The three-word pitch is everywhere — bandit signs on Western Avenue, postcards in Chatham, texts about a two-flat you forgot you still owned. This page explains the deal behind the pitch, walks the call-to-closing pipeline step by step, and shows you how to choose when more than one company wants your house. We are one of those companies, so judge us by the same standard.
Strip the marketing away and "we buy houses" describes one specific transaction: a private company purchases your property directly, as-is, with its own funds. No listing, no showings, no lender approving the buyer's loan, no repair credits negotiated after an inspection. What you are trading for that speed and certainty is price — a legitimate offer sits below your home's fixed-up value, because the gap has to cover the repairs the buyer takes on, their costs to resell or rent, and their margin. That trade is the entire product. Any company that pretends the trade does not exist — promising retail price and a one-week closing in the same breath — is advertising something the math cannot deliver.
The sign is advertising, not the business. Behind Chicago's signs sit very different operations: rehabbers, buy-and-hold landlords, national franchises, and wholesalers who never intend to own your house at all. We took that taxonomy apart, operator by operator, at cash home buyers in Chicago — this page stays on the question that follows it: what actually happens when you respond, and how do you choose?
Part 2Every legitimate version of this business runs the same pipeline. Knowing the stages in advance turns you from a lead into an informed counterparty:
Address, condition, occupancy (vacant, you, or tenants), what you owe, and your timeline. Honest answers get you an accurate offer; there is no advantage in polishing the story, because stage two checks it anyway.
Someone sees the house — roof, mechanicals, foundation, the scope of any rehab. A buyer willing to price your house without anyone ever seeing it is either padding the discount to cover blind risk or planning to cut the price later, once you are committed.
A real offer arrives on paper with its math attached: the after-repair value, the repair budget, the costs, the margin. A number quoted only by phone is a fishing line, not an offer. Our own formula, worked example included, is public at how we make offers.
In Illinois it is standard practice for the seller to have their own attorney at a residential closing. Send them the contract before you sign. A legitimate company expects this; one that discourages it has answered your real question.
The title company holds every dollar in escrow, pays off the mortgage and any liens or back taxes out of the proceeds, records the deed, and wires you the balance — all in one transaction. You never hand anyone a deed outside a formal closing.
From signed contract to keys, a cash purchase typically runs one to three weeks. The pace is set by title work, not by the buyer's enthusiasm: Chicago closings clear transfer stamps, water bills, and any city or county liens before the deed records.
Part 3Three local realities shape every one of these deals inside the city. First, transfer stamps: Illinois charges $0.50 per $500 of price, Cook County adds $0.25 per $500, and Chicago layers its own $5.25 per $500 on top — your contract should say plainly who pays what, and a good cash contract puts the customary seller portions on paper before you sign, not at the closing table. Second, the attorney custom: because Illinois closings normally involve counsel on both sides, a cash buyer who acts surprised by your attorney is telling you they mostly work with sellers who did not bring one. Third, the clock: if a foreclosure case is behind your timeline, Cook County's court process usually runs a year to eighteen months, and a sale can pay the loan off at closing at almost any point before judgment — but the earlier you act, the more of your equity survives the legal fees. Deadlines and stages are mapped on the Cook County foreclosure timeline.
There is also a reason this industry concentrates here at all: a huge share of the city's bungalows, two-flats, and greystones cannot pass a mortgage lender's inspection, which shuts out financed buyers and makes a direct cash purchase the realistic exit. If the condition of the house is the heart of your situation, start with selling a house as-is in Chicago.
Part 4Get more than one written offer whenever your timeline allows — two or three is plenty. Competing offers show you the honest range for your specific house, and they expose which companies show their math. Then compare the terms, because the headline number is only one of six things you are agreeing to:
Can they close when you need, and just as important, can they wait if you need six weeks instead of one? Flexibility on the date is worth real money.
How many days do you get to move out after the money lands? Get the number, and any rent-back terms, into the contract itself — not into a promise.
