Cook County Homeowners - be prepared to put some of that gift-giving money aside.... those property tax bills that were supposed to be mailed out back on August 1st are heading towards your mailbox on Wednesday and will be and payble by December 13th. http://cookcountytreasurer.com/default.aspx
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...
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In Chicago, that tax rate went down about two tenths of one percent, but the multiplier increased by 13%.
In order that any given tax bill to stay constant or increase only moderately. the properties' assessed valuation must have gone down. By and large, a good many Chicago homeowners did see reduced assessed valuations and they should - like you - see little or no change to their bills this year.
I am in the process of reviewing several tax bills for clients who bought and sold this year. Some have decreased fairly substantially. Others, sad to say, have gone up severely. At least one unfortunate river north condo complex is suffering a 33% increase!.
I suppose that is at least one "positive" in declining property values.
the state multiplier went up pretty substantially so that contributed to your tax increase. also, the method that the county used to compute the size of homeowners exemptions changed this year and perhaps that had some impact too.
on a personal level, i am sorry to hear that your taxes went up so high. as a county resident, i guess i want to thank you for helping to help fund the government and keep our communities as livable as they are.