The Cook County Assessor’s office has posted its 2017 exemption applications for Cook County homeowners. The following 2017 exemption applications can be found there now: Homeowner’s exemption Senior exemption Senior freeze Disabled person’s exemption Disabled veteran’s exemption If you qualify for any of these exemptions for 2017, you should apply immediately. To qualify, you must fall into the relevant category as of the 1st day of 2017. For example, if you are trying to claim the homeowner’s exemption, you must have lived in the home on the 1st day of 2017. If you are trying to claim the senior citizen’s exemption, you must have lived in the home on the 1st day of 2017, and you must have been born in 1952 or earlier. If you are trying to claim a senior freeze, then in addition to meeting the senior exemption requirements, your household income for… read more →
A recent appellate court case, Gelinas v. Barry Quadrangle Condominium Ass’n, 2017 IL App (1st) 160826 (February 14, 2017) Cook Co., 1st Div., revolves around a dispute between a condominium owner and the condominium association. Gelinas owned a unit in the Barry Quadrangle Condominium Association. In June of 2012, a fire started in his unit which resulted in six-figure damage to the condominium association. There was no dispute as to the origin of the fire. The association filed a claim against its insurance and paid the $10,000 deductible. The insurance company reimbursed the association for the claim. The association’s bylaws state the following: “If, due to the act or neglect of an Unit Owner, or of a member of his family or household pet or of a guest or other authorized occupant or visitor of such Unit Owner, damage shall be caused to the Common Elements or to a Unit… read more →
Last week, we looked at a case about whether a loan as valid when the lender was never licensed under the Residential Mortgage License Act. This week, let’s look at a similar case — Nationstar Mortgage LLC v. Missirlian, 2017 IL App (1st) 152730 (February 10, 2017) Cook Co., 5th Div. – which discusses whether a loan is valid when it’s assigned by an entity that was not licensed. The facts are straightforward: The defendant borrowed money from Lehman Brothers Bank FSB in 2007. The original mortgagee was Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS). The defendant stopped making payment in March of 2009, and in June of that year, MERS assigned the mortgage to Aurora Loan Services. Aurora Loan Services filed a foreclosure action against the defendant. In 2012, Nationstar took over the servicing of the loan in question, although Aurora Loan Servicing did not formally assign the loan to… read more →
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Maka, 2017 IL App (1st) 153010 (February 3, 2017) Cook Co., 5th Div. revolved around a case where the defendant was foreclosed, and then insisted that the bank should never have foreclosed him because the loan they made was invalid to begin with. Why? Because when the loan was originated, the lender was not licensed under the Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987. In support, the defendant cited a 2014 case, First Mortgage Co. v. Dina, 2014 IL App (2d) 130567, which stated that a violation of the Residential Mortgage License Act resulted in an invalid mortgage. The First District Appellate Court, however, disagreed with the Second District Appellate Court’s 2014 Dina decision, and stated that the Dina decision is “no longer viable in Illinois.” Not only were the facts of the Dina case very different from the instant case, but the legislature has subsequently… read more →
In a recent case, In re Estate of Cargola, 2017 IL App (1st) 151823 (February 17, 2017) Cook Co., 6th Div., the appellate court determined, not surprisingly, that adverse possession must in fact be adverse. According to the appellant, the roots of the case lay in her messy divorce back in 1991. At the time she wanted to purchase a house, but she was afraid her husband would try to claim it. So she recruited her mother to purchase it for her. According to the appellant, she paid or reimbursed her mother for all costs associated with the purchase. Her mother took the mortgage, but appellant made the payments. Appellant also paid all other costs of ownership – utilities, maintenance, taxes, etc. Eventually, appellant’s mother refinanced the house, adding appellant’s name to the note and mortgage documents. According to the appellant, both she and her mother believed that by adding… read more →
The Illinois Appellate Court recently made it clear that if you are trying to claim attorneys’ fees for winning in court on a Condominium Property Act case, you should be careful on how you approach the claim. The facts of Blackstone Condominium Association v. Speights-Carnegie, 2017 IL App (1st) 153516 (February 3, 2017) Cook Co., 6th Div. are as follows: The defendant had stopped paying her assessment. The condominium association filed a forcible entry and detainer action against her. Apparently the defendant had also stopped paying her mortgage, because she was foreclosed in 2012. The condominium association then dropped the forcible suit. However, in 2014, the condominium association sued the defendant again, this time for failure to pay assessments from January of 2010 through February of 2012. The association sued for $6,936, plus attorneys’ fees and costs. On the cover sheet that was filed with the suit, the suit was… read more →
According to a recent foreclosure study completed by ATTOM Data Solutions, nationwide foreclosures are at an 11-year low. Bank repossessions are also down as a result. Between January and February of 2017, bank repossessions dropped 7%. And believe it or not, bank repossessions nationwide actually dropped 18% between February of 2016 and February of 2017. However, those are nationwide numbers. In Illinois, it’s quite a different story. New foreclosures are actually up 11% in Illinois. While that seems like a lot, it’s still better than some of the other states. Florida foreclosures are up 12%. New Jersey is up 24%. Texas is up 26%, and Alabama has a whopping 40% increase in new foreclosures. A total of fifteen states, plus the District of Columbia, have more new foreclosures this year than last. Of the 20 largest cities in the United States, Houston, San Francisco and New York have had significant… read more →
If you work from home, you may qualify for a home office tax deduction. It’s a bit complicated though, so make sure to get advice from your accountant or a qualified tax professional, which I am not. But I do know a little bit about the home office tax deduction, and I don’t mind sharing: The home office tax deduction can only be used for space that is used exclusively for work. I didn’t say “almost exclusively”. I said “exclusively”. So if your kitchen island is your office by day and your dinner table at night, that doesn’t count. If your coffee table is your workspace by day and your kids’ chosen homework spot in the evening, that doesn’t count either. If you use your guest room as an office all week long, but someone sleeps in there once in a while, that doesn’t count either. Exclusively means exclusively —… read more →
When does most New Inventory Hit the Real Estate Market? As it turns out, that question has a simple answer: April. According to the National Association of Realtors®, most people list their homes in April. In fact, in 2016, April 1st was the day on which the most homes were listed. April 15th came in second. If you think about it, April is a pretty good time to list a home, especially in Illinois. The weather has usually turned the corner by then, and people are making plans to move. If a home is listed in April and gets an offer in April or early May, the closing will probably be in May or June. Families are looking to close around that time because they don’t want to take their kids out in the middle of the school year. According to the National Association of Realtors®, the next most popular… read more →
If you are a tenant who is also serving our country as part of the military or national guard, you may find yourself in a situation where you are called to duty unexpectedly. The good news is, under the military orders clause of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”), if you are called to active duty for more than 180 days, you can terminate your residential lease. No sense in paying if you’re not staying, right? In order to terminate the lease, you will need to notify your landlord that you have been called to active duty. You must actually provide your landlord with a copy of your military orders. No matter what time of the month you give your notice, and regardless of when you move out, you are still responsible to pay the rent for the rest of the month you gave your notice in, as well as… read more →