An empty house costs you money every single month.

Vacant building registration and the city

Chicago requires vacant buildings to be registered and maintained, and the ordinance carries penalties and inspection obligations. If a building sits unregistered and unsecured, citations follow, and they follow the property to closing. Suburban municipalities have their own versions with their own fees.

If you already have citations, bring them. They get priced and we handle them after closing.

Insurance, freeze damage, and scrappers

Most homeowner policies exclude or cancel coverage once a property is vacant beyond a short window, which means the risk sits entirely on you. A burst pipe in January in an unheated Chicago house can do more damage in one week than the house lost in the prior five years. Copper theft is real, and an open building invites it.

Practical steps that cost little: shut the water at the main and drain the lines, keep minimal heat if the utilities are on, secure the doors and lower windows, and have someone look at it monthly. If you are out of state and nobody is doing that, selling sooner is usually the cheapest answer.

Vacant plus tax delinquent plus an estate

These three arrive together constantly. A parent passes, nobody opens the mail, the taxes go to the annual sale, and three years later there is a certificate on the PIN and a hole in the roof. Every one of those pieces is solvable and all of them get worse with time. Start with a phone call and the PIN.