Home renters now have online service to check foreclosures
If you're renting a home, you won't necessarily know whether that building is in foreclosure.
You likely wouldn't find out until the eviction notice came.
This week, Baird & Warner launched a free online service that could help you keep track of your rental, just in case that horror lurks around the corner.
"Foreclosures are at an all-time high and there's no law that says a tendance needs to be notified early in the process," said Laura Ellis, Baird & Warner's general sales manager in Chicago. The firm has about 30 offices in the region and a financial services office in Des Plaines.
"A lot of these people just find out as they're being evicted."
Go to www.bairdwarner.com and click "property search" on the firm's main page. You then will be taken to a page called "property search choices." Scroll down to "rentals" and here you will find "currently renting - check to see if your landlord is in foreclosure and you're at risk of being evicted." Hit this link, enter your address, city and zip code and you'll get your answer. If the home is not in foreclosure right now, you still can sign up for e-notify, which will send you an e-mail if the property does go into the foreclosure process.
This online service searches all public records nationwide and is updated daily, Ellis said.
"We've been hearing from more and more renters who are worried about the homes they're in," said Ellis. "There have been quite a few facing eviction so far just in the Chicago area."
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