Foreclosure map: Lenders ease off Cook County takeaways

This spring’s ferocious foreclosure tempest seems to have calmed.

Cook County foreclosure filings slumped in April compared to March, with lenders starting 482 foreclosure proceedings as compared to 912 in March, new public records filings show. The total value of the more than 1,290 mortgages that lenders began foreclosing upon over the two months is more than $280 million, according to The Real Deal’s analysis of the records.

For the third month in a row, U.S. Bank filed the most notices of foreclosure, with 79 in April and 165 in March — almost a 52 percent decrease.

In April, Lakeview Loan Servicing moved to take back the second-most properties at 23 and Nationstar MTG had the third-most at 22.

April’s largest foreclosure start involved the $6.1 million mortgage taken out against the 108,000-square-foot WiFi Corporate Center single-story office building at 1400 South Wolf Road in Wheeling. The borrower, a venture of Skokie-based landlord Weiss Properties, took out the loan in December of 2017 from lender First Secure Community Bank.

Here’s where foreclosure court cases began in April:

By comparison, March’s biggest casualty was a loan in the hotel sector. A notice of foreclosure was filed for the $6.5 million mortgage taken out for the Holiday Inn Express at 3477 Algonquin Road in Rolling Meadows. The borrowers, LLCs controlled by Sanjeev and Bhupendra Patel, took out the loan in May of 2019.

February’s biggest foreclosure was a $2.2 million loan taken out for the property at 415 South Pulaski Road in Chicago. The borrower took out that loan in March of 2015.

April’s median mortgage amount foreclosed upon was $174,510, compared to March’s $166,920, an analysis of records show.

Cook County isn’t the only place getting a breather. California-based real estate data firm ATTOM published a report showing slower foreclosure rates across the country. However, the report calls out Chicagoland for being among the most prone to foreclosures out of areas with populations of 200,000 or more, with one housing unit out of 1,950 getting foreclosed upon. That’s more frequently than everywhere except Atlantic City, New Jersey; Cleveland; and Columbia, South Carolina.

“Foreclosure activity continues to stabilize and even correct itself in 2023, with April showing a 10 percent decrease in overall activity after a 20 percent increase last month,” said Rob Barber, chief executive officer at ATTOM. “While there is no apparent indication of a continued decline in the number of foreclosures, it’s important to note that the month of April typically exhibits a recurring trend of decreased activity.”