ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly on Tuesday cut the asking price of his five-bedroom, 5,400-square-foot house just west of Wrigley Field from $2.4 million to $2.1 million. Lilly, 34, was traded by the Cubs to the Los Angeles Dodgers in late July. Get the full story »
Filed under: Real estate
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Bush: I have ‘clear conscience’ on financial crisis
Former President George W. Bush said Wednesday he has a “clear conscience” about recognizing the problems that led to the financial crisis and he blamed Congress for blocking attempts to address them.
Bush, who initially kept a low-profile after leaving the White House, has been doing a series of high-profile interviews to promote his newly released memoir, “Decision Points.” Get the full story »
A third of Chicago-area homes underwater
A home with price reduction on the market in October. (Reuters)
The number of Chicago-area homes with negative equity in the Chicago area continued to rise in the year’s third quarter, a troubling sign for a local housing market struggling to recover.
Some 32.9 percent of all local single-family detached homes with mortgages were underwater in September, meaning the homeowners owed more on the loans than the properties are worth, according to new data from realty Web site Zillow.com. That compares with 30.9 percent in June and 27.2 percent in September 2009. The report does not include data on condominiums. Get the full story »
Nov. 9, 2010 at 2:21 p.m.
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Filed under: Credit Cards, Credit repair, Criminal charges, Mortgages State sues credit-rescue firms for ‘preying on Poles’
The Illinois Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against Chicago-based Illinois Loan Modification LLC, Omega Business Center, its managers and related businesses, alleging that they preyed on residents of the Chicago-area’s Polish community by falsely promising mortgage and credit card relief.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, charged that the companies and their affiliates charged upfront fees to consumers but the promised services were never provided and customers who canceled their contracts were not issued refunds. Get the full story »
New score to determine how green is your home
The White House unveiled a new Home Energy Score federal program Tuesday that will allow people to determine how energy-efficient their homes are.
It was one of several energy initiatives that Vice President Joe Biden announced at a White House event Tuesday. Get the full story »
Goldman fined $650K for failing to disclose SEC probe
Industry regulators have fined Goldman Sachs $650,000 for failing to disclose that two of its brokers, including the executive accused of leading the mortgage securities deal that brought civil fraud charges against the firm, were under investigation by the government.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced the fine Tuesday, saying Goldman lacked adequate procedures to ensure that the required disclosure was made for Fabrice Tourre, a Goldman vice president. Goldman made that report in May, more than seven months after Tourre received a notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was considering filing charges against him, FINRA said. Get the full story »
Goldman Sachs stops foreclosures in some states
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s mortgage servicing unit has suspended evictions and foreclosures in some states, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Get the full story »
Francis J. Dewes House selling for $9.9 million
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | The landmarked, 9,768-square-foot Francis J. Dewes mansion in Lincoln Park has hosted weddings and exclusive parties for years. It has now become available for $9.9 million
Developer Fred Latsko took control of the five-bedroom mansion about seven years ago, when he acquired its mortgage and foreclosed on it. Since then, Latsko has completely restored the grandiose German Baroque and French-style mansion, which was finished in 1896 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Get the full story »
JPMorgan faces foreclosure fraud suits
JPMorgan Chase & Co. faces two possible class action lawsuits alleging common law fraud and misrepresentation, as well as violations of state consumer fraud statutes, the U.S. bank said in a regulatory filing Tuesday.
In September, JPMorgan temporarily halted home seizures after finding glitches in foreclosure documents. Last week, it said it planned to start refiling the foreclosure documents within weeks.
Pending home sales fall after 2 months of gains
The number of people who signed contracts to buy homes fell in September after two months of gains, a possible fallout from foreclosure moratoriums that have disrupted activity in the housing market.
The National Association of Realtors said Friday that its index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes dropped 1.8 percent in September, to 80.9. Contract signings fell in every region except the West. Get the full story »
Mortgage investors sue Citi over underwriting
Several Citigroup Inc. mortgage bond investors, including Charles Schwab Corp. and hedge fund Cambridge Place Investment Management, have sued the bank over its home loan underwriting processes, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. Get the full story »
Corgan renting $3.5M condo for $10K a month
ELITE STREET | Bob Goldsborough | Interested in renting a luxury Gold Coast condominium unit from Billy Corgan?
Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins lead singer and chief songwriter, is continuing to ask $3.55 million for his vintage 3,700-square-foot condo on the Gold Coast, but he has added a new twist: he also is offering the renovated full-floor unit for rent for $10,000 a month. Get the full story »
Nov. 3, 2010 at 1:09 p.m.
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Filed under: Commercial real estate, Development, Hotels, Real estate JW Marriott hotel to open in Burnham’s bank building
JW Marriott will open its first branded hotel in Chicago Nov. 11, a 610-room facility in Daniel Burnham’s Continental & Commercial National Bank Building in the Loop. Get the full story »
Nov. 3, 2010 at 10:17 a.m.
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Filed under: Earnings, Housing, Policy, Politics, Real estate Freddie Mac posts $4.1B loss for third quarter
Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac on Wednesday posted a narrower loss of $4.1 billon in the third quarter as it asked for an additional $100 million in federal aid — substantially less than the $1.8 billion it sought in the second quarter.
Homeownership at lowest level in a decade
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
The nation’s homeownership rate is at the lowest level in more than a decade, hampered by a rise in foreclosures and weak demand for housing.
The percentage of households that owned their homes was unchanged at 66.9 percent in the July-September quarter, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. That’s the same as the April-June quarter.
The last time the rate was lower was in 1999, when the rate was 66.7 percent. Get the full story »
