Foreclosure filings up sharply

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McHenry County properties with foreclosure filings increased 56.4 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, according to a Chicago-based nonprofit organization.

According to a report from the Woodstock Institute, 743 properties in the county had foreclosure filings in the third quarter of this year, compared to 475 last year.

The local picture fits in with Cook collar counties’ trend of marked increases, although Cook County foreclosures dipped slightly. The study suggests that the increase in the suburbs reflected the foreclosure crisis’ shift to the middle- and higher-income communities as it expanded from subprime loans to the prime market.

Foreclosure filings jumped 18 percent in the six-county region around Chicago. Cook County far outnumbers its collar counties in the total number of third-quarter foreclosures with 9,940, but the number decreased 4.6 percent from last year, when there were 10,419.

Kane County had the largest increase at 96.6 percent.

Donna Mayberry, chief assessment officer for McHenry County, said a large portion of property transfers were foreclosures.

“The foreclosures that were happening because of bad mortgages, those are not so much the issue right now,” she said. “The issue now is people do not have jobs. The economy is not a flat line – it’s a circle.”

Jim Haisler, chief executive officer of the McHenry County Association of Realtors, said that he was not shocked by the jump in foreclosures.

“I know many people have lost their incomes; they’ve gone through their savings,” he said. “They’re just trapped, trying to come up with a way to make their mortgage payment, and they’re not able to.”

Tom Feltner, policy and communications director for the Woodstock Institute, said that two particular pieces of legislation, the Homeowners Protection Act and federal Home Affordable Modification Program, staved off foreclosures.

But loan modifications only delayed the outcome, Haisler said.

“People still can’t make those modified terms,” he said. “It was a short-term patch on a long-term problem.”

The economy remains in rough condition, despite indicators that show that the recession might be over, Haisler said. Consumer confidence still is low, and people continue to be worried about their jobs, he said.

“I think we’re going to continue to see this at least through spring,” Haisler said. “It’s going to be along winter regardless of the weather.”

Woodstock Institute is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization that promotes community reinvestment and economic development in lower-income and minority communities.

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