Posted on September 16, 2022 in Foreclosure

While the specifics of mortgage loans—and the associated paperwork—can be quite complicated, one thing is easy to understand: If you do not make your scheduled payments, your lender will eventually file a foreclosure action and take back your home. Just to be clear, foreclosure is the legal process that a lender uses to take possession of a property from a borrower who did not keep up with their obligations as specified in the mortgage loan agreement. Other things could cause a lender to initiate foreclosure, but the vast majority of foreclosures stem from borrowers defaulting on their payments.

The process of foreclosure can be overwhelmingly difficult for many homeowners, and it is extremely easy to make expensive mistakes under such stress. An error in the process could cost you a great deal, but if you are aware of where most people make mistakes, you can be sure to avoid them. A qualified foreclosure defense lawyer can also help.

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 Posted on August 10, 2022 in Arlington Heights Foreclosure Attorney

Since the housing bubble burst over a decade ago, the thought of foreclosure has become a near-constant concern for homeowners across the country. Those dealing with financial struggles may be worried that late or missed mortgage payments will lead to them losing their homes. For those who have refinanced or obtained a second mortgage on their homes, things are often uncertain, especially as it pertains to what happens if they default on a second or additional mortgage. If you are in such a situation, a qualified foreclosure defense lawyer can help you understand your available options.

What You Should Know About Second Mortgages

Any loan that qualifies as a mortgage is considered a secured debt. This means the loan is secured by collateral, and in the case of a mortgage loan, the collateral is the home itself. If you default on your mortgage, the lender can foreclose on the home and take the house. This applies to the mortgage that allowed you to buy the home as well as any subsequent mortgages. It also applies to home equity loans taken out with the home as collateral.

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 Posted on July 25, 2022 in Real Estate

Originally published: October 6, 2021 -- Updated: June 25, 2022

Last fall, we shared some of our thoughts about digital closings for residential real estate transactions and how they started to become popular during the Coronavirus pandemic. As concern about the virus slowly decreases—although it will probably never go back to pre-crisis levels—it appears that electronic real estate closings are here to stay.

The Benefits of eClosings

In most cases, originating a traditional mortgage takes roughly 30 days from the initiation of the application to closing. As more and more digital lending platforms emerge, the use of artificial intelligence and data processing allows lenders and borrowers to remove a number of manual steps from the process of fulfillment.

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 Posted on June 24, 2022 in Real Estate

Investments in real estate can be very lucrative. However, there are a variety of concerns that will need to be addressed when purchasing real property. If a buyer will be assuming ownership of property that tenants currently occupy, they will need to be prepared to assume existing leases and understand any other contracts that are in place. Those who are planning to embark on a real estate development project will need to ensure that they have the proper construction permits and are in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. To ensure that all of these issues will be addressed correctly, it is crucial to work with an attorney who can help perform due diligence during a transaction.

Issues to Address When Performing Due Diligence

An investor can protect their financial interests by gathering all information needed to ensure that they fully understand the risks and benefits of a commercial real estate transaction. In many cases, a person will have 30 days or less to perform due diligence, so it is essential to act quickly to uncover any issues that may affect a transaction or impact an owner’s ability to receive the proper return on their investment.

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 Posted on June 13, 2022 in Real Estate

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, businesses in Illinois and throughout the United States have encountered financial difficulties. As the country is beginning to return to normalcy, some businesses have been able to resume their regular activities and continue operating successfully. However, many businesses are still struggling as they determine how to respond to the loss of revenue that occurred due to the pandemic. These issues have affected many commercial leases, and both landlords and tenants may need to determine how to address situations where a business has been unable to pay rent on a short-term or long-term basis.

Negotiating Lease Modifications for Commercial Landlords and Tenants

As commercial tenants have encountered financial struggles, this has put many landlords in a difficult position. While some landlords have pursued lease enforcement actions, others may have been hesitant to do so due to the difficulty of finding new tenants in the current marketplace. Rather than pursue evictions or take steps to terminate a lease, it may be beneficial for both parties to negotiate lease modifications that will allow a tenant to continue occupying a space as they attempt to address their ongoing financial issues.

