Fair Home Cash What documents do I need to sell my house?

Four things to pull together before closing week

Photo ID. A current driver's license, state ID, or passport for every person on the title. The notary at closing cannot work without it, and an expired ID can delay the closing.

Mortgage information. Not the original loan file — just a recent statement or your servicer's name and your loan number. The title company uses it to order a written payoff letter, and the loan is paid directly out of the sale price at closing. The same goes for any home equity line or second mortgage.

Your latest property tax bill. Illinois property taxes are billed a year behind — the Cook County Treasurer bills each year's taxes the following year — so at closing the seller credits the buyer for taxes that have accrued but are not yet billed. The title company calculates that proration from your most recent bill, and in the state with the second-highest property tax rate in the country, that credit is a number worth getting right.

Anything that changes who signs. A trust agreement if the house is in a trust, a power of attorney if someone signs for you, letters of office if you are selling for an estate — our guide to selling a house in probate covers that last case in detail. If you are married, expect your spouse to sign at closing even if they are not on the deed, because Illinois homestead rights (735 ILCS 5/12-901) generally must be released in writing signed by both spouses (735 ILCS 5/12-904).

Notice what is not on the list: the deed. Ownership lives in the county's recorded land records, not in your filing cabinet, so a lost deed costs nothing but a copy fee.

Three disclosure forms — and selling as-is does not erase them

First, the Residential Real Property Disclosure Report (765 ILCS 77): most sellers of homes with one to four units must give the buyer a written report about material defects they actually know of. Second, the radon disclosure under the Illinois Radon Awareness Act (420 ILCS 46), delivered with the state's radon pamphlet. Third, for most homes built before 1978, the federal lead-based paint disclosure (42 U.S.C. 4852d).

These duties survive an as-is sale. As-is changes what you have to fix — nothing — but not what you have to be honest about, a distinction our guide to what an as-is sale really means walks through. There are limited statutory exceptions for certain transfers, such as some estate sales, which is one more reason an Illinois real estate attorney belongs at your closing.

The title company and your attorney build the rest of the file

The heavy paperwork is manufactured during the sale, not before it: the new deed, the affidavit of title, the settlement statement listing every credit and debit, the Illinois transfer tax declaration (Form PTAX-203) filed with the deed, payoff and lien release letters, and — for Chicago properties — the city's full-payment water certificate required before the sale can record (Municipal Code of Chicago 11-12-530). A licensed Illinois title company produces all of it as part of the closing you are already paying for, and the transfer stamps themselves are itemized on the settlement sheet; our Illinois closing costs breakdown shows who customarily pays what.

In a cash sale the list gets shorter, not longer: there is no lender demanding appraisals, insurance binders, or underwriting conditions, so the file is the legal minimum above. Every document that will be signed is spelled out ahead of time in writing — how buyers calculate offers shows exactly what arrives with the offer itself.

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