Once a sale date is set, the window closes fast. We're local investors who buy houses as-is for cash and can often close before your auction date, so you can walk away with money in hand instead of a foreclosure on your record.
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 property address and, if you have it, the case number from the summons. You never need to send us court papers to get a number.
We price the house as it stands and show you the math, so you can set it next to what an attorney or a housing counselor lays out.
If you accept, the title company orders the loan payoff and pays it from the sale proceeds at closing. Anything left after payoffs is yours.
Selling your home for cash before the auction is one way to take control: pay off what's owed, keep any equity that's left, and move on your own terms. It isn't the only path, you can also speak with a free HUD-approved housing counselor or an attorney, but if a clean, certain sale is what you want, we can move quickly.
In Illinois a lender cannot take a house without going to court. Foreclosure here is a civil lawsuit, filed in the circuit court of the county where the property sits, and a judge supervises it from the first filing to the final order. That is why the process has more steps than many people expect, and more points where an owner can ask questions.
The usual order of events:
Illinois law also gives owners reinstatement and redemption rights with their own time limits. Those dates are specific to each case, and they are exactly the kind of thing to confirm with an attorney or a HUD-approved housing counselor rather than a website.
Each county's page on this site (Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane) lists the offices involved there.
A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk through every option with you at no charge, including ones that involve keeping the loan, and you can find one through the federal counselor search. Illinois Legal Aid Online explains the court process in plain English and has forms for owners without a lawyer. Be wary of anyone who asks for an upfront fee to deal with a mortgage problem; the counselor route is free.
A sale to a private buyer is one way a case can end: the property is sold, the loan is paid off from the proceeds at closing, and the case is closed out. It tends to make sense when there is equity above what is owed and the owner would rather not spend money on repairs or wait on a listing. When what is owed is more than the house is worth, a cash sale to us may not work at all, and any shortfall arrangement is a matter between you and your lender.
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.