First, banks started failing because of subprime loans turned bad. Now, it's construction and commercial real estate loans that are bringing down major financial institutions.
The federal government provides official mortgage and foreclosure information in Spanish at its website www.GobiernoUSA.gov. The site includes a summary of the Making Home Affordable plan which includes information about refinance and loan modification options.
Everyone keeps talking about a wave of foreclosures still to come. But the latest numbers, at least here in Illinois, seem to indicate a decline. So what's really going on?
Drive through some Chicago neighborhoods and you'll see boarded-up house after boarded-up house. Sure, the family probably couldn't afford to pay the mortgage, and the bank followed through on its right to take back the home.
In a previous post I mentioned Countrywide is paying restitution to some Hoosier homeowners as part of a $150 million multi-state settlement.
There are thousands of Illinoisans who are also eligible for a chunk of that change.
Chicago rents have fallen an average of 1.5 percent so far this year, and vacancies in most parts of the city have been rising since 2007, according to a new study by the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University.
