Richard Parr, Home Security Specialist Greater New Orleans, Louisiana

I just received a letter from the State Representative of the 46th Distirict, Dennis M. Reboletti. It discusses Senate Bill 3739, which was just passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

This is the GOOD news.

The bill extends the expiration date of the Homeowner Protection Act to July 1, 2013. This will continue to give homeowners who fall behind on their mortgage a 90-day "grace period" before banks can begin foreclosure proceedings.

Here is the BAD news....TWO NEW FEES!!!

1. Foreclosure Prevention Counseling Program Fund. A $50 fee for banks that file a foreclosure action against a borrower whom the financial institution (the mortgagee) has provided a mortgage...50% of the fee goes to the City of Chicago and the other half goes to the rest of the state, for HUD-certified counseling.

2. Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund. A fee of $1 per every $1,000 of purchase price (not to exceed $300) imposed on a buyer of a foreclosure property at a judicial sale.

Another program by the Government that will hurt the real estate market and the economy.

First if the banks get charged for something, they will find a way to charge us.

Second, as if buying a distressed property does not come with enough damage and risks, now we will get taxed for trying to fix up all of those houses on the market that are in bad shape.

I guess there is more good news after all....The prices should continue to decrease with more reasons not to buy, making homes more affordable for homebuyers.

Property values in Elmhurst, IL, are still better than 3 years ago. The data covers the last 4 years and shows that although the number of homes sold is down, the values are actually 15% higher than in 2005. The chart below shows the decline in detached single family homes sales from 2005-2008.

It is true, Elmhurst has shown declines in the number of homes sold. As a percentage, home sales are down about 22.4% during this period. Below you will see what has happened to local home values over this same period of time.

This graph shows the average price of homes sold in Elmhurst in the same time frame. Notice that the price in 2008 was almost $66,000 more than the prices three years ago and the prices actually spiked around $100,000 from 2005 to 2006 and remained there in 2007. The prices did fall in 2008 by about $42,000, but the only people that would have been affected significantly would be buyers in 2006 and 2007 who sold in 2008.

Consult your Elmhurst Realtor to get an accurate home valuation.

This information was obtained from the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois and the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors. The data is considered to be accurate, but not guaranteed. The search included only detached single family homes.

I received this link from a friend about secrets the banks do not want you to know regarding credit cards. Some of these practices I was not aware of and I am sure that many others are not. I just wanted to get this out there and hope it helps some of you.

The information is provided by the Millitary Spouse Career Center on Military.com and describes the problems followed by solutions. The article is titled, "10 Secrets Banks Don't Want You to Know About Credit Cards."

The number of homes sold in Woodridge have continued to drop, but the home values have grown. A recent multiple listing search for the 2nd quarter numbers ranging from 2005-2008 show that the home values in Woodridge, IL, have increased over 2005 numbers.

The graph above shows the decreases in the number of homes sold in Woodridge over the 2nd quarters of 2005-2008. The number of homes sold is down about 35% compared to 2005 and have been on a steady decline.

This bar graph shows what has happened to the home values over the same periods. Here you can see the growth over 2005-2007 mentioned earlier. Notice that even though the prices dropped this year the home values are still above 2005 by about $25,000 (about a 8.2% increase in value over 3 years). In 2007 there was a spike in value, but unless you bought in 2007 and sold this year it would not have affected your pocket book.

The national media has stated that the housing prices topped out in early 2005 and began to decrease in 2006. You can see here that that is not the case in Woodridge. The prices actually peaked last year and began to decline this year. The good news is that home values are still up in Woodridge over the last few years, regardless of what has been happening on the national level.

If you would like an accurate home valuation or are looking to buy a home, contact your DuPage Realtor.

This information was obtained from the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois and is considered to be accurate, but not guaranteed. The search included average prices of detached single family homes only.

A Multiple Listing search for Glen Ellyn, IL homes shows that even though the number of homes sold has decreased significantly, the home prices have remained about the same as in 2005. The information was based on 2nd quarter numbers for 2005-2008.

The bar graph above shows that the number of homes sold is down by about 41% compared to 2005. Notice that the number of homes sold remained relatively constant from 2005-2007, but this year there has been a significant decrease.

This graph shows the 2nd quarter prices in Glen Ellyn are about the same as in 2005. There was just a slight decrease of about $1,000 over 3 years. Notice that the prices actually climbed in 2006 and 2007 (a very big spike in 2007). Yes, the prices have decreased this year, but unless you bought in 2006 or 2007 and sold this year it would not show up in your pocket book. The good news is that Glen Ellyn home values have not been hit nearly as hard as many other parts of the nation.

If you would like to receive an accurate valuation of your home, or would like to buy soon contact your Glen Ellyn Realtor.

This information was obtained from the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois and is considered to be accurate, but not guaranteed. The search included only average prices of detached single family homes.