Unpaid property taxes can snowball into a tax sale, and, if they aren't redeemed in time, the loss of your property. We buy tax-burdened homes as-is for cash and handle the back taxes and liens at closing, so you can walk away clean instead of losing it for pennies.
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 Index Number from any tax bill lets everyone look up the same parcel. If you do not have it, the address is enough to start.
We factor current, delinquent and sold taxes into the number and show you where each one lands in the math.
It gets the payoff and redemption figures from the county offices and pays them from the sale proceeds before you receive the rest.
In Illinois, delinquent property taxes can be sold at the annual tax sale, and there's a limited time to redeem them before you can lose the property. Selling for a fair cash price before that deadline lets you clear the taxes and liens and keep the equity that's left. We are private buyers, not the county or the Treasurer, and we'll always suggest you confirm redemption details with a tax professional or attorney.
Every Illinois county splits this work between two offices. The county treasurer issues and collects the bills and holds the annual tax sale. The county clerk takes over once taxes have been sold, and is the office that calculates and accepts redemptions. Knowing which office to call for which question is half the battle.
At a tax sale, a tax buyer pays the delinquent taxes and receives a certificate. The buyer has purchased a lien for the taxes, not the house, and the owner still holds title. The owner can redeem by paying the sold amount plus the charges that accrue, through the county clerk. If the taxes are never redeemed, the tax buyer can eventually ask the circuit court for a tax deed, and that is the point at which ownership is at risk.
The redemption deadline for a parcel depends on the type of property and the sale it was sold at. Illinois changed parts of these rules in 2026, so guides written before then can be wrong about dates. The county clerk, a tax attorney or the Illinois Legal Aid Online library are the sources to trust for your parcel.
When a property has equity above what is owed, selling it lets the owner, not a tax buyer, capture that equity. At closing, the title company pays current and delinquent taxes and any redemption amount from the proceeds, along with the mortgage and recorded liens, and sends the balance to the seller. Whether that beats the alternatives, such as redeeming with savings or a loan from family, is a comparison worth making with real numbers in hand, and our pricing explainer shows how we arrive at ours.
Each county page on this site (Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane) has more on how that county's offices work.
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.