Michael Hobbs

Is it any surprise that the number of residential properties that transacted last year for more than $1,000,000 fell? Employment surely hasn't picked up that much. Nearly 6 million people have left (or been pushed out) of the job market in the past half a decade when time were more bouyant.

According to data from the Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) that was analyzed by Baird & Warner, the Chicago market area fell 8% from the prior year and have dropped a whopping 45% since the peak in 2007.

In 2007, there were 2,430 houses and condos which sold for more than $1 million, but in 2011, there were only 1,331 houses and condos that sold for more than $1 million.

The current inventory of houses and condos in that high-end price point, also referred to as jumbo real estate, equates to approximately 18 months of supply. Can we say 2014....?!

RealtyTrac released their year-end report on the nationwide housing markets and all-in-all things are some showing signs of improvement. Granted, some of them are artificial (robo-signing) led to a halt in foreclosures which as they resume will push up 2012 rates, but otherwise, there are signs that the high-water marks are receding.

For instance, the 2011 total of nearly 1.9 million properties with a foreclosure filing is a huge number BUT, in comparison to the past 4 years, it is the lowest reported total since 2007. Furthermore, it is 34% below 2010, 33% below 2009, and 19% below the 2008 total.

On a not-so-good note, the national average for total number of days from default notice to property foreclosure rose to 348 days, up from 336 days in the third quarter and up from 305 days in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Some good news for those in Illinois, Illinois did not make the top 20 metro list of foreclosure cities, but Illinois had a ratio of 1 out of 419 housing units in foreclosure or #8 in the nation with 1.95% of all units affected.

“Foreclosures were in full delay mode in 2011, resulting in a dramatic drop in foreclosure activity for the year,” said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “The lack of clarity regarding many of the documentation and legal issues plaguing the foreclosure industry means that we are continuing to see a highly dysfunctional foreclosure process that is inefficiently dealing with delinquent mortgages — particularly in states with a judicial foreclosure process.

“There were strong signs in the second half of 2011 that lenders are finally beginning to push through some of the delayed foreclosures in select local markets. We expect that trend to continue this year, boosting foreclosure activity for 2012 higher than it was in 2011, though still below the peak of 2010.”

Michael Hobbs, PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy

Just when you thought it was safe to back into the market and that the courts had taken the appropriate steps to eradicate faulty foreclosure actions, Illinois seemingly throws caution to the wind.

In speaking with Joe Varan, an advocate for homeowhers who have lost their residence unjustly in the foreclosure procuess, he talked about two particular matters and what it means for those who have been so unfortunately harmed by the Illinois court system.

He said Mr. Cruz and Mr. & Mrs. Majerczyk were in foreclosure and like so many they did not appear in court right away to defend their foreclosures. In reviewing the case file, their attorney found a defect in the paperwork and complained that the court didn't have jurisdiction to enter the foreclosure rulings.

In both cases, the trial court judges refused to follow the law and upheld the foreclosure of Mr. Cruz and Mr. & Mrs. Majercyzk residences. For those that would like the full account, see the link below to robosummons.

Joe Varan also pointed out that two separate rulings supported the trial court judges, The Illinois Court of Appeals had to approve robo-signing by stating that a stamp is a signature on a legal document, which Joe pointed out is against Illinois Law.

He went on to say that any other ruling would have to be in favor of Cruz and the Majerczyks. And, if it was, then it would potentially void all the foreclosure judgments that had similarly issued summonses (which is about 1/2 of all summons that Joe said he had seen.

Naturally, Joe is asking, what did the banks have to do to get this special ruling? I've included copies of the summons and the rulings in each case for your review; you be the judge!

Joe set up a site to describe what happened along with the actual documents in question.

https://sites.google.com/site/robosummons/

Joe also set up a blog so you can comment on the website:

http://robosummons.blogspot.com/

Joe Varan is on a crusade to help stop the Judges that are denying Illinois citizens' rights.

Michael Hobbs, PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy

As the Federal Government seriously takes on the task of dealing with the inventory of foreclosed properties in this country (and we here in the greater Chicago-land area made the unfortunate top 5 list of cities with significant federal concentration of foreclosed homes), it begs the question:

Would YOU rather have the house on your block (which the prior owner lost due to foreclosure) vacant or rented? and why?

Michael Hobbs, PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy

So tonite, Chicago like so many other cities is now experiencing its first real visual confirmation of winter. Namely, snowfall. And tonite, like so many other nights, there are many foreclosed and vacant homes in the Chicago metro area.

So, if snow falls on a foreclosed house, is it still a foreclosure? I mean, depending on the amount of snowfall we get, it is conceivable that so much of the house (or houses) could be covered up that you can't tell one house from another.

Granted, at some point, the snow will melt and reality will return, but for tonite, those foreclosed houses look just like the neighboring houses (save the big sheets of plywood covering up windows and doors :-)

Michael Hobbs, PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy