Jack Lewitz

As part of our goal to become the “Number 1 Source forInformation about Illinois Foreclosures” we found it necessary to include a heading for “Commercial Real Estate”. http://www.ilrealestatespecialists.com

The process of searching for Commercial Real Estate Foreclosures is simple.

• Go to Active Listings tab on the home page.
• Register by typing email address and create password (skip this if already registered)
• Go to Search Property Type and Press “Commercial Listings”

Fannie Mae announced a new program on Thursday that may look like steak to some but taste like beef jerky. The program is called ‘The Deed for Lease Program.

‘The Deed for Lease Program”is a temporary solution to the foreclosure problem. The program is for homeowners who DO NOT qualify for a loan modification program but DO NOT want to move from their home.

In this program the borrower voluntarily transfers the deed back to the lender and the lender rents back the home to the borrower at Fair Market Value or no more than 31% of the borrowers gross monthly income.

Doe this sound familiar. It should because the 31% is also used as the criteria for the Home Affordable Modification program (HAMP) program. If Borrowers did not qualify for a home modification program why would anyone think the lender would now rent the same home to some who has defaulted on their mortgage and would not be considered a good candidate for a new loan.

There seems to be a flaw in logic to this plan. It may look like steak, smell like steak, but it taste like beef jerky…

I read an article in the Chicago Tribune business section “Housing Market hits ’some kind of bottom’”.

In the article it sited a recent study by The Standard & Poor’s/Case Shilling Index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas.

According to this study, home prices have showed a 1% increase in seasonally adjusted median home prices. The conclusion based on this study is that the housing market is at or close to being at bottom.

The article did point out that there were some sub-markets still struggling like Las Vegas, Charlotte N.C., Cleveland, and Phoenix. All of these cities are struggling with foreclosures.

But in general most markets were improving and the number 1 reason for the improvement was the Federal Governments First Time Homeowner Tax Credit of $8,000.00. The tax credit brought new home buyers out into the market and these buyers took advantage of lower home prices and low interest rates and began purchasing homes.

The conclusion of the article was ” The fundamental story is that housing got way too expensive, and now you could argue that housing is cheap again, and that is what it boils down to in 50 words or less.”

Are we to take this last statement for what its worth as fact. I think that this a simple answer to a very complicated situation. I have heard these arguments before like ” Too Big to Fail”, or ” The market will Correct itself” and I think they all have some major flaw. They generalize a problem to 1 simple answer and that is a problem in itself.

I have learned that Real Estate can not be viewed on a global level. Real Estate prices and values are based on sub-markets. These sub-markets can be from block to block.

Real Estate is based on Supply and Demand. If there is an over supply of property then price of a home will go down.

Real Estate is based on supply of money. When interest remain low then buyers can afford to buy.

If the Real Estate market relied on “Cheap Prices” as the article suggests then I guess we would all be millionaires by investing in Real Estate.

Lets not fool ourselves. We cannot predict when the market will hit bottom.

Is there a correlation between the number of Foreclosures and Unemployment. Can we assume that those States with more unemployment will have more Foreclosures?

Below are the ranks for the Top 10 Foreclosure States according to Realty Trac. Illinois is listed as 10th by Realty Trac but other poles show Maryland as 10th and Illinois slipping to 12th.

1 out of every House Holds (HH) is the number of family households that has received a foreclosure notice. This information came from a recent CNBC poll.

The unemployment data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

From the data we can understand why Michigan is listed as number 1 in terms of unemployment with the loss of jobs from the automobile industry in Detroit by why are they ranked 8th in terms of unemployment. Will there be more foreclosures in Michigan due to the high unemployment?

Nevada is Ranked number 1 in Foreclosures and Number 2 in terms of unemployment. These statistics make sense.

Yet Rhode Island which is ranked 3 in terms of unemployment at 13% does not even make the top 10 list in terms of Foreclosures. What is Rhode Island doing that other states are not?

In contrast Utah which is 6th on the list of states with the most Foreclosures (1 out 251 households) has the lowest unemployment rate at 6.2 %.

It appears the statistics are inconclusive when it comes to a coorelation between State Rank in Foreclosures and Unemployment Rate.

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