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FSBO Expenses In Illinois

FSBO Costs In Illinois For Home Sellers

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Five percent. That’s the share of U.S. home sales that closed without a real estate agent in NAR’s latest Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the lowest the association has ever recorded. The Illinoisans who pull off a FSBO sale tend to share one habit. They added up the real costs before the sign went … Continued
How to Sell Your House Without Leaving It in Chicago

How To Sell A House While Living In It

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A buyer once toured a kitchen while the seller’s oatmeal was still warm on the stove. Nobody minded, and that house went under contract three weeks later. If you plan to sell a house while living in it, you’re in good company, since few of us can carry an empty property and a new mortgage … Continued
How to Find a Realtor in Another State in Chicago

How to Find a Trustworthy Realtor in Another State

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Why Finding a Realtor in Another State Feels Impossible A retired teacher in Ohio inherited a duplex in Rockford, and a tenant who’d stopped paying rent came with it. She had four agent names off a search engine and no way to tell which ones were real. I’ve watched more than one out-of-state owner land … Continued
Relocating Sell House Fast Illinois

Relocation Made Easy: Sell Your Illinois House Fast for Cash

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A transfer letter shows up in March with a June start date. The employer books the movers. Your kids get enrolled in a district three states away. Meanwhile, the house here in Illinois, the one you figured you’d handle “whenever,” has a hard deadline bolted onto it. Relocation gets expensive right at that deadline. That’s … Continued
Is It Possible to Sell a House With a Pending Insurance Claim

Can You Sell Your House with an Open Insurance Claim

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A pipe lets go in the upstairs bathroom of a two-flat in Cicero. By the time the tenant calls, the kitchen ceiling below is on the floor, and nobody has assigned an adjuster yet. The owner wants out. That mess scares a lot of people off the idea of selling, and it shouldn’t. If you’re … Continued
Is the seller responsible for repairs after closing

What Sellers Are Legally Required to Fix After a Home Sale Closes

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A buyer called me on a Sunday morning, eleven days after closing. He was furious about a water heater that had quit overnight. He wanted the seller to pay for it. She’d already put her proceeds toward a condo near her daughter. Neither of them was entirely right. The answer to who is responsible for … Continued
Who Is in Charge of Paying for the Appraisal and Inspection Illinois

Who Pays For Home Appraisals And Inspections In Illinois

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Sellers I talk to across Illinois assume appraisals and inspections are the same thing, paid for by whoever ordered them. That mix-up gets expensive, because who pays for home appraisals and inspections in Illinois gets settled long before anyone signs. Confuse the two at the wrong moment in a transaction, and you end up renegotiating … Continued
Guide to Selling a Property in a Trust After Death Chicago

How To Sell A House Held In Trust After Death In Illinois

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Most families don’t think about the deed until someone dies. Then there’s a house, a stack of papers nobody fully understands, and three siblings around a kitchen table in Evanston asking the same thing. Who’s actually in charge here, and can we sell this? If the home was put in a trust, you’re ahead of … Continued
Selling a House As-Is Without an Inspection Illinois

Can You Sell A House As-is Without An Inspection In Illinois

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Most Illinois sellers I talk to have already done the math in their heads before they pick up the phone. They know the roof needs work. They know the basement leaks when it rains hard enough. They know an agent would tell them to spend forty thousand dollars before listing. And they’re wondering if they … Continued
Who Pays HOA Fees At Closing Chicago

Who Pays HOA Fees At Closing In Illinois Real Estate Transactions

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Ask who pays HOA fees at closing in Illinois and you will get a different answer from every agent, attorney, and neighbor. Sellers leave money on the table, or get blindsided at the closing table, every single day because nobody sat them down ahead of time and walked through exactly what an HOA owes, what … Continued
Essential Paperwork for Selling an Inherited Home in Chicago

Documents Required for Selling Inherited Property

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Selling an inherited property isn’t quite the same as selling a home you bought yourself. On top of the usual sale steps, you also have an estate to settle. That means gathering the documents required for selling inherited property, the paperwork that proves you have the right to sell. Missing even one of them can … Continued
Selling a House That Has Water in the Crawl Space in Illinois

Selling a House With Water in the Crawl Space in Illinois

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Selling a house with water in the crawl space in Illinois is just one more item to handle before you list your home. It doesn’t mean your plans are ruined, and it doesn’t mean you have to delay the sale until every drop is gone. Moisture under a house is common in Illinois, usually tied … Continued
How long should you stay in your house before selling in Chicago

How Long Should You Live in a House Before Selling

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A home is a long hold for most people, so the exit date rarely gets much thought at the closing table. Then life moves. A new job, a baby on the way, a divorce, a bill nobody saw coming, and suddenly you’re pricing out a sale you never planned. Before you put the property on … Continued