UPDATED 2019
Recently I had been showing homes in Wilmette IL to a couple moving here from out-of-state. They had chosen Wilmette as the community they wanted to live in because of the good home values, schools, beautiful Gillson beach and park, and convenient transportation.
The husband noticed that there was a recurring notice in all of the listings. In the remarks section of the Multiple Listing sheet, it said "Buyer pays Wilmette transfer tax." He thought that sellers were being disingenuous by trying not to pay something they should be.
I explained that no, ALL buyers of homes in Wilmette must pay a transfer tax of $3.00 per $1000 of home price. The transfer tax was adopted in 1988 and applies only to buyers. Sellers in Wilmette do not pay a transfer tax.
If you purchase a $700,000 home in Wilmette, you divide 700,000 by 1000 to get 700, then multiply that by $3.00 to end up with $2,100 of tax.
The Village of Wilmette issues the real estate transfer stamps - so either you, your attorney, or your agent needs to go to the Village office prior to closing. You will also need to have proof from the sellers that the final water reading was taken and the final water bill paid. Armed with that information, you can get your stamps which will be affixed to the deed at closing.
The form looks like this Real Estate Transfer Tax Form - but as I said, most attorneys will handle this detail for you.
For comparison, Lake Forest levies a $4 per $1000 tax on buyers. Evanston and Highland Park both require sellers to pay a real estate transfer tax of $5 per $1000 of sale price.
In addition, all home sellers in the state of Illinois will pay $1 per $1000 in sale price and all home sellers in Cook County will also pay $.25 per $500 of sale price.
Make sure that when you are buying or selling a home in Wilmette that your agent is local and understands these added fees.
While you're here, please see all Wilmette Homes for Sale
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Margaret Goss is a full-time real estate broker since 1998 working in the North Shore communities of Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Glencoe, Northfield, Glenview, and Evanston.
She can be reached at:
Phone: 847-977-6024
Email: margaret.goss@bairdwarner.com
See her full BIOGRAPHY
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