LexMonitor

New Housing Bills

Take a look at the Housing Bill passed in the House yesterday and expected to pass Senate today or tomorrow and the President has suggested he'll support...here's a nice overview.Couple tidbits...new tax deduction for first-time home buyers of $7.500 or 10% of the purchase price, whichever is...

Interesting Market Analysis from Zip Realty CEO

My Recent Experience Representing a Foreclosure Buyer

I think this was my first experience representing a purchaser of property buying from a bank who now owned the property following a foreclosure. It was a good learning experience and surely different that a "typical" residential real estate purchase...My client found the property she ended up...

Employer Assisted Housing

For some reason I didn't see this item get through the General Assembly...the state approved a law giving employers a tax credit of 50 cents for every dollar they invest in Employer Assisted Housing (EAH). Here's the piece from the Christian Science Monitor. If you really want to encourage...

Fannie, Freddie, and You

Now that's a fun group, right?An interesting article in the Times explaining how the recent troubles of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might impact the average home buyer or person with some average mutual fund investments. Has anyone ever really understood what the Fannie and Freddie do? And what's...

Joliet "Blossoming"

Interesting overview piece in today's Tribune entitled Joliet blossoming into the place to be. It seems Joliet just passed Naperville to move into the 4th position in city rankings in the Land of Lincoln. Take a look at the piece. Joliet's one of those older communities with a gritty reputation but...

Tales from the Closing Table

We've all had our slow closings before for many reasons....slow wiring of funds, Seller/Lender slow in submitting figures to the title company or submitting wrong figures which then take time to be corrected, lender's loan processor goes to lunch during the closing and isn't available to give...

"Redfin" Mary

Mary Umberger touted Redfin's entry into the Chicago market in this week's column.That would be Redfin, the maverick start-up that operates mostly online and refunds two-thirds of its portion of the commission to its clients. Chicago is its eighth market.

Unfair "Combine" Criticism

I saw this little nugget recently that combines a couple of my favorite subjects, Illinois' "Political Combine" and the practice of real estate law. The piece touched on a lawyer close to DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom makin' some money off of the O'Hare expansion.A former law...

Tenant Friendly Courts

I wanted to share an experience from life on the circuit earlier this week that speaks to the above.I was in court ostensibly just to get a continuance and issue an Alias Summons. My client/landlord is in the process of suing two defendants, a landlord and a personal guarantor, for money and...