Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Cook County Board of Commissioners in November 2020 waived the 1.5 percent late fee, for two months, on all Tax Year 2020 property taxes.  As a result, Cook County Taxpayers can pay the first installment which is due on March 2, 2021, through May 3, 2021, without incurring a late fee.  Late fees will […]

The Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with a deep recession and other factors in 2020, has caused the fewest number of commercial property sales in a decade.  Real estate investors bought and sold just under $11.5 billion of Chicago-area commercial real estate which is a 32% decrease from 2019 according to the data put forth by the […]

Fritz Kaegi and the Cook County Assessor’s Office has recently prepared a report which it claims to show that the Cook County Board of Review has corrected the Assessor’s Office’s original assessments in an excessive manner, especially those assessments placed on commercial, industrial and multi-family property owners in the northern townships of Cook County during […]

The Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi has been sending out notices to taxpayers, particularly, residential homeowners and owners of apartment buildings of less than seven units.  A number of clients and attorneys have asked our attorneys the meaning or effect of these notices on their property taxes which become payable next year.  In response to […]

Each year one-third of Cook County gets reassessed by the Assessor.  In 2020, the south and southwest suburban townships have been reassessed by Assessor Fritz Kaegi for the first time.  The Assessor has continued his trend to increase the assessments of commercial property owners much more aggressively than residential property owners for the 2020 triennial […]

Sales of commercial buildings located in Chicago declined from $16 billion in transactions in 2018 to $8.07 billion in 2019 per a study by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).  2019 was the worst year for the sales of commercial property which includes office, apartment, hotels, retail and industrial properties since 2013 when transactions totaled $7.55 billion.  […]

UPDATE: Since we posted our blog on measures taken local boards to aid Illinois property owners in their payment of real estate taxes, the Cook County Board led by President Toni Preckwinkle passed a property tax relief ordinance on May 13, 2020.  This ordinance postponed the date when interest penalties for late payments of the […]

For the sixth consecutive year, Illinois’ population has decreased.  In 2019, Illinois lost an estimated 51,250 residents or 0.4% of its population and has lost more residents than any other state over the past decade.  This continued exodus was shown in data issued by the U.S. Census Bureau which released new data at the end […]

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi took office on December 3, 2018 and close to six months into his four-year term, we are beginning to see the effects of his new policies.  In the five townships that he has reassessed in 2019 including Norwood Park, Evanston, New Trier, Elk Grove and Maine Townships, we are seeing […]

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