Illinois has a very liberal foreclosure law sometimes taking 9 months or longer

Real Estate Law is State law, not federal law.  Therefore, every state has different foreclosure laws.  Here in Illinois, the land of Lincoln, we have one of the most liberal foreclosure laws in the country.  It takes at least 9 months to get an order of possession against a homeowner from the first missed home mortgage payments.  Oftentimes in practice, this time is 14 months or more.

Why is this - well there are title states and lien states.  In title states, the lender has title to property until the loan is paid off and the mortgage is released.  States like this are California and Florida where it takes about 3 months to throw you out of your home.  Here in in Illinois, the lender has a lien against the property and based upon our foreclosure law has to go through an extensive series of steps to foreclose.

Why do we have such a liberal foreclosure law?  Because we are a farm state!  Yes it's true, everybody thinks of Chicago and its big city glitz but the reality is that we are an agricultural powerhouse and our state does not like to see farmer's lose their farms.  But the real impetus for our law is the great depression when things were so bad that they gave a tax holiday for one year which is why we pay our taxes one year in arrears. 

So hears to Illinois - the state that is conservative in its politics and liberal in its homeowner rights.