Courtesy of Chicago Tribune, 9/15/11
Notices of mortgage default, the first step in the home foreclosure process, jumped 25 percent in Illinois last month, putting the threat of additional strain on local housing markets.
In August, 7,264 Illinois households received default notices in August, compared to 5,786 households that had foreclosure proceedings started against them by lenders in July, RealtyTrac reported Thursday. It was the most default notices filed against Illinois homeowners since March.
Illinois' heightened activity mirrors a national trend. Across the country, 78,880 U.S. properties received a default notice in August, a nine-month high and a 33 percent increase from July. Still, default notices were down 18 percent nationally from August 2010 and a 44 percent drop from the 142,064 default notices -- a monthly peak -- that were filed in April 2009.
"This is really the first time we've seen a significant increase in the number of new foreclosure actions," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac told Reuters. "It's still possible this is a blip, but I think it's much more likely we're seeing the beginning of a trend here."
States where default notices rose more than 40 percent from July included New Jersey, Indiana and California.
Meanwhile, also in Illinois last month, 2,390 properties were scheduled for a court-ordered auction and 2,839 properties became banked-owned. Overall, foreclosure activity in the state rose almost 18 percent from July but was still down 25 percent from August 2010.
Commentary: This is bad but not surprising. With the economy still struggling to grow, these kinds of stories will be common for some time. If you receive a notice of default, call my office right away to discuss your options, one of which is a short sale. My office handles short sales every day. For a free consultation, call Attorney Bradford Miller at 312-238-9298.
Posted by Bradford Miller Law, P.C.
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