Illinois seller closing costs include the negotiated commission, state transfer tax at $0.50 per $500 and county transfer tax at $0.25 per $500, any municipal transfer tax, title insurance and settlement charges, attorney fees, recording fees, a survey where required, and the property tax proration, which because Illinois bills in arrears is often the largest single line.
| Worked example: $750,000 sale in Libertyville, September closing, $14,000 annual tax bill | Amount |
|---|---|
| State transfer tax ($1.00 per $1,000) | $750 |
| County transfer tax ($0.50 per $1,000) | $375 |
| Municipal transfer tax | None in Libertyville |
| Property tax proration | About eight and a half months of the current year plus any unpaid prior installment, five figures on this bill |
| Commission, title, attorney and recording | Per your agreement and quotes |
Brokerage commission. Negotiated, paid from proceeds.
State transfer tax. $0.50 for each $500 of value or fraction of $500, which is $1.00 per $1,000, under 35 ILCS 200/31-10. Confirmed on the Illinois Department of Revenue rate page.
County transfer tax. $0.25 for each $500, which is $0.50 per $1,000, authorized by 55 ILCS 5/5-1031. Lake County imposes it at the full rate.
Combined state and county, therefore, $1.50 per $1,000 of sale price. On a $600,000 sale that is $900. Lake County's own transfer tax pamphlet works the same arithmetic on a $100,000 example.
Municipal transfer tax. Only in some towns, and this is covered properly below because it is where the surprises live.
Owner's title insurance policy and settlement charges. Customarily the seller's cost in Illinois.
Attorney fees. Both sides are normally represented here.
Recording fees, survey, and any credits agreed with the buyer after inspection.
You will read everywhere that Illinois law makes the seller pay. That is not quite what the statutes say, and the accurate version is more useful.
Neither 35 ILCS 200/31-10 nor 55 ILCS 5/5-1031 contains a sentence naming the seller. The tax is imposed on the privilege of transferring title, which is the grantor's privilege, and that is the basis for the universal Illinois practice that the seller bears it. Lake County's own pamphlet is deliberately neutral and says it may be paid by buyer or seller, and to check your contract.
So the honest statement is: the seller customarily pays the state and county transfer tax in Illinois, and the contract allocates it.
This is the section worth reading twice, because most general Illinois advice gets it wrong for this county.
Per Lake County's transfer tax pamphlet, exactly six Lake County communities impose a municipal transfer tax: Buffalo Grove, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Mettawa and North Chicago. Property in those six requires a municipal stamp or an exemption letter before the deed can be recorded.
Libertyville, Mundelein, Gurnee, Lake Bluff, Deerfield, Vernon Hills and Grayslake do not impose one.
And the most counterintuitive part, for Lake Forest specifically: the city's own transfer tax page sets the rate at $4.00 per $1,000 of net consideration rounded up to the next $5.00 increment, and it is the buyer who pays, before closing. There is a $50 minimum on otherwise exempt transactions, and a rebate of up to $2,000 for residents who both buy and sell a residence inside Lake Forest within a one-year period, claimed within one year of the transaction.
So on a $1,500,000 Lake Forest sale, the municipal transfer tax is roughly $6,000 and it is the buyer's cost, not yours. That is a material number to have right when you are comparing net proceeds across towns. Verify the current rate with the municipality before closing, because ordinances change and the county pamphlet dates from December 2022.
Illinois bills property tax in arrears. The bill you pay this year is for last year's liability.
At closing the seller credits the buyer for the period they owned the home but have not yet been billed for. On a Lake County home with a five-figure annual bill, that credit routinely exceeds every other closing cost except commission.
It surprises people every single time, and the reason is that it does not feel like a cost. Nobody is charging it to you. It is your own tax liability settling up. But it comes out of your proceeds all the same, and if it is not on your net sheet from the first conversation, your net sheet is fiction.
The size depends on your closing date and your bill. A January closing and a November closing on the same house produce very different credits.
There is no honest single percentage. Commission is negotiated, the municipal layer applies in six towns out of many and in Lake Forest falls on the buyer, and the tax proration swings with your closing date.
What you should have is a net sheet with your address, your tax bill and your expected sale price, produced before you list rather than handed to you at the table.
Take a $750,000 sale in Libertyville, which has no municipal transfer tax, closing in September, on a home with a $14,000 annual tax bill.
State transfer tax: $750 at $1.00 per $1,000.
County transfer tax: $375 at $0.50 per $1,000.
