The Cook County Land Bank Authority announced today that it is selling 4,451 vacant properties that it had acquired through a tax scavenger sale. It actually doesn’t own the properties yet, but it owns their “tax certificates”. The properties span 13 municipalities, and most of the properties are in Chicago.
Interested buyers can apply on the authority’s mapping website today. The authority will then contact applicants, collect a $500 non-refundable deposit (which is reduced from the sale cost), and start the process to actually acquire the property, and clean the title and clear delinquent taxes.
This is similar to Chicago’s Large Lots program because it’s making thousands of non-productive properties available to the public, but it’s different in that you’re not required to already own property on the same block, and it includes many properties in Chicago that are zoned for mixed-use. We don’t have zoning maps for the suburban municipalities.
Also like the Large Lots program you’re allowed to build whatever’s allowed by zoning, and the authority will retain a $1,000 “forgivable mortgage” for three years to ensure that you comply with agreed terms with the CCLBA, and local regulations about buildings and maintenance.
Some of the properties are a bid odd. There’s an undeveloped subdivision in Matteson, Illinois, where all of the parcels are laid out around imaginary street. The parcels are vacant of buildings, but a forest grows on them, and many of the parcels back up to a creek and a pond.
The municipalities with vacant lots for sale comprise:
- Chicago, 3638
- Chicago Heights, 440
- Matteson, 111
- South Holland, 89
- Maywood, 54
- Riverdale, 43
- Posen, 29
- Country Club Hills, 20
- Olympia Fields, 11
- Bellwood, 10
- Melrose Park, 3
- Dixmoor, 2
- Midlothian, 1