrower's name. Those debts can then go unpaid for years because the borrower is unaware they owe them, further slamming their credit score and making life after foreclosure even harder. "The most frustrating part is that I can't move on," said Rose Nathan, a 37-year-old office manager. Nathan lost her South Bend, Ind., home in January 2009, after working out a deal with CitiMortgage to voluntarily walk away in a "deed in lieu of foreclosure." "On Christmas Eve, the bank called and told me a sheriff's sale was coming and I had to move out right away," she said. "So that's what I did -- seven days after New Year's." She sold her belongings and moved to Hawaii. Nearly two years later, she received a property tax bill from the City of South Bend for $5,000. The bank had never taken possession of the house. Citi told her attorney, Judith Fox, that the holdup was due to a lien on the home that they were never told about. Nathan said she knew of no liens at the time of the transaction. Upon doing a title search, Fox found no evidence of a lien until well after the bank agreed to the deed-in-lieu deal. Meanwhile, the unpaid debt has crushed Nathan's credit score. The deed-in-lieu alone lowered her score by 80 to 120 points, but the unpaid debt meant her credit kept taking a hit. Eventually her credit card companies cut her off, even though she said she was making her payments. Her auto loan now carries a 25% rate. Her car insurance premiums have skyrocketed. She can only afford a one-bedroom apartment where she lives with her three kids. And forget about buying another home. "Nobody will give me a mortgage," she said. Citi declined to comment on the case. Nathan said she has since paid off the lien with the hope that Citi will take the deed on the home. Mustapha Sesay, a 45 year-old father of two, thought he had lost his Brandywine, Md., home in 2008. But two years later, a debt collector called telling him he owed $70,000. The holder of his second mortgage had never forgiven his debt -- even though the lender holding his primary mortgage had foreclosed on the home. Typically the second mortgage holder is out of luck if there isn't enough cash from the foreclosure sale to pay off both the first and second lien, said Cheryl Cassell, director of the housing counselor network for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. But, depending on state law, second mortgage holders can sue homeowners to pay off the notes -- even after they lose the home in a foreclosure or the lender can sell the debt to a collection agencies. In Sesay's case, the debt collector calls every week or two. He has had little luck stopping it. "I talk to credit counselors, lawyers," he said. Sesay would have been well on the way to credit score recovery. But now, he said, "I could move to Alaska in winter and no one would lend me ice." Bill Purdy, a real estate attorney in Soquel, Calif., said borrowers can't always trust lenders to file foreclosure paperwork properly. In November 2011, when his client Christopher Warner's Felton, Calif., home was auctioned off, his mortgage debt was fully extinguished -- standard practice based on California law. Warner's lender, however, recorded $120,000 on its books as debt -- the difference between what he owed and what the house sold for -- and gave it to a collection agency. The debt has lowered Warner's credit score by an additional 100 points, he estimated. "It nearly put me into bankruptcy," he said. He has hired Purdy to get the debt collectors off his back. In a $25 billion settlement with the state attorneys general last spring, the nation's five largest mortgage lenders agreed to inform borrowers of any decision to forgo or delay a foreclosure. But victim's attorneys said the banks have not been careful about following that policy. Borrowers can get credit counseling from community advocacy groups, like those affiliated with NeighborWorks America and NCRC. They can call the HopeNow Hotline to connect with a counselor near them. The organizations don't charge for their services and they are experienced in working with borrowers in trouble.   1:01 pm cst  Thursday, February 7, 2013 How to Prevent Dryer Fires My insurance company sent out this newsletter to discuss dryer fires. The improper material used for the venting system on dryers is a common inspection problem that clients encounter in their purchases. Your dryer could very well cause a fire—but you can stop one before it starts. By: Ashley Weber Laundry is part of life’s weekly grind, but did you know that dryers cause roughly 15,500 home structure fires, 29 deaths, 400 injuries and $192 million in direct property loss each year?1  What’s more, most dryer fires happen in the winter.2 The Causes The most common cause of dryer fires is failure to do a thorough cleaning. Because a lint trap is not a foolproof method for catching all the fuzzy stuff your dryer produces, lint can gradually build up and catch fire in the heating element or exhaust duct. Further compounding the problem is the fact that many people now install dryers outside of their basements. This typically results in dryer vent pipes being much