SOLD · Closed March 2026
Cook County tax-deed case study · case 2025COTD002764
Total to buyer
$74,000
all-in, per the recorded disbursement
ARV
$118,890
per county tax records
Family compensation
$10,000
per the recorded disbursement
Case type
Tax deed
per Cook County case 2025COTD002764
How this deal closed
An out-of-state heir in Indiana held an interest in this home through a transfer-on-death instrument, with the title complicated by a lost, unrecorded quit claim deed. The property had entered the Cook County tax-deed pipeline after the 2022 tax sale, and the redemption window had expired. Without intervention the family stood to lose the property to the tax buyer. Five steps moved it to a closed, compensated, village-compliant transfer.
We opened parallel conversations with the family, the tax certificate holder, and a qualified end buyer. The home had been carrying delinquent taxes sold at the Cook County tax sale on November 18, 2022, and the family had no path to redeem on its own.
The goal was a structure where the family walked away paid rather than wiped out, the certificate holder was made whole, and the buyer received marketable title.
The delinquent taxes of $17,783.26 had to be cleared for any clean transfer, per county tax records. The tax certificate was acquired from the certificate holder for $28,500, per the agreed judgment in the file.
At the buyer's closing, the buyer cleared $35,500 in tax redemption and related fees directly, per the recorded disbursement, removing the tax-certificate exposure from the title.
The matter ran through the Cook County Circuit Court as case 2025COTD002764, a tax-deed proceeding under 35 ILCS 200. Rather than let the tax deed extinguish the family's interest, we structured an agreed judgment.
The lost, unrecorded quit claim deed left a gap in the chain of title. That gap was cured with a recorded affidavit, so the court process produced a result the buyer's title could rely on.
We underwrote against an ARV of $118,890 and the $17,783.26 in delinquent taxes, per county tax records. The purchase agreement was executed and the disbursement letter signed, per the recorded file dates in March 2026.
The family received $10,000 in equity compensation, per the recorded disbursement, in place of losing the property to a tax deed.
Against the comparable analysis supporting the $118,890 ARV, per county tax records, the home transferred to the end buyer at a total of $74,000 all-in, per the recorded disbursement.
The village transfer was completed and the home returned to productive use, with the warranty deed finalized in the closed-transaction file in March 2026.
The numbers
No figure on this page comes from memory. Each carries its source: county tax records, the recorded disbursement, or Cook County case 2025COTD002764.
After-repair value
$118,890
Working ARV for the home.per county tax records
Delinquent taxes
$17,783.26
Owed at the time of resolution; sold at the 2022 Cook County tax sale.per county tax records
Tax certificate acquisition
$28,500
Paid to acquire the certificate of purchase from the certificate holder.per Cook County case 2025COTD002764, agreed judgment
Family compensation
$10,000
Equity paid to the family instead of total loss to the tax deed.per the recorded disbursement
Buyer-paid redemption + fees
$35,500
Cleared by the buyer directly at closing.per the recorded disbursement
Total price to buyer
$74,000
All-in acquisition cost.per the recorded disbursement
Buyer equity spread
$44,890 before repair costs
The $118,890 ARV less the $74,000 all-in acquisition. Repairs are not quantified in the records, so this is stated before repair costs.per county tax records and the recorded disbursement
Before and concept
The left image is the property as found in public Street View imagery. The right image is an illustrative concept only, not a photograph of the property.
Everyone left better off
A tax deed left to run extinguishes the owner's interest and leaves a vacant file. This file closed differently.
We resolve tax-delinquent and probate-tangled Cook County and Will County properties, then bring them to buyers who can move. Tell us your buy box and we will send the next one early.