Documents

• Mercy House
  by Codilis & Associates

  Founded nearly 23 years ago by Father Jerome T. Karcher, Mercy House serves those in need of housing, employment, and support. While many groups devoted to aiding individuals who have been displaced simply offer shelter, Mercy House has remained committed to offering caring assistance that includes individual case management. Mercy House’s distinct approach to helping its beneficiaries ensures the best possible opportunities for them to better their situations. When Father Jerome first envisioned the creation of Mercy House, he wanted the organization to do more than provide housing. Instead, the philosophy of Mercy House focuses on treating each participant as a welcomed friend who receives the comforts and dignity of a home. The original mission of Mercy House was the creation of a residence for employable men; since its beginnings, the organization has expanded its service to women and families. Having grown from a rented house to an association with multiple facilities, Mercy House now serves numerous individuals in various capacities. Today, the original building that accommodated Mercy House consists of a four-unit apartment, Joseph House, which serves as home to 20 men. Under the terms of the Mercy House program, each resident may live in this building for up to a year as long as he remains enrolled in college or a job training program. In 1994, Mercy House opened Regina House, which serves seven families comprised of mothers and their children. Like those enrolled in the Mercy House program, Regina House residents may live in the house for as long as a year if they are employed or pursuing college or job training. In addition to the residential outreach of Mercy House, the organization provides such services as hygiene products, clothing vouchers, referrals to additional shelter and food resources, and crisis intervention.

• Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. (ATG)
  Codilis & Associates

  Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. In 1964, a band of Illinois lawyers founded Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. (ATG) in response to increasing alarm over the diminishing participation of lawyers in real estate transactions.

  ATG’s primary mission involves providing title insurance to lenders and home buyers, which the company accomplishes through a pool of more than 4,000 affiliated lawyers. In addition to putting home buyers, lenders, and real estate agents in touch with some of the best lawyers in the state of Illinois, ATG offers a variety of information and online educational tools for clients on its website. Available articles include “What Is Title Insurance?,” “Why Do I Need an Attorney for My Real Estate Transaction?,” “How Does ATG Benefit Realtors?,” and “What You Need to Know About Foreclosure.” In addition to providing title insurance to an array of individuals and companies, ATG offers numerous services to the firm’s network of lawyers. Member benefits include underwriting support, continuing legal education, e-publications, relevant computer software, and legal research on topics relating to real estate.

  ATG primarily serves the greater Chicago metropolitan region, the Metro East area, several downstate Illinois counties, southern Wisconsin, and northern Indiana. In order to widen the organization’s influence, ATG has incorporated several subsidiaries: ATG Legal Education, LLC; ATG LegalServe, Inc.; ATG Trust Company; The Judicial Sales Corporation; and NLT Title, LLC. These subsidiaries offer many specific services to ATG members, including skiptracing, process serving, and title searching.

• Codilis & Associates on Avoiding Foreclosure: Working with Your Lender
  If you have experienced difficulty making your house payments, it may seem that foreclosure is inevitable. Before you ever reach the point of losing your home, however, you can take many available steps that may help you find a way to stay in your house. As a law firm that assists mortgage companies with foreclosure, Codilis & Associates firmly grasps the process. In an effort to help families keep their homes, Codilis & Associates provides these homeowner tips for those experiencing difficulties meeting their mortgage obligations. Foreclosure is an expensive process for both the borrower and the lender.

  Your lender will offer several options to work out difficulties with homeowners who have fallen behind on payments. Many private mortgage insurers require lenders to actively work with borrowers seeking solutions short of foreclosure. Your first step in avoiding foreclosure is talking to your lender.

  1. Forbearance
  With a forbearance option, the borrower and lender reach an agreement in which the homeowner approves a plan to catch up on the past-due mortgage payments in a certain amount of time with mutually satisfactory terms, and the lender commits to delaying initiation the foreclosure process. Forbearance typically works best with borrowers who experience temporary financial issues and will be able to catch up their mortgages.

  2. Reinstatement
  This constitutes an agreement between lender and borrower stating that the lender will delay foreclosure provided the borrower pays the past due amount in a lump sum by an agreed-upon date.

  3. Repayment Plan
  When the borrower is able to make full mortgage payments plus a small additional sum each month to cover missed amounts, and the lender agrees to delay foreclosure, the two parties have achieved a repayment plan.

  4. Mortgage Modification
  Some lenders may be willing to change the terms of the loan in order to make the payments more affordable for the borrower. Changes might include an interest rate reduction, extending the terms of repayment, or adding missed payments to the end of the loan. Borrowers must demonstrate the ability to meet the terms of the loan modification.

  5. Claim Advance
  Borrowers with an insured mortgage may qualify for a claim advance, in which the guarantor provides an interest-free loan for missed payments.