longer. Those longer vent pipes have a greater likelihood of being twisted and turned to accommodate the structure of the home—and that creates spaces for lint to collect Kevin Sippy, a property adjuster in ERIE's Wisconsin Branch, inspects about five dryer fires every year. One particularly bad one happened when a Customer laundered an item containing a type of rubber not meant to be dried at a hot temperature. When she turned the dryer to high, the material combusted and caused a blaze that destroyed $44,000 worth of property. In another instance, a Customer suffered $200,000 of property damage from a fire that started after she took her laundry out of the dryer. That Customer washed towels that had been soaked in a sizable amount of sanitizing solution. She then placed the towels, which still had traces of the sanitizing solution, in the dryer. When the towels dried, they ended up spontaneously combusting and causing a fire that burned through an entire floor. “We literally had to gut the house,” says Sippy, who changed his own laundry habits after that fire. “Now, I never dry anything higher than the low setting—I’d rather take a little longer to dry my clothes than burn my house down.” 9 Tips to Prevent Dryer Fires A little maintenance and awareness can make a big difference when it comes to preventing dryer fires. Read on for nine proven preventive tips. 1Source: NFPA's Home Fires Involving Clothes Dryers and Washing Machines, John R. Hall, Jr., September 2012   2:57 pm cst  Wednesday, January 30, 2013 Mortgage-free Living Lures Young and Old From yesterday's Chicago Tribune: What mortgage meltdown? While millions of Americans have suffered the angst of lost homes, equity and pride, nearly a third of the nation's homeowners have no mortgage at all, according to an estimate released Thursday by real estate website Zillow. The free-and-clear class includes, predictably, retirees who have chipped away at their debts for decades, but also a surprisingly high percentage of young people and those who live in relatively affordable regions. Economists and housing analysts said that Zillow's estimates are in line with historical norms. But the proportion of these owners is likely to grow as the nation's baby boomers reach retirement. The fact that they can pay cash when they move will make them increasingly important players in a recovering housing market. "Those are the people who have the greatest flexibility," said Svenja Gudell, a senior economist with Zillow. As the economy picks up, regions with high percentages of free-and-clear owners probably will get a boost. "That means there is a lot more disposable income," said Celia Chen, a housing economist with Moody's Economy.com. "That is positive for the local economy." Out of the nation's largest metro areas, Pittsburgh; Tampa, Fla.; New York; Cleveland; and Miami had the highest percentages of mortgage-free homeowners. Washington, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Denver and Charlotte, N.C., had the lowest. That compares with 29.3 percent nationally — nearly 21 million homeowners. A big factor in regional variation is median home values, with lower-priced areas not surprisingly having higher outright ownership rates. Zillow also found that the nation's most elderly were the most likely to own their homes. One outlier was those homeowners 20 to 24. Out of that relatively young demographic, about 34.5 percent owned their homes outright. These homeowners could be young millionaires, those with trust funds or those who received help from their parents. People who own their homes outright have always been a significant part of the housing market, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. But the recent financial crisis may drive more people toward the financial security of having no house note. "Clearly that is going to be a growing trend as our population ages," Cecala said. "The credit crisis has pushed more and more people to think that the best way they can prepare for retirement is with no mortgage at all." Delia Fernandez, a certified financial planner in Los Alamitos, Calif., said that even with interest rates so low, those seeking her guidance for retirement often want to pay off debts. And that makes sense, particularly for those nearing retirement. "The financial argument has always been to borrow other people's money and invest the rest," she said. But "that higher rate of return is not always guaranteed. . In the meantime, as you get closer and closer to retirement, people want to take on less and less risk." Victor Robinette, a certified financial planner with Raymond James Financial Services Inc. in South Pasadena, Calif., said customers have been asking him more often these days about paying off the mortgage. "During the boom days, and before, there was hardly any interest in paying off debt because people were so confident that the value of their home was going to go up," Robinette said. "Nowadays, after four or five years of being bruised, people really appreciate the comfort of having the house paid off. And so many people still have concerns about possibly losing their livelihood."   