You fought the good fight, but it was not enough. Due to financial hardship your family home has gone into foreclosure status and you are now facing eviction in your home state of Illinois. Not only are you reeling from the emotional pain associated with losing your home but you are also regretting not contacting an experienced foreclosure attorney at the onset of your financial difficulties. Now you are left wondering what happens next.

For those currently in foreclosure, without any recourse, subject to Illinois Civil Procedure Law (735 ILCS 5), take comfort that you will not be immediately forced to vacate your home, but if you choose to dig in your heels as a last ditch effort, the bank or the new homeowners are permitted to pursue eviction action against you as follows:

Self-Help Eviction

Purchasing a home requires planning and budgeting skills. Mortgage payments must be included on family calendars and paid on time. The joys of home ownership are great, but can require sacrifice. When hardships happen, it can make the home ownership even more stressful and financially difficult. In Illinois home owners do have the option of a short sale for their homes to quickly get rid of a home they no longer can afford.

Short sale is selling a property for less than what is still owed to the lender. In Illinois you must show that you have actual financial hardships that make it unable for you to make payments and better for you and the lender to rid the property lower than owed.

Typically, lenders will move forward with a short sale if the qualifications are met. You must show that you have lost a job, are receiving a reduction in income, business closure, divorce, illness/medical expenses, physically able to take care of the house, death in family, military duty or even a change in terms of your mortgage that make it unable to make payments. After notifying the lender of your intention to do a short sale, waiting for the approval and the amount you can go under to sell can be a nerve wrecking process. A bottom line price from the lender will help you negotiate your sale.

The worst of the housing crisis that began in 2007 is over, but the ripple effects continue to plague the economy and American homeowners and likely will for some time to come. According to RealtyTrac, 1 in every 869 housing units in the country received a foreclosure filing in January 2013, which is still a staggering number. Illinois was one of the worst states for foreclosures in January of this year, having 14,090 foreclosed properties in the month—one in every 375 units in the state, a number well above the national average. In fact, next to Florida and California, Illinois is ranked third in the nation for total number of foreclosures.

In February of this year, according to ABC News Local, “the Illinois Supreme Court has developed rules that require lenders to exhaust all efforts to help a homeowner before they can move forward with foreclosure.” This could help embattled homeowners to keep their properties, and was developed by Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis after “seeing deceptive practices impacting homeowners” in the state.

There are three rules set forth by the new legislation, according to ABC News. They include things such as required counseling for homeowners who are in danger of losing their home, and requiring more from the lenders “requesting foreclosure, like proof of the homeowner's debt and proof that a mortgage modification is not possible.”

British bank HSBC is going to pay $96 million to American homeowners and over $150 million in mortgage relief because its U.S. division unjustly foreclosed on homeowners who had the right to stay in their homes, the Huffington Post reported on January 18. HSBC will pay almost $100 million in cash compensation to over 110,000 homeowners. Additionally, the bank will have to pay $153 million, which will be used “toward reducing mortgage balances and forgiving outstanding principal on home sales that generated less than borrowers owed on their mortgages.” A single homeowner can expect a compensation that can range from several hundreds of dollars to $125,000, depending on the type of error made.

The settlement is similar to deals with 12 other banks, and in total, the 13 banks will pay $9.3 billion. The settlements may compensate homeowners who lost their homes due to improper foreclosure practices such as “robo-signing.” However, consumer advocates think that regulators settled for too low a compensation. After all, the effects of foreclosure can be devastating to families.

A foreclosure can happen when a borrower defaults or is unable to repay a mortgage debt, and the lender decides to take possession of the property to get back some of the loss. The recent housing crisis has brought over 4 million foreclosures and is far from over. If you are facing foreclosure, you should immediately contact a lawyer who can defend your rights and interests.

Now that mortgages rates have lowered, people are looking to refinance their homes in order to keep them. To be eligible for refinancing a mortgage, applicants must have good credit ratings and a steady income source. This presents a problem for older people who could really benefit from easier mortgage payments.

The AARP has released many figures that document the financial state of those considering retirement. More than 1.5 million individuals over the age of 50 have lost their homes since 2007. More than 3.5 million are currently at risk of foreclosure. More than 16% of homes owned by the baby boomers are underwater or lack the equity to refinance leading to foreclosures for those who are on a fixed budget.

It is also compounded by the fact that more people are still paying their mortgages after they have retired. “More older Americans are carrying mortgage debt than in the past, and the amount of that debt is also increasing…leading to their worsening situation,” said AARP vice president for policy Debra Whitman. “It's one thing if your housing value goes down in your 50s. It's another thing if you're 75. For some people, it's not like you can go back to work.”