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.
Selling your home without a realtor can save you tens of thousands in commission, but it also means no agent stands between you and a binding contract, a stack of state-required disclosures, and a buyer who almost certainly has their own attorney. For-sale-by-owner does not have to mean going it alone on the parts that carry real legal risk. We give FSBO sellers exactly the protection a listing agent never actually provided: a contract that holds up, disclosures done right, and someone reading every document before you sign it.
We work with FSBO sellers across DuPage County and the western suburbs — Villa Park, Elmhurst, Lombard, Oak Brook, and nearby — handling the legal side of the sale for a flat, predictable fee while you keep the commission you earned by finding your own buyer. You stay in control of the price and the negotiation; we make sure the paperwork, the earnest money, the title work, and the closing are handled the way they would be on any represented sale. If a title problem surfaces, or you end up buying your next place at the same time, we handle that too.
Everything a realtor’s broker side would do, except the marketing.
Custom purchase contracts using Illinois standard forms, properly drafted to protect you as seller.
Complete the Residential Real Property Disclosure and any local disclosures (DuPage radon, Chicago lead, etc.).
We hold buyer’s earnest money in attorney trust, providing the third-party escrow a realtor would normally provide.
Order and review the title commitment, resolve any title issues, work with title company through closing.
Respond to buyer’s inspection demands, draft amendments, negotiate credit-vs-repair decisions.
Attend closing, review all documents, verify the net sheet, ensure clean title transfer.
Listing-side commission (typically 2.5-3%) goes to you, not a realtor. Buyer’s side may still apply if buyer has an agent.
We draft a binding Illinois contract, not an internet template. Properly drafted protects you.
We hold deposits in attorney trust account, the same protection a realtor would provide.
Title commitment review and curative work, what would normally be done through the realtor channel.
Illinois has specific seller disclosure requirements. Getting them wrong creates post-closing liability.
When the buyer has their own attorney (which most do), we negotiate effectively from your side.
The moment you and your buyer agree on a price, the FSBO sale becomes a legal transaction, and that is where we step in. We draft a real Illinois purchase contract, not a download-and-fill template that leaves gaps a buyer’s attorney will exploit, set up proper handling of the earnest money so it sits in a trust account rather than your personal account, and prepare the disclosures Illinois law requires every seller to complete. Skipping or fumbling any of these is where unrepresented sellers get exposed, and it is exactly what we prevent.
From there we carry the deal to closing the same way we would on any sale: coordinating with the buyer’s lender and the title company, responding to inspection demands so you are not bullied into concessions you do not owe, ordering the payoff on your mortgage, and reviewing the final settlement statement before you sign. You priced your home and found your buyer. We make sure the legal machinery behind the sale runs clean, so the money you saved on commission does not get eaten by a problem at the table.
From our Villa Park office, we represent clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs of Chicago.
Yes, homeowners can sell their own property without using a realtor. There’s no legal requirement to list with a brokerage. Standard contracts and disclosures still apply.
Listing-side commission is typically 2.5-3% of sale price. On a $500,000 home, that’s $12,500-15,000. If the buyer has a realtor, you may still owe buyer’s-side commission. Our fee for FSBO representation is a small fraction of the savings.
Yes, buyer’s agents work on FSBO listings all the time. You typically agree to pay the buyer’s-side commission (2.5-3%) in the listing, still saving the listing-side commission.
Without a realtor, the buyer’s earnest money typically goes to one of the attorneys’ trust accounts. We can hold it as seller’s attorney. The contract specifies who holds it and the release conditions.
Standard part of our FSBO representation. We walk through the Illinois Disclosure Report with you, explain what ‘known material defects’ means, and help you complete it accurately.
Generally no, MLS access is limited to licensed agents. Some flat-fee MLS services exist where you pay a small fee to be listed. We can advise on which work in your area.
Yes. Illinois does not require a real estate agent to sell a home, and thousands of owners sell FSBO every year. What you cannot skip is the legal side: a binding contract, state-mandated disclosures, earnest money handling, and a proper closing. Most FSBO sellers who run into trouble do so not because they lacked an agent, but because no one handled the legal paperwork correctly. An attorney fills exactly that gap, usually for a fraction of a full commission.
A real estate commission typically runs five to six percent of the sale price, which on a $400,000 home is $20,000 to $24,000, often split between the two agents. Flat-fee attorney representation for a FSBO sale is a small fraction of that. You are paying for the legal protection and document work, not for marketing or showings you are already handling yourself. We quote the fee up front, so you know your number before you commit.
We handle the legal side from contract to keys, you save the commission and still get full attorney representation.