A meaningful deposit held at the title company is the buyer's skin in the game. A token deposit means walking away costs them almost nothing.
A broad inspection contingency lets a buyer reopen the price after you have taken the house off the market — the classic setup for the closing-week price cut. Ask exactly what conditions let them renegotiate, and for how long.
"Buyer and/or assigns" means the company can hand your contract to a stranger for a markup. Legal, but it changes who shows up at closing — strike it or cap it unless the wholesale structure is disclosed and you accept it.
Direct buyers commonly cover standard seller closing costs on these deals — but "commonly" is not "contractually." If the offer says they pay, the contract should too.
If your house is in solid condition, no deadline is chasing you, and you can carry it through a normal marketing period, listing it will very likely net you more — the discount that funds a cash buyer's rehab and margin is a real cost, and it only earns its keep when speed, certainty, or condition genuinely constrain you. The side-by-side math is at cash buyer vs. realtor, and the full menu of selling routes is compared at top cash home buyers in Chicago. If you have already decided to sell fast and want the street-level playbook — neighborhoods, pricing, week-by-week timeline — that lives at sell my house fast in Chicago, with deeper dives for the South Side and West Side, plus block-level pages for Englewood, Chatham, Roseland, South Shore, Back of the Yards, and Austin.
Part 6This page applies the same standard to Fair Home Cash that it applies to every cash-offer option. Fair Home Cash LLC is an Illinois company at 6231 N California Ave in Chicago — look us up at ilsos.gov exactly the way Part 2 says to check anyone. When you request an offer, you can get written cash offers, and sellers pay $0 — no commission, no closing costs, no fee for the walkthrough or the written offer. Offers arrive in writing with the math attached, your attorney is welcome from the first page, and the verification walkthrough — using us as the test case — is at is Fair Home Cash legit.
Part 7The business model is real: private companies purchase Chicago houses directly, as-is, with their own funds, at a price below fixed-up value that covers repairs and their margin. The sign itself proves nothing, though — anyone can print one. Before signing, confirm the company is a registered Illinois entity at ilsos.gov, ask for proof of funds in that entity's name, and have your own attorney review the contract, which is how Illinois residential closings normally run anyway.
A predictable pipeline: an intake call about the property's condition, occupancy, and your timeline; a walkthrough of the house; a written offer; your attorney's review of the contract; and a closing at a title company where the mortgage and any liens are paid out of the proceeds and you receive the balance. A serious company moves through those stages in days and puts everything in writing. Pressure to skip the written offer or the attorney is your signal to stop.
Once a signed contract is at the title company, a cash purchase can close in roughly one to three weeks, because there is no lender, appraisal, or loan underwriting in the chain. Title work on a Chicago property — clearing the transfer stamps, any city or county liens, and unpaid water bills — sets the real pace. A company that promises a specific closing date before anyone has looked at title is guessing.
Yes, whenever time allows. Two or three written offers on the same house tell you more than any advertisement can: you see the real range for your property, and you see which companies show their math and which just quote a number. Competing offers also surface differences in terms — closing date, move-out time, earnest money — that matter as much as price.
Not always. Some signs and postcards belong to wholesalers, who sign a contract with you and then assign that contract to a different buyer for a fee, and some belong to marketing operations that pass your information to investors. Both can be legitimate when disclosed, but you deserve a straight answer, so ask directly: are you purchasing this house yourself, with your own funds, or assigning the contract? Then ask for proof of funds and watch how they respond.
Five terms decide how a cash contract actually behaves: the closing date and whether it can flex to your schedule, how many days you get to move out after closing, the size of the earnest money deposit, whether an inspection contingency lets the buyer reopen the price after signing, and whether an assignment clause lets them hand the contract to someone else. A slightly lower offer with firm terms routinely beats a higher one that can be retraded or reassigned.
A written cash offer with the comps, the repair scope, and every term on paper — closing date, possession, earnest money, all of it. Sellers pay $0, and your attorney is welcome from the first page.
Get My Fair Cash Offer