There is yet another program to assist Illinois homeowners facing foreclosure. Just announced this week, the new program is known as the Illinois Hardest Hit program. It aims to help about 15,000 Illinois families. The federal goverment is funding the program with $345 million. In order for your family to qualify, you must meet the following criteria: 1) You must have had at least a 25% drop in your household income, either due to unemployment or reduced employment (i.e. not being able to work as many hours as you are available), through no fault of your own. 2) Regardless, your family income can be slightly higher than the average income in your area, but no greater than 120% of the median income in your area. 3) The subject property must be in Illinois. 4) The property must be your primary and only residence. Additionally, if there are other people named on… read more →
If you purchased a property at a tax sale, make sure you give all required notices, or you could be denied your tax deed when the time comes! That’s exactly what happened in In re Application of the County Treasurer and Ex Officio County Collector of Cook County, Illinois v. OneWest Bank, 2011 IL App (1st) 101966 (August 25, 2011) Cook Co., 4th Div. In that case, a homeowner owned a two-flat in the southwest side of Chicago. She failed to pay $1383 in real estate taxes. Ridge TP, LLC purchased the homeowner’s taxes at public auction. However, when it came time to petition for the tax deed, the court denied Ridge TP, LLC. The court determined that the proposed tax deed purchaser had not sent the notice of redemption period properly, nor had they exercised proper due diligence in serving notices. Specifically, the proposed tax deed purchaser had not… read more →
A recent case, Karimi v. 401 North Wabash Venture, 2011 IL App (1st) 102670 (July 26, 2011) Cook Co., 2d Div. demonstrates that earnest money, no matter how much, can be forfeited when a liquidated damages provision is properly enforced. In Karimi, the buyer contracted to purchase a $2.188 million condominium at Trump Tower in 2003. When the unit was almost ready, as per contract, the seller identified a closing date for October of 2008. At that time, the buyer was unable to obtain financing. The parties agreed to extend the closing date to May of 2009. The buyer was still unable to obtain financing and the condominium did not close. Subsequently, the seller terminated the contract and kept the earnest money (well over $300,000) as liquidated damages pursuant to the contract. The seller later sold the unit for $2.5 million. The buyer sued for the return of his earnest money. The court found that per the… read more →
Last month, the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) announced that $200 million dollars had been committed to the SmartMove loan program, a program designed by IHDA to assist first-time homebuyers and veterans. Where is all this money coming from? Well, to fund the $200 million necessary for this program, the IHDA is selling tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds to private investors. If you qualify for the SmartMove program, you could obtain either a 30-year fixed-rate loan, or FHA, VA, or USDA financing. You could also receive up to $6,000 towards your down payment and closing costs. This $6,000 (or lesser amount, depending on how much you qualify for) would be in the form of a 10-year, zero-percent forgivable loan. If your loan requires mortgage insurance, your mortgage insurance rates would be about 1/3 less than the rates offered by conventional sources of mortgage financing. Of course, you have to meet the… read more →