the wasserblawg

As a general rule, more closings happen at the end of any given month that at any other time, and most of those closings would happen on the last day (or perhaps the last Friday). So it being the end of July and all, I would ordinarily expect to be closing files with completed transactions. I am still closing lots of files this month, only the number of closed files due to mortgage companies (a) denying loan applications or (b) rejecting short sale proposals, is out-running the number of loan funded. We are still fighting the good fight, but oh my goodness, how things have changed.

Starting August 1st, it is going to be a bit more expensive to buy and sell real estate in the Chicagoland area; title insurance and escrow closing fees are going up. Chicago Title's new rate structure includes a $50 bump up on all owners title insurance policies (a seller cost) and $50 more for all escrow closings (typically a buyers charge). The charges for "title indemnities" and (Chicago) water department full account payment certifications are also being increased. I will not be surprised to see similar announcements from other title companies in the not to distant future. Kudos to CT for kicking up that TI fee, effective August 1, pure nefarious genius there. Property tax bills are supposed to be mailed out on August 1st - payable September 1. When Mortgage Companies expect a tax bill due, they demand that the title insurance company guaranty payment of the taxes. Title company are happy to oblige. They collect money from the buyers who will be responsible to pay...

Stand-by for a neat little change to the Illinois Notary Public Act that will likely impact the way we transact real estate closings here in Cook County. Both houses approved SB 0546 as the recent legislative session ended and we are awaiting the Governor's signature. This change, if implemented will require anyone who is selling residential real estate in Cook County will have to present proof of identity, including a thumb print image. It will fall to the Notaries who witness closing documents to collect this information. We will be obligated to prepare newly devised " Notarial Record s" that will include the "signor's" personal identity information, the aforementioned thumb print and even a certification that the transfer involved "residential" real property ( Looks like all those childhood hours with a Dick Tracy Crimestoppers Club Junior Detective kit did not go to waste... where'd I put that thumb print pad anyway?) The form itself pr...

Its that time of year when my morning work efficiency and intensity is slightly diminished whilst I watch the flash reports of the daily tour de france bike races on velonews or eurosport . THE most dramatic sporting even of the year (please don't get me started....) So here is a link to the everyday athlete blog piece on a completely unrelated bike race, the Cascase Cycling Classic and Chris Horner 's remarkable Stage Five finish. For those who care about such things, Horner finished 82nd, nine minutes behind winner Moises Aldape, who won the stage . Billy Demond finished with the same time, in 83rd. (Thank you to friend and chicago cycling club mate Rob Sindelar for the head's up on this one) Good one Chris!!

The legal (and music) world is abuzz in response to Chief Justice John Roberts citing Bob Dylan in his dissent in Sprint v. APCC Services . From the New York Times : Four pages into his dissent on Monday in an achingly boring dispute between pay phone companies and long distance carriers, John G. Roberts Jr., the chief justice of the United States, put a song lyric where the citation to precedent usually goes. "The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing," Chief Justice Roberts wrote. " ' When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose .' Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965)." Alex B. Long, a law professor at the University of Tennessee and perhaps the nation's leading authority on the citation of popular music in judicial opinions, said this was almost certainly the first use of a rock lyric to buttress...

Way back in March , I posted some comments on the foreclosure troubles at the Sterling Private Residences , a near-north high rise apartment building that American Invsco converted to condominiums. Today Crains gives statistics to something I "knew" and reported anectdotably back then: the foreclosure problem extends to many of its other conversion projects as well. According to the story , eight of American Invsco's downtown towers have accounted for 57.7 percent of all foreclosure cases brought against original buyers in all 76 downtown condo projects of 175 units or more since 2001. ( Invsco accounted for 12 percent of the homes sold in big downtown projects over the same period of time.) Crains picks up on the same issue I did in this Spring (and back when clients were showing me contracts to review): "Why do American Invsco buildings lead downtown Chicago in foreclosure cases? One explanation may be the role of investors, buyers who intend to flip or rent...

Ray Cohen of Revere Mortgage sent out the alert this morning. Starting July 1, every mortgage closed and recorded in Cook County must carry a "certificate of exemption" or a "certificate of compliance" for the State's new mandatory mortgage counseling program. Counseling will be required for ALL loans where all the borrowers are deemed "first time home buyers" (anyone who has not owned a home in the past three years); and All refinancers, who are taking a loan that include prepayment penalties, interest only payments, negative amortizations interest rates that adjust in 3 years or less, OR where fees, YSP and points exceed 5%. Ray goes on to note that jumbo adjustable rate loan for lenders with pre payment penalties are currently 2% cheaper than those without penalties. Thus as a practical matter all Jumbo adjustable buyers will need to submit to this (massive waste of time and money). The program will cost $300 and will only be offered betwe...