Kane's October 26 tax sale and the four-year township reassessment
Kane bills come in two installments. For tax year 2025 they were due June 1 and September 1, 2026, and anything late picks up 1.5 percent a month. Payment by October 23 kept a parcel out of the annual tax sale, set for Monday, October 26, 2026. What sells is a lien on your unpaid taxes, not the house, and bidders compete on the penalty rate. Under the July 2026 amendment, a home with one to six units can generally be redeemed for up to three years from the sale. The County Clerk's redemption page still quotes 2 1/2 to 3 years, so read the date on any certificate before you trust a deadline. The Clerk notes that deed proceedings can begin six months before redemption runs out.
Kane's township assessors reassess every parcel every four years, at one third of fair cash value. The county guide puts most rates between about 6 and 9 percent of equalized value, with a median near 7.5 percent. Its own example is a $325,000 house owing $8,124 with no exemptions. If you live in the home, the general homestead exemption takes up to $8,000 off that value, and owners 65 and up can claim another $8,000.
Courtroom 220 in Geneva, and no mediation to fall back on
Every Kane foreclosure lands in one place, Courtroom 220 of the Kane County courthouse in Geneva, with Zoom attendance allowed. One thing older guides get wrong: the circuit's mandatory foreclosure mediation program was repealed, and the court's foreclosure page lists no replacement. What it does list is outside help. That means the Illinois Housing Development Authority's foreclosure prevention resources, Prairie State Legal Services, Illinois Legal Aid Online, and the Kane County Law Library and Self Help Legal Center in St. Charles.
The clocks come from state law. Early in the case you can reinstate by paying the missed amounts and costs. Redemption lasts until the later of 7 months from service or 3 months from the judgment, and the Sheriff's sale comes after that. Nothing changes hands until a judge confirms the sale. DePaul's Institute for Housing Studies counted 592 new filings in Kane in 2025, up from 529 in 2024, or 0.4 per 100 residential parcels. Only 48 cases reached auction in 2025, and 54.2 percent of those went back to the bank. The Kane County foreclosure timeline and the deadline calculator walk through each date.
From 1968 Aurora Township to 2010 Pingree Grove
Census estimates put Kane's median home at a 1985 build year, but the east and west halves of the county barely resemble each other. Aurora Township's median build year is 1968 and Elgin Township's is 1976. Out west, Rutland Township's median home dates to 2006 and Pingree Grove's to 2010. An older house gives an inspector more to write up, and older homes also bring federal lead-paint disclosure rules into the sale.
The market is tight right now. The Illinois REALTORS report for August 2026 shows 598 closed sales, a median of 18 days on market and 805 homes for sale, down 9.8 percent in a year. Single-family homes sold at a $482,000 median, while condos went for $318,990. Sales volume has thinned out, too. DePaul counted 5,502 residential sales in 2025, against 9,881 in 2021, and 8.2 percent of 2025 sales went to business buyers.
What a $410,000 Kane sale leaves you
The August 2026 median sale price in Kane was $410,000, up 6.5 percent from $385,000 a year earlier. On a traditional listing at that price, rough costs look like this:
- Commission at about 4.9 percent (Clever's Illinois average, updated September 2026): about $20,100
- Closing costs at about 1.2 percent: about $4,900
- State stamp at $0.50 per $500: about $410
- Kane County stamp at $0.25 per $500: about $205
- Aurora city stamp at $3.00 per $1,000, paid by the seller: about $1,230
A title company's stamp list marks the state and county stamps as seller costs. St. Charles, North Aurora, South Elgin and Elgin charge no city stamp, though most towns on that list still want the final water bill paid first.
That's roughly $26,000 before your mortgage payoff or any repairs, and more in Aurora. Taxes keep running while you wait. Using the county guide's own math at the 7.5 percent median rate, a $410,000 home with the homestead exemption owes roughly $9,600 a year, about $800 a month. If the property is a fit, a cash buyer may make an offer, and you pick the closing date. With homes selling in a median 18 days, listing is a perfectly good choice too. Run both numbers first.
Kane County town guides
The notes below come from a title company's stamp list and Census estimates.
- Aurora: $3.00 per $1,000 city transfer stamp, paid by the seller
- Elgin: $0 city stamp, but vacant homes need an inspection
- Carpentersville: median home built 1976, median value $234,100
- St. Charles: no municipal transfer stamp, median home built 1984
- Batavia: median value $387,400, final water bill due before closing
- Kane County foreclosure timeline: each court deadline from service to confirmation
Sources: Kane County Treasurer, late payment schedule; Kane County Clerk, tax redemption; 35 ILCS 200/21-350; Kane County Quick Guide to Property Taxes; Kane County Supervisor of Assessments; 16th Judicial Circuit, foreclosure court; 735 ILCS 5/15-1603; DePaul Institute for Housing Studies, Kane County; Census Reporter, Kane County median year built by township; Illinois REALTORS, Kane County August 2026; Clever, average commission survey; Saturn Title, transfer stamp list
