I won as well but he still has not responded to request to pay the court orders.

the courts will determine it goes with whoever is staying.  

The insured sued the insurer, and the trial court agreed with the insurer and dismissed the insured's complaint. 

You don't have to fly halfway across the country to try and figure all of that out.

The tenants are currently in court with a title dispute so the house would have to be paid for cash only.I would like to convert it to a primary residence and turn the garden level into a separate two bedroom apartment for use as an in law suite.

There are numerous paths to wealth in this country; they can't all align with your goals.

No excuses other than court cancelling of the eviction (we have encountered that once).  

I doubt you will have to do this, but some areas of the country are nutsy...

As the 3rd largest MSA in the country it's hard to generalize the Chicago market as it's actually over 100 different submarkets when counting the 78 communities in Chicago property and then adding in the various suburbs, including in and around Naperville. 

It takes time with court meetings, etc as a debtor or creditor.