From the lakefront towns to the western villages, a Lake County property with back taxes, a code problem or a court case runs through a handful of county offices in Waukegan. This guide explains what each one does and where selling as-is to a private buyer fits.
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.
Lake County's seat is Waukegan. The Lake County Courthouse, at 18 N. County Street, houses the 19th Judicial Circuit Court, and most county offices are part of the same downtown government complex. Lake County has also reorganized some of its offices in recent years, so a few older guides send people to offices that have since been combined.
The Lake County Treasurer collects property taxes and, as Illinois law requires of every county treasurer, holds an annual tax sale for taxes left unpaid. The county's own answer to the question owners ask most often is worth repeating: at that sale the county is not selling the property, only the unpaid taxes.
After a sale, the Lake County Clerk administers the redemption process. The Clerk issues an Estimate of Redemption for a parcel, and that estimate shows when the next scheduled penalty increase will be added, so the amount on it is only good until that date. Ask the Clerk for a fresh estimate whenever you are making a decision based on it.
If sold taxes are never redeemed, the tax buyer can eventually ask the circuit court for a tax deed. When that deadline falls depends on the property and the sale, so get the date for your parcel from the Clerk's Office or an attorney.
Deeds, mortgages, releases and liens are recorded by the Recording Division of the Lake County Clerk's Office, which took over that work from the former Recorder of Deeds. The division is clear that, by law, it cannot perform title searches for the public. That job belongs to a title company, which is exactly who reads those records when a property is sold.
Values are set by township assessors and the Lake County Chief County Assessment Office, with appeals heard by the county Board of Review.
Lake County has dozens of incorporated cities and villages, and each one enforces its own building and property maintenance codes. Waukegan, North Chicago, Round Lake Beach and Mundelein each have their own inspectors and their own rules, including, in some towns, requirements that apply when a property is sold. The municipality is the first call.
For land outside any municipality, building permits and code questions go to the county's Planning, Building and Development department, which is reachable through the main Lake County website.
A Lake County foreclosure is a civil lawsuit filed in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court. The Clerk of the Circuit Court keeps the file. Like every Illinois foreclosure, the case is supervised by a judge at each step: the owner is served and can respond, a judgment may be entered, a court officer conducts any sale, and a judge must confirm that sale before it is final.
Your rights and dates in a case depend on its facts, and they are best explained by an attorney or by a free HUD-approved housing counselor. The counselor line is in the notice at the bottom of this page, and Illinois Legal Aid Online has a plain-English overview.
Fair Value Investments purchases property as-is, for our own account. You get a cash offer and the math behind it, and you are free to say no. If you say yes, a title company runs the closing. It orders the payoff for the mortgage, the redemption amount for any sold taxes and the release of any recorded liens, pays them from the sale proceeds, and sends you the balance.
For a house in good shape, listing it with a licensed agent can bring in more money, and we will tell you when we think that is the case. The pricing explainer shows how to compare. More detail: property taxes, pre-foreclosure and code violations.
No. According to the county, the tax sale sells the unpaid taxes, not the property. The owner keeps title and can redeem through the County Clerk.
The estimate shows the next scheduled penalty increase, and the amount goes up when that date passes. Ask the Clerk for a current estimate.
With the Recording Division of the Lake County Clerk's Office, which now handles the work of the former Recorder of Deeds.
Yes, in any condition and anywhere in the county, from the lakefront to the western villages.
No repairs, no fee, no obligation. See the number, then decide.