You’ve come to the right place to sell your property

It depends on price point, condition, and season. For scale, the published medians in May 2026 were 45 days on market in Lake County, 46 in Cook, and 42 in DuPage, and sale-to-list ratios averaged just above 1.00 across all three that spring, meaning the typical home closed a little over asking. Town by town the spread is wider than the county figures suggest, running from roughly 38 days in Wilmette to about 60 in Lake Forest, with most of our towns in the forties. A well-priced, well-presented home often goes under contract within a few weeks, and the sharpest listings move in days with multiple offers. Higher-priced and luxury homes usually take longer because the buyer pool is smaller. Overpricing is the most common reason a home sits, since the most activity happens in the first two to three weeks a listing is live. We price with the comps, show you the plan before we launch, and adjust based on real showing and feedback data rather than guesses.

A seller in Illinois generally pays the real estate commission, attorney fees, title and settlement charges, and the state and county transfer taxes, which run $0.50 and $0.25 per $500 of price. The municipal stamp is a separate question, and in several of the towns we cover it falls on the buyer: Lake Forest charges $4.00 per $1,000 payable by the buyer before closing, Wilmette charges $3.00 per $1,000 with the buyer named as the party liable, and Lincolnshire requires the buyer to purchase the stamp before closing. Ask which side pays in your village before you rely on any net sheet, ours included. Some municipalities require a transfer stamp and a point-of-sale inspection before closing, which we flag early so nothing stalls the deal. Because property taxes here are paid in arrears, sellers also credit the buyer for taxes accrued but not yet billed, which is a real line item that surprises people. We walk you through a net sheet up front so you know your proceeds before you list, and your attorney confirms the exact numbers at closing.

We price with the comparable sales, meaning recent closed sales of similar homes in the same area, adjusted for condition, size, lot, and updates. Then we factor in current inventory, buyer demand, and the season, and we look at what is pending and what has failed to sell so we are pricing to today's market rather than last year's. We show you the comps and the reasoning before we set a number, because a price that is too high costs you the strong early activity when a listing is fresh. The goal is the highest realistic price the market will actually pay, backed by data you can see.

Spring is the most active season on the North Shore, with buyer demand building from late winter through early summer as families try to be settled before the school year. The pattern is sharp enough to plan around. Averaged over 2023 to 2025, May carried about 11.4 percent of Lake County's new listings for the year and December about 3.8 percent, with Cook at 10.6 and 4.0 percent. Homes that sold in January took a median 68 days on market in Lake County against 46 days in June. Listing into the spring means faster, and it also means the most competition you will see all year, which is the trade a fall seller is making in the other direction. That said, well-priced homes sell in every season, and listing in fall or winter can mean less competition from other sellers and more serious buyers. The right timing depends on your home, your price point, and your own plans. We look at current inventory and recent activity in your specific town and tell you honestly whether waiting for spring helps you or just delays your move.