Market value is the price the whole property, house and lot together, can command from the buyers who want what it currently is. Land value is the price of the parcel alone, derived from what a finished replacement on that ground is worth after the costs of creating it are removed. In Wilmette the two figures are built from different evidence and they can sit surprisingly close together for older homes: in the sample compiled for this report, older homes in 60091 changed hands at an average of 27.5 percent of the price of new construction on comparable lots, and builders acquired all 12 sampled pre-1981 homes, which means the recorded market price of those homes was in substance a land price wearing a house (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The 100.0 percent builder rate rests on that small sample of 12 and carries its caveat throughout this report. Understanding which number a given buyer is quoting is the difference between a negotiation and a misunderstanding.
Key Findings
- Market value is evidenced by sales of comparable homes to buyers who will use them as homes, while land value is evidenced by lot sales, assessed land records and the residual arithmetic run backward from new construction prices (Cook County Assessor, 2026).
- Sampled older Wilmette homes averaged 27.5 percent of new build prices on comparable lots, so a 2,300,000 dollar new build corresponds to an older home price near 633,000 dollars in the worked example (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The simplified residual illustration in the research places land value between 890,000 dollars and 980,000 dollars on that same 2,300,000 dollar example, before site preparation of 30,000 to 45,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The two illustrations can place land value above the older home transaction price, which is not a contradiction: it shows how much of the finished price the existing structure fails to capture.
- Selling costs fall differently on the two values, with commission at 5 to 6 percent and seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent charged against the whole transaction price on the listed route (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
How is market value built for a Wilmette home?
Market value is a comparison among homes. Appraisers and agents gather recent sales of similar houses, adjust for size, condition, lot and position, and converge on the figure a typical buyer would pay, under appraisal standards and reconsideration guidance published at the federal level (Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2025). Recorded sales archives for the ZIP supply the raw comparisons, including both older home sales and the new construction closings that increasingly populate the upper end of the Wilmette record (Redfin, 2026). Automated valuation pages perform a cruder version of the same exercise, blending recorded prices into an estimate for an address without inspecting its condition (Zillow, 2026). Market value therefore describes the property as a residence in competition with other residences, and every weakness of the residence, its age, its plan, its systems, enters the number as a discount.
For a newer or thoroughly updated Wilmette home, market value is the governing figure and land value is a footnote inside it. For a pre-1981 home on a strong lot, the relationship inverts, and the sample evidence shows how completely: when every sampled older home is bought by a builder, the market clearing price for those homes is being set by buyers who are not purchasing a residence at all (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The phrase market value still applies to the transaction, but its content has changed. The house is being valued as a delivery mechanism for its lot, plus whatever residual use the structure offers during the buyer planning period, minus the friction of clearing the site. County parcel and assessment records, which carry the lot dimensions and the assessed split between land and improvements, let a seller watch that inversion in official numbers (Cook County, 2026). The methods for testing a specific address are laid out in the guide to determining whether a Wilmette property is worth more as land.
How is land value built, and why can it exceed the price of the house on it?
Land value starts where market value ends: with the finished product the ground can support. County assessor records establish the parcel facts, its dimensions, zoning and assessed land value (Cook County Assessor, 2026). A second assessor source, the parcel records maintained by the assessor office covering lot dimensions, assessed land values and recent sale prices, lets a seller cross check the official land figure against actual transactions nearby (Cook County Assessor's Office, 2026). Finished sale prices then supply the top line. At the top end of the comparison, recently completed houses on similar Wilmette lots have traded anywhere from 1,800,000 dollars up to 2,900,000 dollars, and where a given house lands in that span turns on its street, its lot width and how close it sits to the lake and to the village center (Redfin, 2026). National and county level housing data frames why those finished prices hold: Cook County is a mature, built out county where Wilmette adds effectively no vacant residential land, so demand for finished homes concentrates on the fixed stock of parcels (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025). A seller can test that official split against the market by comparing the assessed land figure with recent sale prices for nearby parcels, both of which appear in the same parcel records (Cook County Assessor's Office, 2026).
The residual method converts the finished price into a land figure. Take the worked example used across this series: a new build selling for 2,300,000 dollars, less roughly 950,000 dollars in hard and soft construction costs, less a builder margin near 20 percent, leaves residual land value in the neighborhood of 890,000 dollars to 980,000 dollars, before site preparation costs of 30,000 to 45,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). That illustration is a simplified model, labeled as such in the research and again in the Methodology section of this report, not an appraisal. Its lesson for the present question is the comparison it enables. Set the residual land range, 890,000 dollars to 980,000 dollars, beside the worked older home price at the sample ratio, roughly 633,000 dollars for the house beside that same new build. The land arithmetic exceeds the house transaction. The gap between them is the value the existing structure, its age and condition and the costs of the listed route conspire to leave unrealised for a seller who only ever hears the house number quoted.
