A pile of trash sits covered by a tarp in front of the abandoned house at the corner of 12th and Cass streets. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE A state law aimed at helping municipalities deal with abandoned houses has generated nearly $4 million by taxing banks that foreclose on homes, but the slice of that […]
Foreclosure
Posted inNews
City sues property owner to recover weed-mowing debts
After years of unpaid bills, Springfield has sued the city’s biggest violator of a requirement that landowners keep grass mowed and weeds in check. Turner Properties and Discount Inn Retirement Plan, Inc., which share an address in Skokie, together own at least 54 Springfield properties, most apparently vacant. Both entities began racking up fines for […]
Posted inNews
Besieged owner claims big foreclosure ‘political’
A Springfield business owner says he’ll fight in court the foreclosure of 153 properties worth more than $6.7 million total. Meanwhile, he alleges the bank is putting profit before Springfield’s best interests. Jeff Polen of Taylorville, owner of JSP Investments and a handful of similarly-named companies in Springfield, faces foreclosure on 153 mortgages held by […]
Posted inNews
Springfield foreclosure rate up slightly
The foreclosure rate in Springfield continues to hover around one percent, but one Springfield woman has a plan to help reduce it and prevent future foreclosures. First American Core Logic, a mortgage data analysis company based in California, says Springfield’s rate of foreclosures was .99 percent in February 2010, just above the .98 percent rate […]
Posted inOpinion
Ending foreclosure profiteering
During the real estate bubble, older urban neighborhoods across the nation, from Atlanta to Baltimore to Cleveland to Sacramento and countless communities in between fell victim to a devastating plague of predatory lending and mortgage fraud. This was enabled by Wall Street’s bottomless appetite for financing home loans, lenders’ lax standards and corruption among mortgage […]
