Foreclosure is a bad thing right? Families being uprooted from their homes – bad. People losing their life savings when the value of their home tanks – bad. Empty homes attracting mischief – bad. Unkempt properties creating an eyesore – bad. Credit scores plummeting — bad. Sure, all of those things are bad. No one wants to be in that situation. Heck, most people don’t even want to be living on the block where all that is happening. It may not seem like it, but there is an upside to foreclosure. Sometimes foreclosure can be the kick in the pants you need to get your finances back on track. Let me explain how: Foreclosures typically take a long time to process. Cook County is particularly slow. It’s not unusual for a foreclosure to take 6-12 months, sometimes even more. So how is this a good thing? Well, if you were… read more →
So what happens if someone deeds real estate to another person, but makes a mistake in the deed? If the proper language is not used in a deed, can it still be used to convey real estate? The answer is: Maybe. A Deed may be black and white on its face, but the interpretation of the deed can be far from black and white. Per statute, quit claim deeds are required to include the legal description of the property conveyed. 765 ILCS 5/10 (West 2014). But back in 1935, the Illinois court determined that even if there is some uncertainty, a deed should not be declared void so long as “it is possible, by any reasonable rules of construction, to ascertain from the description, aided by extrinsic evidence, what property it is intended to convey.” Brunotte v. DeWitt, 360 Ill. 518, 528 (1935). How do we reconcile the statute with this… read more →