The Chicago 77

8 October 2009 ? Former 3rd Ward Alderman Dorothy Tillman played an integral role in opening Bronzeville’s Harold Washington Cultural Center in 2004, which relied on $7.7 million in public grants and employed Tillman’s daughter as its executive director. Shore Bank recently filed a foreclosure suit against the center in an effort to recover almost […]

01 September 2009 ? It is no secret that the housing market is a very larger driver of the economy. As we see some rebound in the housing market some are getting out there and testing the waters again. Here are a few neighborhoods that have held steady in this declining market: One bedroom condominiums […]

The Good News As we reported two days ago, Chicago and Illinois are on a roll; we’ve had five consecutive months of increased month-on-month home sales. It turns out that we are not alone. Many news outlets are reporting that home sales grew in the second quarter in the majority of the country: 39 states […]

10 August 2009 ? The impact of the conditions of the local real estate market is one of the a largest factors to the growing budget deficit of the City of Chicago. With a projected shortfall for the overall budget in 2009 to exceed $300 million dollars, the mayor?s office is predicting a greater number […]

3 August 2009 ? Today the mortgage backed bonds opened down 28 and continued to slide and are now currently down 59 bps. Last week we had a good rally with bonds as reported in the daily update and on Friday we hit a level of resistance which basically predicted this downturn this morning. The […]

The economy is still leaning against the ropes. People are tightening their belts to buckle down for the next few quarters. And, now people are talking about the insurance industry giants, such as State Farm and Allstate, ?sucker-punching? their customers. Double Digit Home Owners’ Insurance Rate Increases Allstate was the first to announce last month […]

In March 2008, Fannie Mae entered into an agreement with The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). This agreement was set up to adopt certain policies relating to appraisals for mortgages. Starting May 1st, 2009 the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) came into effect for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchased loans. HVCC Means Only […]

26 June 2009 – Mortgage-backed bonds opened down 1 this morning and remain flat. The savings rate soared to 6.9%, which caught many by surprise; this is the highest level since 1993 and stocks are reacting negatively to this news that consumers are keeping their money in savings. This may impact the pace that the […]

24 June 2009 ? Mortgage backed bonds opened down 6 this morning and continued to trend down to -16. The 30-year and 15-year mortgage rates are priced off of mortgage backed bonds, not the 10-year Treasury bonds as many consumers mistakenly believe. Stocks rose after an earlier report from the Commerce Dept. showed orders for […]

23 June 2009 – Eddie Bauer joins Circuit City, Linens ‘N Things, Mervyns and other retail chains that have filed for bankruptcy court protection as consumer spending has fallen and the recession continues. Last Wednesday, Eddie Bauer, best known for it’s outdoor clothing line filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Eddie Bauer considered a reorganization, sale, […]

The two big questions on everyone?s mind are why have property values dropped so much, and when will they stop dropping? Even though there are no truly simple answers to the complex set of issues which have created and sustained the problems in the real estate and financial sectors of our economy, I can distill […]

It’s good to hear that the government wheels are turning & finally churning out legislation to help those that they were elected to serve. On Sunday, April 5th, the Illinois State Senate passed and Governor Pat Quinn signed into law Senate Bill 2513.