How Selling a Home Actually Works in Illinois

My office orders your mortgage payoff letter early. I check whether the loan is current, because an arrears figure changes your net. I verify the payoff against the closing statement before you sit down. A payoff ordered late is the most common cause of a slipped closing on the sell side.

Deadline: ordered at the start of the file, verified before closing.

You do not have to attend your own closing. My office prepares a power of attorney when a seller cannot appear. Out-of-state sellers, deployed sellers, and divorcing co-owners use this constantly. The document gets drafted and approved early, not scrambled on closing morning.

Deadline: signed and approved before the closing is scheduled.

I complete the title company's SJEO form early, not at the table. I also confirm the buyer's earnest money was actually delivered and receipted. The escrowee holds that deposit in trust for both parties. If the buyer defaults later, the receipted deposit is your leverage. An unreceipted deposit is a rumor.

Deadline: receipt confirmed within the negotiated business days after acceptance.

You, at your expense, deliver an ALTA title commitment with extended coverage in the amount of the price. Only two kinds of exceptions are permitted. Covenants and easements that do not interfere with current use, and taxes not yet due. Anything else, you must remove or have the insurer commit to insure over. I order title at the start of the file, because a lien surfaced late delays the closing. When my office handles this title work, my seller fee is free.

Deadline: sufficiently in advance of closing. My practice: early, always.

You deliver a recordable Warranty Deed, or the appropriate trustee's or executor's deed, with homestead released. My office drafts it and checks the legal description against the title commitment. I also check the prorations and the closing statement line by line. Errors in the figures come straight out of your proceeds.

Deadline: drafted and reviewed before closing day.

You pay for the Plat of Survey. It must be dated within 6 months of closing, by a licensed surveyor, with corners staked. A "mortgage inspection" is expressly not acceptable. Condominiums are exempt. Order it early. A fence over the line becomes a title objection you must cure on the buyer's schedule, not yours.

Deadline: delivered no less than 1 business day before closing.

My office compares the commission figures on the closing statement against your brokerage agreement. Wrong commission math comes out of your proceeds and nobody else's. This checkpoint takes minutes. Selling without an agent instead? My sell without a realtor guide covers that route.

Deadline: verified before the closing statement is final.

You pay the state stamp at $0.50 per $500 of price and the county stamp at $0.25 per $500. Both file with the PTAX-203 declaration. Municipal transfer taxes follow the local ordinance, and the ordinance decides who pays. Many towns require water certification, a point-of-sale inspection, or a compliance certificate before the stamp issues. Utilities and water prorate through closing on final meter readings, not estimates.

Deadline: certificates in hand before closing, or the stamp does not issue.

Post-closing possession lets you stay briefly after the sale. Understand whose clause this is: the escrow protects the buyer. If the blank is empty, the default escrow is 2% of the price. You pay a daily use-and-occupancy charge, and the charge triples for every day past the Possession Date. Your liability is not capped at the escrow. So I negotiate a window you can actually meet and a daily rate that is fair. Keep your insurance in force until you hand over the keys.

Deadline: possession by 11:59 p.m. on the Possession Date. Do not miss it.

If the buyer must sell their own home first, paragraph 31(c) lets you keep marketing yours. When a bona fide backup offer arrives, you serve the kick-out notice on the buyer personally. Service on the buyer's attorney or agent does not count. The buyer then has the negotiated number of hours to waive the contingency. The waiver must be in writing, with the additional earnest money by cashier's or certified check. Late or missing funds make the waiver ineffective, and you proceed with the backup contract. Paragraph 32(b) then restarts the business-day clocks, except the earnest money deposit, from your cancellation notice.

Deadline: the buyer's waiver window runs in hours, so the notice must be served exactly right.

For Chicago property, my office orders the CPASS certificate. That is the city's confirmation that the water and zoning accounts are paid in full.

Deadline: in the file before the city stamp issues.

When a payoff needs a court date, my office runs both calendars. The sale must close before a judgment can do damage. My foreclosure guide covers the court side.

Deadline: set by the court, tracked in the same file.

The form gives the home warranty two lines. You provide a prepaid policy at a stated cost, with proof of full prepayment at closing. Used well, it is a negotiation chip. A one-year third-party policy reads as generous in the buyer's letter. It often closes an inspection argument for less than the repair credit the buyer wanted. I offer it deliberately, not defensively.

Deadline: prepayment evidence delivered at closing.