Cost to sell a house in Chicago, IL.
On a typical $280,000 Chicago sale, total seller costs to list and close traditionally run about $25,340 roughly 9.0% of the sale price. Here's the line-item breakdown.
- Median DOM
- 24 days
- Median income
- $79,411
- Total transfer rate
- 1.30%
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List with an agent
$280,000 sale price
- Agent commission (5.5%)$15,400
- State + local transfer tax (1.3%)$3,640
- Owner's title insurance (0.5%)$1,400
- Recording / settlement / attorney$900
- Pre-listing repairs (1%)$2,800
- Staging + photography$1,200
Time to close: typically 60-90 days from list to keys.
HomeInvestor cash offer
$218,400 offer (~78% of retail)
- Agent commission$0
- Transfer tax(Buyer pays)$0
- Title insurance(Buyer pays)$0
- Closing / attorney fees(Buyer pays)$0
- Repairs(As-is, buyer's problem)$0
- Staging / photography(Not needed)$0
Time to close: 7-21 days. No showings, no contingencies.
Net difference
Listing nets you more: $36,260
The trade is time, certainty and effort vs the last few percent of retail. If your house needs repairs or you can't wait 90 days, the cash path usually wins on the math too.
Attorney required?
Yes — Illinois customarily requires an attorney at closing.
Transfer tax
IL state + county + city transfer taxes stack; Chicago is highest. Attorney customary.
Repair credits
On a traditional listing, post-inspection repair credits in Chicago commonly cost sellers another $2-8k beyond the budget above.
Chicago adds a local surtax
Chicago + Cook transfer tax — +0.75%
Chicago adds $3/$1,000 (seller share) plus $1.50/$1,000 county on top of the IL state RETT.
Result: on a $280,000 sale, Chicago's transfer tax line is $3,640 instead of $1,540 at the state baseline.
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