distressed: Tenants’ Rights On The Move in Illinois - 06/13/13 06:41 AM
In the last 60 days, there have been 2 major pushes in the Illinois rental market as it pertains to tenants’ rights when occupying a foreclosed unit, or a rental unit in receivership by the bank.
Currently, when the building is bought by an investor out of foreclosure, a tenant can be evicted at the end of their lease term.  If there is no active lease and the tenant is dwelling month to month, then the new landlord can evict the tenant, but only after delivering a 90 day notice.
If the new owner plans to use the property as … (0 comments)

distressed: Cook County puts together a Land Bank - 05/28/13 10:36 AM
At the end of 2012, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on creating the largest land bank in the US to begin solving issues in communities regarding the over populated nature of abandoned and vacant properties.
Their sole purpose will be to restore life into these communities by bringing distressed and foreclosed properties back to active tax paying status.  They will not only acquire these properties but also fix and manage them.
Currently, there are 85,000 pending foreclosures in Cook County, a number that is concerning to the land bank commissioner Bridget Gainer, and 90% of those filings will … (0 comments)

distressed: Small Income Rental Properties On The Rise - 03/03/13 04:34 AM
 
Small rental properties have risen in value along with your rent.  It’s no secret that the buyer has the upper hand in the current residential market.  According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, specifically in the 2-4 unit property category, to be the highest it’s been since 2009 and 10% higher than last year. 
In a study done by the De Paul University’s Institute for Housing Studies, 2-4 unit properties make up 33% of Cook County’s rental housing market and 38% of Chicago’s.  Their take on the rising cast of rentals is due to 1) the combination of … (1 comments)

distressed: The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow In Chicago's Housing Market - 09/28/12 11:45 PM
 
The Chicago metro area had the best home sales volume in 59 months according to reports by the Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR). In the last year sales were up 28.5%. There were 9,240 new and existing homes sold in the nine-county Chicago metropolitan area, compared to the 7,188 homes sold the year prior. Notable was the condo market whose sales increased 35.9%.
In the recent past there had been concerns that there would be a backlog of shadow inventory in states like Illinois where the foreclosure process takes longer, due to protections enacted by states to protect home owners … (0 comments)

distressed: Economics 101: If Demand Rises And Supply Doesn't, What About Price? - 08/19/12 11:39 AM
 
 
Sometimes it’s worthwhile to take a step back to go forward. In this case, I’m thinking good old fashion Econ 101.  If demand rises (and surely there has been evidence that demand is rising, and supply does not substantially change, what happens to price?
 
It will come as no surprise that for a number of reasons in the past years, there has been little demand.  So, when there is little demand, price keeps falling until a point in time that something happens.
 
Over the past 4 or more years, there had been a declining demand due to … (0 comments)