Price cuts, short sales, and foreclosures cross my desk in herds these days. Since the start of the new year, it seems that the sellers of houses, townhouses, and condos who are eager to unload their property have become markedly more serious about making it happen.

Today I have pulled together a gallery of low-priced properties in the city and suburbs. Some of these homes are being sold at auction, and others are bank-owned foreclosures or lender-approved short sales. They range from a foreclosed mid-century modern on the lip of a Highland Park ravine to some unsold West Loop condos where prices have dropped to levels below what current residents there paid a few years ago. Some of the properties need work before a new owner can move in, and for some, potential buyers will need to wait out the sometimes protracted process of getting a short sale approved by its lending bank. Check them all out in the slide show below.

And if you are interested in seeing just how much more home people have gotten for their money recently, look at the Deal Estate column in the February issue of Chicago. There I show a handful homes that sold in 2009, and each of them is paired with a comparable home that sold in 2007. Some of the comparisons are startling.