The Chicago Real Estate market is sucking wind and the latest reports from today’s Crains article reports that the state’s foreclosure-related filings decreased 44.6% in February, to 9,592, compared with February 2010 and was down 27.1% compared to January, according to RealtyTrac Inc., an online distressed-property listing firm.

Get this One out of every 552 Illinois properties received a foreclosure-related filing in February, the 11th-highest rate nationwide and behind the West Coast frontrunners Nevada (one in every 119), Arizona (one in every 178) and California (one in every 239).

In February, there were 225,101 foreclosure filings down 27% from a year earlier and a 13.9% dip from January.

Further, “Foreclosure activity dropped to a 36-month low in February as allegations of improper foreclosure processing continued to dog the mortgage servicing industry and disrupt court dockets,” RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said in a statement. He explained that “While a small part of February’s decrease can be attributed to it being a short month and bad weather, the bottom line is that the industry is in the midst of a major overhaul that has severely restricted its capacity to process foreclosures.”

Bugs me bad. Everyone dissing on Charlie Sheen. Of course he’s totally lost his mind, done a ton of bone-head things, has no morals, integrity or couth… so what. He’s not the first or the last for that matter who is nuts. The question is why is he still the repeated subject of ridicule and stupid jokes. Morning shows, late night shows — magazines, and newspapers devote time and space for this poor fella. At this point its so over the top and boring that I haven’t a clue why any one would be following this media fueled trash. He’s not well. Maybe if he’s left alone he will get better but all this attention is apt to be giving him more incentive to do more. Last word.

While many of you are scurrying around with last minute planning, I am thrilled to bring you this down and dirty report on how you married folk can, according to Paula Szuchman, co-author of “Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage & Dirty Dishes, ” can improve your marital bliss.

Paula offers up these five oh so not romantic lessons from the world of economics — that have proven to be extremely effective for a happy marriage with long-term prospects:

1. Talk Less.
Especially about the neggy stuff and reminders. Curtail your tongue when it comes to what you want your spouse to get done after working for the man. 86 the urge to tell him to take out the recycling, walk the dog, defrost the hamburger, or tend to your computer issue de jour. Economists talk about “information processing costs,” or the costs incurred from processing, absorbing and filtering information. When information processing costs get too high, we tend to become paralyzed. Remember, no overloading your spouse, instead sign up for doling out one thing at a time and focus on the most important thing first. Same rule applies when you’re arguing. Stick to the point … and if your guy didn’t call to say he was running late—and don’t go into a tirade with a long list of sins.

2. Lose Weight.
Fact: according to Paula, married people exercise less than singles. She states that 56% of people surveyed said they gained weight after they got married. Excuses, excuses. They’re too nuts with demanding jobs, demanding children, and too lazy to get off their demanding butts. But the real culprit is attributable to moral hazard — and the the tendency to take more risks and behave more irresponsibly when there are no consequences.

Lets face it, why bother pumping iron when you’ve already snagged your other.
So man up — or woman up and challenge your own moral hazard and try losing that post-marriage weight. And here’s the bonus challenge — lose the sweatpants while you’re doing it.

3. Do The Dishes.
Before you freak.. here’s the skinny. Just do the dishes because you just might be better at them… end of story. Forget the hype and push for a 50/50 marriage — if you’re like the majority of other couples — your mission for egalitarianism means you’re more apt to pick a fight when you sense things are getting into the 60/40 range—or worse.

Sign up for a system where each of you specializes in the chore you do best, relative to other chores. It’s a system based on the notion of comparative advantage, which (as every Wall Street Journal reader knows) is the foundation of free trade. Hellloo…that’s what marriage is right… if not a union between two trading partners. So if you’re better at folding the tidy whities — awesome. Let your “Other” call the in-laws. It’ll take you less time than it’ll take him, and it’ll take him less time to have a quick gab with mom. In the end, you’ve saved quite a bit of collective time. Score.. now you can use that time for the real fun like sex.

4. Put Out (Sex

According to Paula closely to 54% of married people, wish (up and down) that they were having more sex, and the people who are doing it more also report being happier in their relationships. Just saying. One may not be the direct cause of the other, but there IS a definite correlation. And… the real reason people don’t do it more is because they’re too tired.

The solution: wake up and do the job—the same way you wake up every morning and go to your actual job. No reason why you can do one and not the other.Keep it simple, fast and fun. Some people even say the more they get in the habit of doing it, the more they want to do it. Hhhhm something to think about.

5. Scheme

Start scheming, and thinking strategically. If you think being strategic might sound cold and calculating, that’s cool… but it’s likely to be something you already do. If your gal pals invite you for a weekend away, no dudes, and you want to go, you naturally start processing… how can make this happen with minimal static and what you can offer your spouse in return, how should you bring it up, when should you bring it up, and what type of meal are you going to prepare for him in the midst of bringing it up.

Think ahead, learn from past experience, put yourself in his shoes—these are all game strategies that work. Here you’re trying to achieve the best results possible, given the limitations that there’s another person involved. Think of the other person and you’re being smart and strategic.

Isn’t this romantic?