What is the considered as 'closing date' in Judicial Sale?

Question

Hello BP geeks,

I do have the following question - what should be considered as the "closing date" for a property sold through a Judicial Sale? As an example, here are few dates:

• The date when the bidder won the auction (and got receipt of sale)?
• The date when the bidder paid the amount in full (and got certificate of sale)?
• The date when the judge approved the sale (i.e. the date of the issuance of the court order)?
• The date when the deed was issued (i.e. days after after the approval of the sale)?
• The date when the buyer is granted with rights of possession (usually 30 days after the approval of the sale)?
• Some other date... :)

What do you think?

Your input here will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Ed Tamayo · Answer

@James Baucher

I would say that it could be argued that the closing date should be the date the judge approved  the sale but most people will say that the date on the deed is the closing date as the date on the deed is the same as the closing date for the great majority of Transactions.

James B. · Answer

@Bob Reinhard @Tom Gimer First, thank you for trying to help me with this one! I really appreciate it!

Tom, I am trying to issue a homeowners insurance policy. I am also trying to submit a form (required by the Village Hall). I do need to specify the closing date in both cases.

I think I've got an answer to my question and I am pasting it here:

The "closing date" in a judicial sales in Cook county, IL is specified in the 'Foreclosure Sale Deed' - usually the closing date is the date of the issuance of the deed.

For the record, the deed is supposed to be issued only after the sale is approved by the judge.

I hope that this will help someone in future.

BP geeks, let me know if you think that there is a better definition of a 'closing date'.

Tom Gimer · Answer

@James Baucher Please provide more context. Are you trying to determine how long a property has been owned for purposes of refinancing, for allocating taxes or settlement charges, or some other purpose?

James B. · Answer

To your question, the insurance agencies ask about it. Also, I must submit a registration form to the Village Hall and there is a 'closing date' field in it that must be filled.

James B. · Answer

@Bob Reinhard Thank you for the clarification, I now managed to grasp what you meant. However, the timeline of the Judicial Sales process in Illinois is different. Here is the flow in terms of dates:

1) The date of the auction - the winning bidder must pay 25% of the winning bid directly at the place of the auction.

2) The next day after the auction - the winning bidder must pay the remaining amount of the bid (at this point everything has been paid). Once the payment is fully done, the attorney of the plaintiff submit a Report of sale to the court and then request the scheduling of a hearing so that a judge can approve the sale.

3) The date of the approval of the sale by a judge - in my case this was 2 months after the date of the auction. Everything was already paid within 24 hours of the auction. One will get refund in case the judge decides to not approve the sale.

4) The date of issuing the deed - usually within a week or two from the date of the approval of the sale.

5) The date of being able to take possession - usually 30 days from the approval of the sale.

6) The date of recording the date - it might take 2 months from filing the recording request.

So BP geeks, what do you think should be consider as "closing date"?Thanks!

James B. · Answer

@Bob Reinhard thanks for your reply!

Do you mean that the official closing date is 3.'the date when the judge approved the sale' or you mean that it will be 1.'the date of the auction' (but this will be valid only after the sale was approved by the judge)?

@Bob Reinhard Sorry, but I am not sure that I fully understand the answer and therefore decided to double-check.

Thanks!

Bob Reinhard · Answer

It will be the date set by the Court's appointed Referee, or the Court itself, after the hammer falls and you have won the property.

Much success!