Real Estate Law · DuPage County, Illinois
Residential and commercial closings handled with care from contract to keys, so the details are covered before you sign.
Purchase agreements get breached. Earnest money gets fought over. Specific performance gets demanded. Disclosures get disputed post-closing. We represent buyers and sellers when real estate transactions become real estate litigation.
We’ve handled this specific area of real estate law for DuPage County clients for over three decades. We integrate it with our broader real estate practice — closings, title, leases, litigation — so you get one team handling all aspects of your matter.
We address the full range of issues in this area.
30+ years in DuPage and Cook County courts and recorder offices.
Chris or John handles your file personally.
Real estate, litigation, and estate planning under one roof.
We’ll tell you realistic outcomes — including when settlement is better than litigation.
Flat fees where possible, clear hourly rates where flat doesn’t fit.
Your calls returned, your questions answered.
From our Villa Park office, we represent clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs of Chicago.
Depends on why they backed out. If they exercised a valid contingency (inspection, financing), no. If they backed out without a contractual basis, you may be entitled to earnest money and potentially specific performance — forcing them to close.
An equitable remedy where a court orders the breaching party to perform the contract — usually to close on the property — rather than just paying damages. Real estate is one of the few contract types where specific performance is available, because each property is considered unique.
Earnest money held in escrow typically can’t be released without both parties’ agreement or a court order. Title companies and attorneys hold disputed deposits while parties litigate or negotiate. Most disputes settle without trial.
Possibly — if the seller knew about a material defect and failed to disclose it on the Illinois Disclosure Form. Defects that the seller demonstrably knew about and concealed can support a fraud claim. Defects neither party knew about generally cannot.
Significantly more than transactional work — hourly billing, court fees, expert costs. We evaluate each dispute and tell you honestly whether litigation makes economic sense or whether settlement is the better path.
A free consultation tells you whether you have a viable matter and what the realistic process looks like.