Chicago Tribune

What is a Foreclosure

A foreclosure is the legal process by which a bank or lender sells or repossesses a piece of real property after the owner has failed to comply with an agreement between the borrower and the lender.

What is the typical foreclosure timeline in Illinois?

The timeline for foreclosure in Illinois is typically 9 months.

Month 1-3: Homeowner stops making payments to the lender
Month 3-4: Lender files a lawsuit with the County against the Homeowner
Month 3-4: County approves the lawsuit called a Lis Penden. The Homeowner is notified. This becomes public record.
Month 6-8: The County issues a sheriff sale date to sell the property.
Month 8-10: If the Homeowner is unable to pay the entire judgment amount or work an agreement with the lender to stop the sale, the property is sold at public auction at a Sheriff Sale at the County Court House.
Month 9-11: There is a 30-day redemption period (even after the sale of their home, the Homeowner has the right to buy back their house).
Month 10-12: The property becomes an REO (bank-owned property)

Field Definitions for Foreclosures

Input Date: This is the date the record was typed into Record Information Services' database. Not to be confused with the date of transaction, or date of record.
Real Estate Auction: This will say YES if an auction date has been scheduled.
Date of Sale: There will only be a date here if an auction date has been scheduled.
Place of Sale: Address that the auction will take place, if an auction date has been scheduled.
Time of Sale: There will only be a time here if an auction date has been scheduled.
Case Number: The case number regarding this file.
Type of Sale: If this is a newly filed foreclosure it will indicate so, and if it's an auction it will say the company name here.
Company Information: Information regarding the company who conducts the foreclosure auction, if an auction date has been scheduled.
County: Self-explanatory
Property Type: Self-explanatory
Plaintiff: The lien holder filing the foreclosure.
Plaintiff Law Firm Information: Law Firm for the Plaintiff, or the lien holder filing for foreclosure
Defendant Information: The defendant information pertains to the homeowner in foreclosure.
Recording Date Foreclosure: The day the foreclosure was filed at the circuit court clerk in which the property is located.
Complaint/Judgment Amount: The amount of the plaintiff is requiring be paid to prevent the foreclosure auction. This may or may not include attorneys fees.
Parcel Number: The postal code assigned to the property for mailing.
Lien holder Information: We list up to 4 more possible liens. We only list liens here at the time the foreclosure is first filed. We do not update or add new liens to the records throughout the process of each foreclosure, although it is common for additional liens to be placed on the property.
Mortgage Information: This information is taken from the recorder of deeds.:
Document Number: The number referencing filing document. Not to be confused with the loan account number.
Per Diem Rate: This is the daily rate of calculation.
Date of Calculation: This is the date the mortgage company started calculating the per diem rate.
DNC Date: DNC is the National Do Not Call List. This is the date this phone number was last scrubbed against the Do-Not-Call List. We scrub our records twice monthly. You will only see a date here if there is a phone number on the record.
RE Seller Information: This is the name of the individual who most recently sold the property to the individual in foreclosure. This information will only appear if Record Information Services has a corresponding real estate transaction in our records for the foreclosure.
RE Deed Date: The date of the deed transfer from the seller to the purchaser.
RE Address/City: The address of the property which had the deed transferred.
Record Number: This is the document number.
Sold Amount: An amount will only appear here if the property went to auction and was sold.
Bankruptcy: This field will only populate if the defendant filed bankruptcy during the course of the foreclosure.
Sold Amount: An amount will only appear here if the foreclosure went to auction. This is the amount the buyer at auction bought the property for.
Sale Results: Results will appear here only if the foreclosure went to auction. Some results include: Cancelled, Continued, REO, Rescheduled, Sold, and more. As of Jan. 2006, Record Information Services began recording the Cook County Foreclosure sales results directly from the auction. In addition we will be recording to whom the property was sold. Cook County sale results are updated daily. All other counties are updated every 2-3 days.
Original Sale Date: The date the foreclosure was first scheduled for auction, if ever.
Most Current Record: A Y or Yes indicates this record as being the most current filing for that type of record.
Census Age and Income: When selecting an income range, those numbers will reflect a median household income, not an average of the census tract area. The median age is identified by using the census block as a benchmark which does reflect a more accurate picture of a geographic area.
Telephone: Usually available on around 40% of records. Scrubbed against the "Do-Not-Call List" bi-monthly.

See a Sample Foreclosures Record