Rollins Road splits Round Lake Beach into old lots and newer subdivisions
Round Lake Beach started in the 1920s as a summer-cottage retreat for Chicago's working class, and the village's 2020 Comprehensive Plan says it was incorporated by 1937. South of Rollins Road you'll find the grid-pattern "postage stamp" lots. North of it, farmland turned into subdivisions on wider lots and curving streets from the 1980s on, and building picked up in the 1990s with Sutton on the Lake, Fox Chase and Country Walk.
That split still shapes a sale. A cottage-era house on a small lot south of Rollins Road draws a different buyer, and a different inspection list, than a 1990s house on a curving street to the north. Price it against homes on your side of the road.
The $60 occupancy permit comes before any closing
The village requires an Occupancy Permit before a residential sale. It moves water and sewer service to the buyer and checks that the exterior is up to code. You apply online with water meter photos and pay $60. The inspection is exterior only, and nobody has to be home. The village asks you to start at least two weeks before closing.
About five days before closing, you send photos of the inside meter and the outside receiver so Finance can figure the final bill. That bill has to be paid before the buyers can pick up their occupancy certificate. Older homes can hide one more cost. The village code bans pit water meters, and any existing pit meter has to be moved inside at a change of occupancy before a permanent certificate is issued.
Rentals, vacant houses and lead lines each add a step
Selling a house that's been rented? The village's Rental Program Certificate of Compliance doesn't pass to a new owner. Single-unit rentals get a full interior and exterior inspection every four years.
Vacant and foreclosed homes fall under a separate registry. The fee is $130 a year. If a registrable property is sold and still qualifies, it has to be registered within ten days of the transfer, unpaid past fees pass to the new owner, and skipping registration costs $25 a day. On water lines, the village finished its lead service line inventory as of December 31, 2024, and posts it as a map. Check your address on it before you fill out the disclosure form.
Your Lake County tax bill and the Waukegan courthouse
Your property tax bill runs through Lake County. The ACS median real estate tax paid here was $5,765 a year for 2020-2024, well below the $8,923 Lake County median.
If a lender files, the case goes to the 19th Judicial Circuit at the Lake County Courthouse, 18 N County Street in Waukegan. The court tells homeowners to file an appearance and answer within 30 days. Free mediation and housing counseling are available if you call 847-377-3552 within 42 days of the summons. Your redemption right runs until the later of seven months from service or three months from the judgment. The Lake County page covers the countywide picture, and the Lake County foreclosure timeline walks through each step.
The honest math on $315,000
Redfin's tracker put the Round Lake Beach median sale price at $315,000 in May 2026, on 25 sales, with a median 40 days on market. Single-family homes ran $355,000. On so few sales the median swings. March was $265,000 and April $285,000.
List at $315,000 and commission at about 4.9 percent (Clever's Illinois average, updated September 2026) takes roughly $15,400. Closing costs near 1.2 percent add about $3,800. The state transfer tax is about $315 and Lake County's adds about $158. Sellers customarily pay both, though the contract decides. The village's codified code lists no transfer tax of its own. Two months of taxes at the local median adds about $960. That's roughly $20,600 before the $60 permit, the final water bill, or any repair a buyer asks for.
A cash sale still needs the permit and the paid water bill, but it can skip the commission and the repair back-and-forth. If the property is a fit, a cash buyer may make an offer, and you pick the closing date. Listing is a fine choice too. Run both numbers first.
Sources: Village of Round Lake Beach, Moving and property transfers; Village of Round Lake Beach, Residential rental certification program; Village of Round Lake Beach, Lead Survey Project; Village of Round Lake Beach, 2020 Comprehensive Plan; Round Lake Beach Code of Ordinances, Title 8 Chapter 1; Census Reporter, real estate taxes paid, Round Lake Beach and Lake County (B25103); Redfin Data Center; Lake County Clerk, transfer tax pamphlet; 19th Judicial Circuit, Mortgage Foreclosure; 19th Judicial Circuit, Foreclosure Mediation Program; 735 ILCS 5, Article XV, Mortgage Foreclosure; Clever Real Estate, average commission