Municipal transfer tax: none.
Title and settlement: varies by provider, typically a four figure sum on this price.
Attorney: a fixed fee in most Illinois residential matters, quoted in advance.
Recording and survey: a few hundred.
Property tax proration: with a September closing you are crediting roughly eight and a half months of the current year plus any unpaid prior year installment, which on a $14,000 bill is comfortably five figures.
Commission: negotiated.
The pattern to notice is that the transfer taxes, the item everybody asks about, total $1,125, while the proration, the item nobody asks about, is the largest number on the page after commission.
Run the same sale in Lake Forest and the municipal transfer tax appears, but on the buyer's side, at $4.00 per $1,000. It does not hit your net. It hits their cash to close, which can affect what they are able to offer.
Your net sheet at listing is an estimate. Three things routinely move it, all of them after you are under contract.
Inspection credits. The buyer's response to the inspection often arrives as a request for a credit rather than repairs. Whatever you agree comes off your proceeds.
Appraisal shortfall. If the appraisal comes in under the contract price, one of three things happens: the buyer brings the difference, you reduce, or the deal restructures. Two of those cost you money.
Municipal requirements. In the six Lake County towns with a transfer tax, and in some towns without one, the stamp or the final water bill or a point of sale inspection can generate work and cost late in the process.
Build a contingency into your expected net. A seller who has mentally spent the gross figure negotiates badly when the first credit request arrives.
Because the proration is time-based, your closing date is a lever.
Close earlier in the tax year and you credit the buyer for less of it. Close later and you credit more. This is not a reason to distort your sale timing, and the amounts do not usually justify holding a good offer.
But when you are choosing between two similar offers with different closing dates, or when a buyer asks for a two week extension, it is worth knowing that the extension has a price and roughly what it is. Ask your attorney or closing agent to quantify it rather than agreeing to it blind.
Four levers actually exist, and the rest is noise.
Negotiate the commission and know what you are getting for it. A lower fee with less marketing is not automatically a saving if it produces a lower sale price or a longer time on market.
Get more than one attorney quote. Flat fees vary meaningfully between firms for identical work.
Prepare the house before listing rather than crediting for it afterwards. A buyer's credit request after inspection is almost always larger than what the same work would have cost you to do in advance, because the buyer is pricing uncertainty as well as the repair.
Price correctly on day one. This is worth more than all the others combined. A property that sells in the first few weeks at the right price nets more than one that sits, reduces, and then sells to a buyer who reads the days on market as leverage.
What you cannot reduce: transfer taxes, recording, and your own accrued property tax.
Negotiable: commission, attorney fees, whether you contribute to buyer agent compensation, whether you accept a credit request after inspection, and your closing date, which moves the proration.
Not negotiable: state and county transfer tax, recording fees, and your own accrued tax liability.
Knowing which bucket each line sits in is what turns a net sheet from a depressing document into a useful one.
None of this is legal or tax advice. Your attorney and closing agent confirm what applies to your transaction.
How I build a net sheet before a home lists is on my page as a listing agent in Lake County.
The state imposes $0.50 per $500 of value under 35 ILCS 200/31-10, and counties impose $0.25 per $500 under 55 ILCS 5/5-1031. Combined that is $1.50 per $1,000 of sale price. Six Lake County municipalities add their own tax on top, and in Lake Forest the buyer pays it.
Per Lake County's transfer tax pamphlet, six: Buffalo Grove, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Mettawa and North Chicago. Libertyville, Mundelein, Gurnee, Lake Bluff, Deerfield, Vernon Hills and Grayslake do not impose one. Verify with the municipality before closing, since ordinances change.
Because Illinois bills in arrears, so this year's payment covers last year's liability. At closing the seller credits the buyer for the ownership period not yet billed. On a Lake County home with a five-figure annual bill, that credit often exceeds every closing cost except the commission itself.
Customarily yes. The owner's title insurance policy and the associated settlement charges are conventionally seller costs in Illinois transactions. Like most closing terms this is established practice rather than a legal requirement, so it can be reallocated in the purchase contract if both parties agree.
Practice here is that both sides are represented, and the standard contract contains an attorney review provision that assumes it. It is not strictly mandatory, but selling without counsel in a market where the buyer, the lender and the title company all have it is a meaningful risk to accept.
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I'm Eshu Chikoti, a Lake County, IL agent. If you want the numbers in this article run for your specific home or purchase, let's talk it through — no pressure, no obligation.
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