Despite attempts to block the bill by local and state Realtor organizations, the Mass Transit Tax was approved 
this week by the Chicago City Council.
In Chicago, Buyers are required to pay $7.50 per $1000 of purchase price for a Real Estate Transfer Tax. After April 1, this Transfer Tax is going to increase 40% to $10.50 per $1000.
The latest numbers available from Zillow (Q3 2007), show the average home in Chicago sold for $242,000. If you buy this average priced home pre-April 1, your Transfer Taxes will be $1815. If you buy this same home post-April 1, your Transfer Taxes will be $2541. A difference of $726!!
So if you are sitting on the fence about buying, now is the time to get the process in motion. Remember is takes approximately 30-45 days to close on a home, which means you should shoot to have an approved offer in hand by Feb 20th. Looking for something romantic to do on Valentine's Day? How about some home shopping! Let me know if I can help get the process started.
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Another tax and spend Bureaucracy at work. The government know how to do one thing and that is spend, spend, spend your hard earned money.
Sara, we had a similar proposal on the table in Minnesota but were able to block it.
Thanks for keeping the buyers informed. As you and I know, there are many buyers out there who are early in the process and do not want to work with an agent quite yet. These buyers need to know that what they don't know may cost them a lot of money!