10:21 am cst  Thursday, January 17, 2013 Illinois Top 5 in Foreclosures in 2012 From today's Chicago Tribune: Foreclosure activity fell 3 percent on a national level last year from 2011 but higher foreclosures in half of the states, including Illinois, showed the uneven pace of the housing recovery. Homeowners, including those in the Chicago area, did get some good news in a second report issued Thursday that showed fewer homeowners were underwater on their mortgages. Nationwide, foreclosure notices were filed against 1.84 million properties last year, a sizable decline from 2010, the peak year, when foreclosures affected 2.9 million properties, according to a year-end RealtyTrac report issued Thursday. Of the 25 states where foreclosure activity rose in 2012, 20 of them are judicial states, where foreclosures are handled by local court systems. Illinois is among those states, and in 2012, foreclosure activity in the state rose 33 percent from 2011. In Illinois, 2.58 percent of homes received a foreclosure filing last year, meaning it had the fifth highest state foreclosure rate in the nation in 2012. The four states ahead of Illinois were Florida, where 3.11 percent of properties received a foreclosure filing, followed by Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, said RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for distressed properties. In Cook County, the state's most populous county, 70,233 properties received a foreclosure filing in 2012. Totals for other Chicago-area counties included DuPage, 10,443; Kane, 8,564; Kendall, 2,306; Lake, 10,555; McHenry, 5,419; and Will, 9,591. At the end of the year, there were 135,858 properties in Illinois that were either in some stage of the foreclosure process or already bank-owned. In Illinois, it takes an average 697 days for a property to complete the foreclosure process. That pales in comparison to some other states. Foreclosures take an average of 1,089 days in New York, 987 days in New Jersey and 853 days in Florida. "Although we are comfortably past the peak of the foreclosure problem nationally, 2013 is likely to be book-ended by two discrete jumps in foreclosure activity," said Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac vice president, in a release. "We expect to seek continued increases in judicial foreclosure states near the beginning of the year as lenders finish catching up with the backlogs in those states, and another set of increases in some non-judicial states near the end of the year as lenders adjust to the new laws and process some deferred foreclosures in those states." Foreclosure filings can include the initial notice of default, notice that a auction of the home has been scheduled and notice that the property has been repossessed by the lender. RealtyTrac said home price increases are helping consumers slowly gain back some equity in their homes. A report by housing data provider CoreLogic echoed that finding. At the end of the October, 10.7 million residential properties, or 22 percent of all properties with a mortgage, were underwater, meaning more was owed on the mortgage than the value of the property. That compares with 22.3 percent at the end of June. Another 2.3 million properties were considered in a near-negative equity situation, meaning they had less than 5 percent equity in their homes. In the Chicago area, more homes were underwater than the national average but the situation is improving. CoreLogic found 451,684 homes, or 29.6 percent of residential properties with a mortgage, were underwater, compared with 30.1 percent at the end of June. The percentage of properties that had near-negative equity locally remained the same, at 4.7 percent, or about 71,000 homes. CoreLogic economists attributed the equity gains to rising home prices, sent higher in part because of tight inventory levels across the country. 1:36 pm cst  Friday, January 4, 2013 Congress extends Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act through 2013 Great news for those who are considering a short sale in 2013! Congress has extended the certain provisions of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act through the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 until December 31, 2013. This act benefits qualified homeowners who may have otherwise owed taxes on forgiven debt after going through a short sale. Homeowners will continue to receive their 1099-C forms. Please keep in mind that homeowners should always consult their tax advisor so they can evaluate their personal situation and understand their tax payments. 