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What's included in the $650 flat fee
The $650 covers attorney work. Title insurance, transfer-tax stamps, recording fees, and inspection are third-party costs. Full breakdown.
The $650 flat fee for an Illinois residential closing covers attorney work. Other items appear on the closing statement — title insurance, transfer-tax stamps, recording fees, survey, inspection — but those are not attorney fees. They are third-party costs paid to third parties. Here is the line-by-line breakdown.
Included in the $650 flat attorney fee
Contract review during attorney review window. Adam reads the contract line by line and identifies items requiring modification.
Drafted modifications and counter-proposals. Adam drafts the formal modification documents that go to the other side's attorney during the 5-business-day attorney-review window.
Tax-proration calculation (seller side). Adam pulls the property tax bill, applies the township's reassessment cycle, and proposes the proration. (For buyer-side closings: Adam reviews and may counter-propose the seller's proration.)
Title commitment review. Adam reads the title commitment, identifies objectionable items, drafts written objections, and confirms clearance before closing.
Deed preparation (seller side) or review (buyer side). Adam drafts the deed for sellers; reviews and verifies for buyers.
Closing-statement audit. Adam reviews the closing statement (or Closing Disclosure for federally-related transactions) line by line for accuracy before closing.
Representation at closing. Adam personally attends the closing — in person at the title company.
Polish-language representation. Available on request at no additional cost.
Unlimited questions within scope. Email and phone calls during the engagement are not separately billed.
Not included in the $650 (third-party costs paid to third parties)
Title insurance premium. Paid to the title company. The seller typically pays the owner's policy; the buyer pays the lender's policy.
Transfer-tax stamps. Statutory taxes paid to the State of Illinois ($0.50 per $500 of consideration), Cook County ($0.25 per $500), and the City of Chicago (split between buyer and seller per ordinance). DuPage and Lake County have similar structures.
Recording fees. Paid to the County Recorder where the property is located. Typically $50-$80 per document.
Survey costs. If a new survey is required, paid to the surveyor. Typically $400-$800 for a residential survey.
Inspection fees. Paid to the inspector. Typically $400-$700 depending on property size and inspector.
Mortgage-related fees. Origination fees, appraisal fees, credit-report fees — all paid to the lender, not to the attorney.
HOA / condo association fees. Move-in fees, transfer fees, and similar association charges are paid to the association.
When the $650 may not apply
Some transactions are unusual enough that the $650 flat fee is not the right structure. These are identified at intake and quoted before any work begins. Examples: FIRPTA-withholding situations for non-US sellers; short-sale transactions requiring lender approval; REO purchases from bank-owned inventory; commercial properties; multi-unit acquisitions; investment-portfolio transactions; transactions with significant pre-existing legal disputes.
If unusual scope is identified during the engagement — for example, a clear-title-issue arises mid-transaction — Adam discloses the additional scope at the moment it is identified, quotes the additional fee in writing, and proceeds only with explicit client approval. Surprise fees do not happen.
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