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 Posted on May 11, 2022 in Foreclosure

If you are struggling to make your mortgage payments, the threat of losing your home can be a terrifying thought. Once a mortgage is in default, the lender can sue to have the right to sell the property in what is known as a foreclosure sale. In 2021, lenders initiated more than 92,000 foreclosures—the lowest number in many years. In fact, 2009 saw more than 2 million foreclosures initiated by lenders looking to resolve defaulted mortgages. If you are facing the potential foreclosure of your home, you should be sure to understand the procedures that will be followed and the legal options available to you.

The Foreclosure Process

When a mortgage has not been paid for several months and has fallen into default, a lawyer from the lending institution may begin a lawsuit by filing a complaint in court. After that, a summons and complaint are delivered by a process server or a sheriff. The summons is a notification of a court hearing, and it will specify when and where the hearing will be held. Within 30 days of receiving the summons, you must either file an answer and court appearance or a motion of your own.

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 Posted on April 26, 2022 in Real Estate

Consider the following scenario: “About nine months ago, my wife and I sold our house in Aurora and moved to Mesa, Arizona. We were just beginning to settle in when we were blindsided by a letter from a lawyer. She wants us to pay the new owners $20,000 to compensate them for some foundation work they had done. What are our options?”

In this situation, the lawyer appears to be threatening to take action under the Illinois Residential Real Property Disclosure Act (RRPDA). When real property is sold or transferred, the current owners must disclose any structural problems or related issues, like water leaks, menacing tree roots, and other defects. Legally speaking, a seller has a duty to disclose when “equity and good conscience” requires such a disclosure. The theory is that the current owners of the property are in a position to not only know about latent defects in a house that can cost the new owners thousands of dollars in repairs, but they are also in a position to conceal these defects.

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 Posted on March 28, 2022 in Real Estate

If you are currently on the hunt for your next home—and possibly your forever home—you are not alone. Since roughly the beginning of the COVID-19 health crisis, home prices have been on the rise, and the market has been historically hot. Experts expect the market to come back closer to normal over the next year or so, but there are no indicators that prices are coming down anytime soon.

With this in mind, you need to make sure that you fully understand what you are getting into when you submit a bid on a new home. As excited as you might be to start your life’s next chapter, it is critical to know that you can afford the price tag that comes along with it.

Working With Your Lender

The bank or financial institution that ultimately issues your mortgage will largely be responsible for establishing what your budget will need to be for your next home. Your lender will determine your loan amount, term, and interest rate based on a number of variables, including your credit score, tax obligations, and other details. It is not uncommon, however, for a lender to approve a mortgage that the borrower cannot reasonably afford. In fact, these types of approvals were among the primary reasons for the housing market crash in the late ‘00s.

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 Posted on February 25, 2022 in Real Estate

If you have been paying any attention whatsoever to the real estate market, you probably realize that the last two years have been an uphill battle for homebuyers—and first-time homebuyers, in particular. At the very beginning of the COVID-19 health crisis in early 2020, the residential real estate market started somewhat sluggish, but it very quickly took off and has only gotten hotter since then. In late 2020 and through 2021, the housing market continued to sizzle, and existing-home sales hit their highest annual mark in 15 years, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The red-hot housing market is a boon for sellers but a bane for buyers. Those who are looking to buy for the first time have been especially affected since they do not have any way to capitalize on the seller’s market before buying a home. Unfortunately, if you have been waiting for the market to cool off a little before jumping in, experts suggest that 2022 might not be your year either.

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 Posted on February 10, 2022 in Real Estate

According to information collected by local news outlets, the end of the eviction moratorium in Illinois did not trigger the “tsunami of evictions” in the city of Chicago and Cook County at large that many were expecting. The statewide ban on evictions was initiated in March 2020 following the stay-at-home orders issued by Governor J.B. Pritzker at the beginning of the COVID-19 health crisis. The moratorium was repeatedly extended by the governor until it ultimately came to an end on October 3, 2021.

A Look at the Numbers

The office of Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans provided preliminary information to WTTW, a Chicago-area PBS affiliate. According to that data, the total number of commercial and residential evictions in Chicago and Cook County was nearly one-third lower in October 2021 compared to October 2019. October represented the first full month in which there were no restrictions related to the enforcement of eviction judgments in the state.

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