Illinois is a tough state to fall behind in
I'll be straight with you: Illinois is one of the hardest places in the country to be behind on a house. The property taxes are second highest in the nation, foreclosure drags through the courts, and the counties sell unpaid tax bills to investors who can eventually take the house right out from under you. I've talked to people in Rockford, Joliet, Aurora, all over Chicago, who had no idea how deep in they were until a letter showed up. The one upside is that the slow court process buys you time. The people who come out okay are the ones who move before the lawsuit gets filed, not after.
What foreclosure actually looks like here
Your lender can't just take the house. In Illinois they have to sue you and get a judge to sign off, and that whole thing usually takes a year to a year and a half. Sounds like breathing room. Sort of. The legal fees and interest keep stacking the entire time, and they come out of your equity. There's a redemption period after the sale where you can technically pay everything off and get the house back, but honestly, I've almost never seen anyone pull that off. Your leverage is before the case gets filed. That's when you can still sell on your terms and walk away with something.
The tax sale is the one that sneaks up on people
Here's the one that surprises everybody. Miss your property taxes in Illinois and the county doesn't just add late fees. They sell your debt to outside investors at an annual tax sale. On a typical $250,000 house here, taxes run close to $500 a month, so falling behind doesn't take long. If you don't pay those investors back in time, they can apply for a tax deed and take the property. That's completely separate from your mortgage. You can be current with your bank and still lose the house to a tax buyer. I've had people tell me the first they heard of it was a knock on the door.
Why a cash sale works in this state
If you call an agent, they'll tell you to fix it up and list it. Fair enough, if you've got the money and the better part of a year. Most folks I talk to have neither. A cash sale skips the repairs, skips the inspection back-and-forth, skips the buyer whose loan falls apart three weeks in. Illinois closings are simple (you don't even need an attorney, though Chicago stacks on its own transfer taxes that can run a few thousand). We've closed in a week when somebody needed out. And every month you sit in the court system costs you money, so speed here is worth real dollars.