How Chicago Sellers Should Review Competing Offers

When several offers arrive, review the written terms with your broker and attorney and confirm that presentation, representation and disclosure duties have been handled. Keep each offer, deadline and advice together so you can make a documented decision.

Confirm timely presentation unless the seller waived it

The Illinois Real Estate License Act, Section 15-15 sets duties for licensees representing clients. A licensee representing a client must timely present all offers to and from the client unless the client waived that duty. The seller's review file should therefore confirm when each written offer was received, when it was presented and whether any waiver applies.

This checkpoint does not rank the offers. It establishes that the seller received the material that the seller is entitled to evaluate. The actual offer documents remain the source for private financial and contractual terms.

Sellers who want broader pricing context can separately review the Chicago asking-price guide. It does not replace the offer documents or the legal checkpoints in this guide.

Apply the contemporaneous-offer rule only to its narrow trigger

Illinois administrative rule 1450.830 defines contemporaneous offers narrowly. The rule covers offers from two or more clients represented by the same designated agent for the same parcel or unit that are expected to be considered at the same time.

When that same-agent condition applies, written disclosure is required and a requesting client must be referred to another designated agent. This is not a general seller duty to reveal every competing offer. Multiple offers alone also do not establish dual agency.

The review should ask who represents each party and whether the same designated agent represents more than one offeror in the narrow circumstance described by the rule. That keeps the legal trigger distinct from the seller's private comparison of price and terms.

Verify dual-agency consent and compensation disclosures

Under Section 15-45 of the Illinois Real Estate License Act, an Illinois licensee may act as a dual agent only with informed written consent of all clients. The existence of competing offers does not by itself create dual agency. The file should identify the representation relationship and confirm the required consent when dual agency actually exists.

Section 10-10 of the Act addresses compensation policy and third-party compensation disclosures. Written disclosure is required when a sponsoring broker receives compensation from both buyer and seller in one transaction.

Preserve confidentiality while addressing known material facts

Illinois requires disclosure to the client of material transaction facts actually known by the licensee, subject to confidentiality and statutory scope. The duty should not be expanded into a demand for confidential information or facts outside the statute.

Ask your broker and attorney how the applicable disclosure duties and confidentiality requirements affect the offers you are reviewing. Keep private transaction documents in the appropriate secure file.

The Chicago-to-Glen Ellyn market guide provides separate geographic context. It should not be used to infer any party's confidential terms or motivation.

Keep a checklist with the offer documents

Use this checklist to organize questions about process, representation and disclosure. Your signed documents and legal advice establish the applicable deadlines and contractual terms.

Compare the actual terms with your advisers

Ask your broker and attorney to explain the price, financing, contingencies, deadlines and obligations in each written offer. Discuss which terms matter most to your plans and which questions need an answer before you respond. A checklist helps organize that conversation; it does not predict whether an offer will close.

For a buyer-side view of evidence discipline, see how Chicago buyers can build a comparable-sale offer range.

Questions about Illinois competing-offer duties

Must an Illinois broker present every offer?

A licensee representing a client must timely present all offers to and from the client unless the client waived that duty.

Does Illinois require every seller to reveal competing offers?

No. The contemporaneous-offer rule described here has a narrow same-designated-agent trigger. It is not a general duty to reveal every competing offer.

Can one agent represent both sides?

Only as a dual agent with the informed written consent of all clients. Multiple offers alone do not establish dual agency.

Which legal checkpoints belong on a seller's review list?

Confirm timely presentation, the narrow contemporaneous-offer procedure when triggered, representation, compensation disclosures, dual-agency consent, known-material-fact duties and confidentiality limits. Review the actual written offer documents with your broker and attorney before deciding how to respond.

To organize the legal checkpoints around actual private offer documents, contact the JProctor Group.

Sources reviewed September 26, 2026. Ask your attorney to confirm the law and contract terms applicable to your transaction.