Feb. 06--Zombie foreclosures, so labeled because they're vacant and stuck in the foreclosure process, declined 35 percent in the Chicago area last month from a year ago, but there are still plenty of homes to worry about, according to a report.
In the Chicago area, more than 39,000 residential properties were somewhere in the foreclosure process at the end of January, and almost 8,400 of those properties, or 21 percent, could be considered zombies, RealtyTrac said. A property is considered a zombie if it's stuck somewhere between a homeowner leaving a property and the lender repossessing it.
For years, there have been concerns that lenders are simply choosing to walk away from the worst properties on their books, letting them languish in the process indefinitely.
Nationally, 25 percent of all properties in foreclosure, or 142,000 homes, were counted as zombies by the firm, which found that while the total number of these properties was down from a year ago, they represent a larger share of total foreclosure activity.
mepodmolik@tribpub.com
Twitter @mepodmolik
