Job Losses Continue To Make Life Difficult For Chicago Homeowners
August 4th, 2010 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
It’s no secret that job growth and falling housing foreclosure rates are connected. That’s why it should be little surprise that a rising number of foreclosures continues to hurt the Chicago housing market. Simply put, we’re not seeing many new jobs in the city. In fact, we’re seeing job losses here.
A recent Associated Press story highlighted this grim news. According to the story, the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville area lost 76,000 jobs from June of 2009 to June of 2010. That job-loss figure led the country.
At the same time, the number of Chicago housing foreclosures rose. Foreclosure activity in the Chicago area rose 23 percent in the first half of 2010 when compared to the same six months in 2009, according to RealtyTrac. That comes to 78,000 properties that have received foreclosure notices in the first half of this year. If you think that seems like a high number, you’re right. The Chicago area ranked third in the country for housing foreclosures.
There is help for Chicago homeowners facing foreclosure. Unfortunately, this help isn’t working fast enough to stem the tide of foreclosures in the area. This, of course, is doing no favors to the local housing market.
If you are one of the many Chicagoans struggling to pay their mortgage payments each month, do the smart thing: Call your mortgage lender as soon as your mortgage payments become a burden. Your mortgage lender does not want to evict you. It doesn’t want to have to sell your house, especially in a housing market as challenging as this one.
Your mortgage lender might be able to restructure the terms of your mortgage loan, making your monthly payments smaller. It might lower your interest rate, give you a short break from paying your loan or forgive a portion of your principal balance. All of these moves can help keep you in your house.
If you don’t do anything, though, you’ll eventually fall into foreclosure. And no one wants that. Foreclosure is devastating to families. It’s also devastating on housing markets.
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