Lake Forest houses in short sales

Lake Forest – the Chicago suburb – is known as a place where all women drive S.U.V.’s and all the men are CEO’s. The trouble of the world didn’t seem to get into this neighborhood, where the per-capita income is $77,000.

Till now. It seems like foreclosures that has swamped the housing market – mainly in low-income neighborhoods, now starting to lap at the unspoiled shores of this community on Lake Michigan.

"In the first half of 2010, the largest increases in new foreclosures occurred in the region’s middle- and higher-income communities", a new report of the Woodstock Institute revealed.

The hardest foreclosures hit has DuPage County: here the numbers show a 74.8 percent increase in new filings in the fist half of this year. The second hardest hit has Lake County, home to Lake Forest, here the report shows a 64.9 percent jump.

Lake County registered 127 real estate transaction till the end of the first half this year and 14% or 18 of these were either in foreclosure or were transferred on short sales. However the number are not so scary, if we compare this area to the rest of Chicago: while Lake Forrest registered only 34 foreclosures this year, Chicago has 11,013.

Fact is, that while "short sale" or "foreclosure" phrases were unknown to this are, seems like there is a change. With the housing market collapse the homeowners in Lake Forest found themselves underwater spending much more than they could afford.

"We’ve seen a remarkable drop in large-home prices,"said David Moore, a businessman who serves on the Lake Forest City Council. "Homes in the water that used to go for $10 million or $11 million – it’s being whispered that you can get them now for $4 million or $5 million."

The Noble Judah home, one of the finest property in the area created some stir last week when it was put in the market as a short sale for $6 million. "A few years ago, the 85 year old manor would have commanded three times as much," Mr. More added.

However, defaulters in these kind of wealthy communities are less likely to face eviction by the sheriff. In addition, banks will allow these owners to stay in their homes until they maintain it.

Category : Distressed Luxury Real Estate News