3:23 pm cst  Monday, December 10, 2012 Navigating the Foreclosure Pipeline From today's Chicago Tribune: Although she is an attorney with decades of experience, Mary Flynn joined the ranks of the unemployed after the social services agency she worked for cut jobs this year. Unable to keep up with mortgage payments for her Berwyn home, Flynn wasted no time enrolling in the federal Hardest Hit Fund program. "I filled out an application on March 31 and was approved by May," Flynn said. The program, which has a $25,000 cap per recipient, paid bank penalties she had incurred, then reduced her mortgage by one-third. Flynn now has a temporary job in her field, which she hopes to parlay into a permanent one. "Hardest Hit was the bridge that helped me keep my home," she said. Hardest Hit is one of several federal funds designed to help unemployed and underemployed borrowers keep up with mortgage payments. It is the biggie, with $57 million dispersed to homeowners in Illinois alone since it was launched in 2011. The government offers other programs under the Making Home Affordable umbrella. They include mortgage modification, principal reduction and refinancing programs, as well as resources geared toward veterans. Illinois ranks third nationally in delinquent home loans, behind Florida and New Jersey, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Borrowers facing foreclosure can pursue other remedies. The federal independent foreclosure review program provides a third-party review and, in some cases, offers compensation. Residents of Cook, Madison, Peoria and Will counties can take advantage of county mediation programs to try to resolve foreclosure claims. Minority homeowners who were given mortgages under unfair terms can tap into restitution programs such as the Wells Fargo Fair Lending and Civil Rights Violations Settlement and the Countrywide Mortgage Fair Lending and Civil Rights Violations Settlement. At the state level, the Illinois Foreclosure Prevention Network coordinates federal programs with local agencies, hosts foreclosure prevention workshops for homeowners and has free counseling services that homeowners can reach through a hotline, 855-KEEP-411, and website, keepyourhomeillinois.org. On its website, illinoisattorneygeneral.gov, the Illinois attorney general's office offers mortgage-related resources for distressed homeowners. Because of the Illinois Homeowner Protection Act, borrowers at risk of default have a 90-day grace period before lenders can initiate foreclosures. This law expires July 1. Typical of many federal grant programs, Hardest Hit money is dispersed locally after recipients meet with counselors approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Flynn's counselor, for example, was with the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Inc.'s Chicago office, which also has an Elgin office. In addition to advising homeowners about keeping up with their mortgages, HUD counselors teach basic money management. "More and more, that includes credit counseling," said Ruth Contreras-Di Diana, director of counseling for the Greater Southwest Development Corp. in Chicago. "The banks tell us that homeowners are having trouble overcoming their credit card debt, especially." She said her crew "triages" clients so they can help those with the most dire situations first. After the counselors help clients secure new mortgage terms, the counselors talk to them about financial goals. Contreras-Di Diana said she tells clients: "You may be back on your feet for now, but what about after that? Where will you be financially in a year and how are you planning for that?" Pablo Arontes, of Niles, praises the counselors at the Spanish Coalition for Housing in Chicago for their advice, which included renting out a room in his house and increasing his work hours. Both recommendations help him pay his mortgage, which was modified. "After my partner died, it was hard to make the mortgage myself," Arontes said. "The coalition helped me apply for a loan modification by showing the bank the lease for my renter and proof of my raise." His lender agreed to a trial modification, then granted a permanent modification that reduced his monthly payment. Theotha Lane, of Chicago, said the counselors at the Chicago Urban League helped him wade through the stacks of paperwork required to alter his mortgage. "The bank kept asking for other documents," Lane said of his application for a loan modification after he lost his job this year. "Since we got the mortgage in 1989, it had been sold to other banks eight times, so I had piles of papers." Because of Chicago Urban League's help, Lane said his bank reduced the principal on his loan. His monthly payment went to $700 from $1,100, which he and his wife can manage on her salary alone. "Now, we're making it," Lane said. Just because a credit counseling agency is labeled nonprofit, keep in mind that its services might not be free, affordable or legitimate. Some organizations charge high fees or urge consumers to make voluntary contributions. Some of the larger banks in the country, including those that have been sued for mortgage or foreclosure fraud, are funneling money to grass-roots organizations that are helping homeowners in need. Bank of America gave $22 million in 2012 to Chicago nonprofit organizations, including the Chicago Urban League, Greater Southwest Development Corp. and the Spanish Coalition for Housing. Bank of America also invests in its customer assistance centers, where homeowners can get free advice. Local centers are in Chicago and Bolingbrook. "Don't be afraid to call us," said Kevin Gallagher, mortgage manager at Bank of America's Chicago office. "Then be careful of scammers. Some