A tax buyer holds a certificate on your PIN. The redemption date is now the only date that matters.

Annual sale versus scavenger sale

The annual tax sale covers taxes that went delinquent in the most recent cycle. The scavenger sale covers parcels with multiple years of delinquency and is where long neglected property ends up. Either way, once the sale happens the redemption amount grows on a schedule, and it grows fast enough that waiting is expensive.

You can pull an estimate of redemption from the Cook County Clerk. Bring us that number and the PIN and we can tell you within a day whether a sale nets you anything.

What we do differently here

Most buyers see a tax sale certificate on the title commitment and walk, because it is work. We treat it as an ordinary part of a Cook County file. We order the estimate of redemption, confirm the expiration date and any extensions the tax buyer filed, and structure the closing so the redemption is paid out of proceeds at the title company. That is the mechanism that saves the equity.

If the redemption period is close to expiring, tell us on the first call. A week matters here in a way it does not in a normal sale.

If you still own it free and clear

Plenty of the houses we buy with tax problems have no mortgage at all. They were inherited, or a parent stopped opening mail, and the taxes quietly ran for years. Those are usually the cases with the most equity at stake and the least time left, and they are the ones we most want to hear about early.