CHICAGO TRANSFER TAX - let the games begin!

As of yesterday, it looks as though the City Council's Department of Finance did a 180 degree turn and is now going to lay off the $3.00 transfer tax increase on sellers and not buyers.

The tax increase goes into effect on April 1.

So it was to be expected that Buyers would rush their deals forward and try to close on March 28th or on the 31st to beat the increase.

Turns out that might not work out as planned. See, the tax gets paid when Deeds are filed with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Its usually the title company's job to handle the recording of documents and since they have to record so many, they do not always get recorded the same day as your closing. Sometimes it can take days or weeks (or months) to get done. Title company's dont want to be left holding the bag for the fee increase. As a precaution many will start collecting additional funds to cover the tax increase as early as March 25th or 26th.

So all those end of month closings we took pains to schedule? Guess we're gonna reschedule a whole slew of them again, a few days sooner....

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FHA Loans and Condo Sales - Is Relief on the Way?

By all outward appearances, state government in Illinois has ground to a complete halt, with all eyes focused on the Governor's "problem" and all the related fal - der -rah. Its hardly business as usual in Springfield, but not everything has ground to a halt. Several new bills have been introduced this week. That is not to say that they will be of benefit to we the people. Nonetheless, the cogs and gears are turning, and we are hoping for the best. One such proposal comes from Rep. LaShawn Ford of Chicago's west side, who is himself a real estate broker and entrepreneur . He is the author of House Bill 155 , introduced & referred to the Rules Committee Wednesday. It seeks to address one of the most common problems I am seeing in condominium resale transactions these days; the tension between many Declarations of Condominium and FHA loan guidelines. Many Condo Declarations provide Associations with a "right of first refusal," which basically allows t

PLM Title Shuttered

Title insurance is a critically important part of any real estate transaction; or at least it should be. The title company guaranties the "quality" of an owners interest in the property - that there aren't any (unknown) liens or defects. No buyer that I work for will purchase a property without it. Title insurance is only as good as the insurer. We want to know that the insurance company, like the Rock of Gibraltar , will always be there. We want to sleep easy at night, knowing that the client is protected. That said, it was a bit distressing to see that PLM Title Company shut its doors, without any forewarning last week. Worse still, this morning's news is that there is a criminal investigation underway - and that we do not yet know why. Old timers like me shudder with memories of the great Intercounty Title debacle five years ago. Here's to hoping that this one is nothing like that one. Set aside the problems involved trying to make a claim against a defun

So.... about the blawg

Nov. 2022 Hello Dear Reader. I started blogging on this site 15 years ago. Crazy right? May or may not Chicago's longest-running blog about real estate law. I think so, but who knows, Whether it is or isn't doesn't, of course, really matter. Either way, it's been a blast. But things change. We've pulled up the tent stakes here and are relocated on other platforms. Want to follow along? Join us on the mothership I'm also writing on LinkedIn Thanks for everything.

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