send you letters that look like they're from your bank. In general, if they ask for money, they're not legit." Out of the ashes has emerged a new type of private-sector business that helps struggling homeowners through cash reward systems. Loan Value Group (www.loanvaluegroup.com) in New Jersey, for example, offers the Responsible Homeowner Reward program. It gives cash rewards to homeowners with negative equity after they reach certain milestones. The lender selects the eligible homeowners and covers the cost. "It does not alter the mortgage," said Frank Pallotta, Loan Value Group partner. "It's based on the psychology that if we have incentives, we're more likely to pay the mortgage before spending the money elsewhere." When all else fails, take your lender to court to force it to negotiate with you, said Alan Sims, author of the e-book "Sue Your Bank." Through his book, website and email coaching, Sims guides consumers through the small claims court system, which is simpler and quicker than filing a lawsuit with a higher court. "Illinois has a great small claims system," said Sims, a forensic real estate appraiser based in Redlands, Calif. "The maximum judgment is $10,000, but you don't need a lawyer. Costs vary by county, but expect to pay about $250." Homeowners whose houses have been foreclosed can use the small claims court to restore credit. "That's a huge part of moving forward," Sims said. Even if your financial future looks grim, persistence sometimes pays off. "I kept getting denied but kept reapplying until it worked," Arontes said. "Get help and don't give up." 3:25 pm cst  Thursday, November 29, 2012 Tenancy by the Entirety for Couples in a Civil Union Recently I have had a few couples who are parties to a civil union in Illinois purchase property together. In the State of Illinois, those couples can now take property as married couples do in "tenancy by the entirety". That means that you have extra legal homestead protection against personal liens, lawsuits, judgments, etc. (This does not include joint debt or lawsuits that affect both people). The State of Illinois has not yet verbalized how the deed should read, but taking from Vermont and a couple of other states that are farther along in the process, I have been using their verbiage of "Joe Doe and Bob Buck, parties to a civil union in the state of Illinois" for my clients. Remember when you purchase property together to ask your attorney about this option in taking title! 1:48 pm cst  Tuesday, November 6, 2012 VOTE! Make sure you go and vote today! :) 1:33 pm cst  Home Sales Jump in the Burbs, Sink in the City From Chicago Real Estate Daily - Local new-home sales are surging in the suburbs but dropping off in the city, a tale of two markets as the homebuilding business rebounds from a six-year slump. The nascent homebuilding recovery has been more sprawling than skyscraping in Chicago, with suburban new-home sales jumping nearly 22 percent at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate in the third quarter, while city sales fell nearly 43 percent, according to a report by Tracy Cross & Associates Inc. Area builders overall are on pace to sell 3,221 new homes this year, up 11.1 percent from the recorded total last year. Such an annual gain would be the first since 2005, but the recovery isn't being felt everywhere. The housing bust all but stopped condominium development downtown, where many urbanites are choosing to rent instead of buy in a city with shiny new apartment towers and a still uncertain condo market. “The former buyer now becomes the renter in the city,” said Mr. Cross, president of his Schaumburg-based consultancy.  Yet single-family sales have jumped 36 percent on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis over last year in the suburbs, where builders face less competition from the rental market. Sales of suburban condos and townhouses also rose 6 percent in the third quarter. “People are tired of waiting around, whether buying a new home or downsizing, the buyers we're serving are ready to move on with their lives,” said Brian Brunhofer, president of Deerfield-based Meritus Homes, which has sold five homes in northwest suburban Long Grove after opening a 20-home development there 90 days ago. Meritus bought the site, as well as others it is relaunching in Naperville and St. Charles, after the housing bust wiped out prior developers.  “We're not getting close to 10, 15,000 permits anytime soon, but you see people are believing it's a good time to buy right now,” Mr. Brunhofer said.  Without annualizing sales and adjusting for seasonality, developers sold 740 homes in the third quarter, up 8.2 percent from 684 sales a year earlier. Only 84 of those sales were in the city, where new-home sales dropped 42.5 percent from the same period last year. Though the data is encouraging, builders are nowhere near the peak of the market in 2005, when they sold 33,287 homes. Read more: http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20121030/CRED0701/121039990/new-home-sales-jump-in-burbs-sink-in-city#ixzz2BTLgS9m3  1:29 pm cst

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