Open violations, a condemned or vacant house, fire or water damage, a hoarder property, failed inspections, we buy homes in any condition for cash, take on the repairs and the fines, and close fast, so the property stops costing you money.
Fair Value Investments is a private real-estate investor buying for our own account. We are not a broker, lender, attorney, or government agency, and we charge no fee to make an offer.
The address, and any violation notices or hearing dates you have received. We can read the public record for the address too.
Repairs, open violations and anything owed on the property are part of our math, and we show you each line.
The title company pays recorded liens and other payoffs from the proceeds, and the property changes hands as it stands.
A house with open violations or in serious disrepair can bleed money, fines, tickets, insurance, and endless repair estimates. We buy exactly these properties: we take on the repairs and address recorded violations and liens at closing, so you can hand it off and walk away instead of pouring in more.
Inside Chicago, the Department of Buildings inspects properties, often after a complaint made through CHI311 or as part of a scheduled inspection, and records any violations it finds. Many building cases are then heard by the city's Department of Administrative Hearings, an independent body that decides city code matters, and some are brought in the Circuit Court of Cook County instead. Either forum can order repairs and impose fines.
Every violation the Department of Buildings records becomes public. The city publishes them on the Chicago Data Portal, and the department has its own search of building records by address. Each record shows the inspection, the code section cited and whether the violation is still open or has been marked complied.
Outside Chicago, each city and village enforces its own building and property maintenance codes, usually through a building or community development department and, in many towns, an administrative hearing officer. Some municipalities attach their own requirements to a sale, such as a transfer inspection, so the village or city hall is the first call before any closing.
Land outside municipal limits is handled by the county:
Open violations rarely rule out a sale, but they shape who will buy and at what price. A buyer using a mortgage may find that the lender will not finance a house with serious code problems, and a retail buyer may walk away after an inspection. An as-is buyer prices the repairs and the open cases into the offer instead.
Fines and liens are a separate question from the violations themselves. Anything recorded against the property shows up in the title search and is paid from the proceeds at closing. Whether an open case needs anything more from the seller before or after closing depends on the city and the case, so ask the department or the hearing office involved.
Our pricing explainer shows how repair costs work their way into a cash offer, and each county page (Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane) names the offices involved there.
Comparable sales, minus itemized costs, next to what listing would likely net. See how we price a home →
No repairs, no fee, no obligation. See the number, then decide.