IHDA). The agency has been allocated $445.6 million of U.S. Treasury TARP funds to help unemployed and under-employed homeowners stay out of foreclosure and is now working on the details of how to get that money to homeowners..." /> IHDA). The agency has been allocated $445.6 million of U.S. Treasury TARP funds to help unemployed and under-employed homeowners stay out of foreclosure and is now working on the details of how to get that money to homeowners..." /> IHDA). The agency has been allocated $445.6 million of U.S. Treasury TARP funds to help unemployed and under-employed homeowners stay out of foreclosure and is now working on the details of how to get that money to homeowners..." />
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Dennis Rodkin
More Aid in the Works for Struggling Illinois Homeowners
By Dennis Rodkin
In 2011, tens of thousands of struggling Illinois homeowners may receive the financial aid they need to hold onto their houses under a program being prepared by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA). The agency has been allocated $445.6 million of U.S. Treasury TARP funds to help unemployed and under-employed homeowners stay out of foreclosure and is now working on the details of how to get that money to homeowners... Read more
Going the Extra Mile in Hinsdale
By Dennis Rodkin
List Price: $2,799,900
The Property: The wood, stone, and copper that detail the peaked façade of this newly built Hinsdale house hint at the level of attention that went into the 18-room interior. “The wood trim in here is measured in miles,” says Bryan Bomba, the Coldwell Banker agent representing the house for its builder, Montreux Custom Homes... Read more
A Fixed-Up Foreclosure Sells Fast in Lincoln Park
By Dennis Rodkin
List Price: $1.674 million
Sale Price: $1.55 million
The Property: Formerly a three-flat, this 116-year-old building in Lincoln Park was being converted into a single-family home when its owner defaulted on a $2.6-million mortgage. But unlike most sellers of foreclosures, the entity that put this one back on the market (not the original lender) didn’t leave it in its junked condition but put it back into livable shape... Read more
From the 41st Floor, a Columbian Exhibition
By Dennis Rodkin
List Price: $1.899 million
The Property: The view of the Museum Campus and the lakefront from unit 4101 of The Columbian is magnificent. Although the 46-story condo tower in the southwest corner of Grant Park was completed in 2008, this unit is one of three penthouses on the 41st floor that the developers put on the market this past summer—but as the one that occupies the full east side of the floor, it offers the most enticing vistas... Read more
Midwesterner Homebuyers Slow to Get Federal Tax Credit
By Dennis Rodkin
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported in June that only about 27 percent of homebuyers in 2009 who were eligible for the $8,000 federal tax credit had filed claims by late February (the most recent data available). At 25.9 percent, the Midwest was slightly below the national average, but Danielle Hale, an NAR research economist, says that the program was likely more successful than those figures suggest. “The data has a lag,” she says. “It doesn’t mean the [remaining] eligible buyers won’t file claims. We expect the final total to be [close] to 100 percent.” Data on eligible 2010 buyers is still pending. Read more
Lake View's House of Two Hawks
By Dennis Rodkin
List Price: $1.495 million
Sale Price: $1.4 million
The Property: Since it was built in 2004, this ten-room house in Lake View has been home to two different short-time members of the Chicago Blackhawks... Read more