Back in Dec. 2006, I wrote a column about the increase in foreclosures in Illinois and a follow-up article in Jan. 2007. While they didn’t get a lot of local media attention, foreclosures are an important issue to add to the total understanding of what’s happening in Illinois and other states.

While it’s good to see that Crain’s finally noticed the issue and wrote about it last week, they should have gone further into asking the question of why people are going to sub-prime rate mortgages.

Reality in Foreclosures

It’s always good to have a chart to see how things have changed. Using the same format as earlier columns, you can see how foreclosures are an issue. According to RealtyTrac, the amounts have risen since December. Here is the data from a county standpoint:

In an earlier column, I raised this question: Do you think there is a correlation between the large number of foreclosures and the layoffs at Motorola and Lucent in the last several years? As you can see, both Schaumburg and Naperville are still seeing growing numbers of foreclosures as time runs out for those who couldn’t get back into a job that paid in the same arena.