Tax records add a third, quieter view of the split. The Illinois property tax cycle assesses land and improvements on its own schedule, and state guidance on that cycle explains how assessed values move through triennial reassessment in Cook County (Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026). A Wilmette owner receiving an assessment where the land component climbs while the improvement component stagnates is watching the two values diverge in the county own hand. Those assessments also drive the carrying cost that makes the distinction urgent in practice: annual taxes of 18,000 to 35,000 dollars, or 1,500 dollars to nearly 3,000 dollars a month, charged against a property whose structure may be contributing little beyond shelter while its land carries the family wealth (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The residential land market itself is priced directly in the report on how much a residential lot is worth in Wilmette.
When does each value govern an actual sale?
Market value governs when the buyer wants the house. A family buying a renovated colonial near the village center, an updated ranch on a lakefront street or any home whose structure is the point of the purchase will price it against other homes, finance it against an appraisal and negotiate over inspection findings in the ordinary way. In those sales the land is real but subordinate, one attribute among many, and the seller strategy is the familiar one of presentation, pricing against comparable homes and patience through a listed process of 60 to 120 plus days.
Land value governs when the buyer wants the address. The sample in this study, 12 pre-1981 homes all acquired by builders at an average of 27.5 percent of new build prices, is a portrait of land value governing in practice (Frontier Capitals, 2026). In those transactions the structure condition moved the price only at the margins. What moved it centrally was lot size against the sample minimum of 6,600 square feet, street quality among the oldest streets and lakefront streets, position relative to the village center and the New Trier district, and the finished prices recorded on the same blocks. A seller in this segment who negotiates as though market value for residences were the frame will make two errors: spending on the structure to defend a number the buyer never used, and accepting listed route deductions against a price that was land all along. The first error is quantified by the renovation illustration, in which a 150,000 dollar renovation adds 100,000 to 125,000 dollars for a live in buyer and 0 dollars where the buyer clears the lot (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The second error is quantified by the selling ledger, to which this report now turns. Owners unsure which segment their house occupies can start with the overview of how much a house is worth in Wilmette in 2026 and then test the land side specifically.
What do selling costs and buyer verification do to each value?
Both values are gross until a route is chosen, and routes tax them differently. The listed route charges commission at the typical 5 to 6 percent, which on a 750,000 dollar sale is 37,500 to 45,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025), plus seller closing costs at a typical 1 to 2 percent, the two together commonly exceeding 50,000 dollars on a 750,000 dollar Wilmette transaction. It then exposes the price to inspection negotiation, where concessions on older North Shore homes routinely run 15,000 to 35,000 dollars, and to months of carrying cost at up to nearly 3,000 dollars in monthly taxes. A market value achieved on paper can therefore arrive at closing reduced by an eighth or more, with the research ledger describing a 750,000 dollar list price netting in the high 500,000s after a normal market cycle, before any price reduction. None of those deductions is an argument about what the home was worth. They are arguments about what the route costs.
The direct route prices the land and deletes the route costs in the same motion. Privacy: no showings, no open houses, no public marketing period, which matters in Wilmette because a land sale negotiated quietly avoids the street level speculation that follows a listing that fails at a residence price. Flexibility: closing in 7 to 21 days when speed serves the seller, or months out with a leaseback when a family needs time in the house, against 60 to 120 plus days listed. No commission and no seller closing costs, removing the lines that commonly exceed 50,000 dollars combined. No inspections or repairs, removing repair credits of 10,000 to 30,000 dollars and the concession round entirely, because a land buyer has no inspection agenda against a structure it is not buying to keep. Each deletion protects the land figure specifically, since a land priced offer has no residence premium in it to absorb deductions gracefully.
Frontier Capitals role in a land value sale should be understood exactly. The company is a wholesaler: it sources off market deals to builders, contracting with the owner and placing the property with a builder who will create the next home on the lot. It is not a builder and does not present its offers as builder bids from its own construction account. Verification protects the seller in that structure. Begin verification by obtaining the buyer funds proof, a document that should bear the buyer name and a date falling within the previous 30 days. Check recorded deeds in the buyer entity name in county records, confirming the entity history of closed purchases (Cook County, 2026). Make sure the deposit structure calls for earnest money at the customary level of 1 percent, or a higher figure still. Scan the draft contract closely for language letting the buyer assign it to another party alongside only a token deposit, because that pairing reveals a deal structured without a firm commitment to close. An owner who runs those checks can compare a verified land offer against the net reality of the listed route, which is the only comparison in which market value and land value are ever honestly weighed. The finished price side of the comparison is developed further in the report on whether buyers pay more for new construction than older Wilmette homes.
Methodology and limitations
The evidence base is the sample compiled for the 189 neighborhood study: 12 pre-1981 homes in 60091, with builders acquiring 12, and an average older home price of 27.5 percent of new build prices on comparable lots (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The 100.0 percent builder demand rate is a small sample result and is flagged as such at every appearance in this report; it describes the sampled homes and cannot be projected mechanically onto every Wilmette property. The land value figures derive from a simplified residual illustration, one worked example at a 2,300,000 dollar finished price with stated cost and margin assumptions, and that illustration is a simplified model rather than an appraisal, a valuation opinion or a promise of any individual lot outcome. No inspection informed this report, and no property was appraised in its preparation. Market value discussion follows the general appraisal framework in the source pool (Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2025) without applying it to a specific address, and assessed land figures are official records of the tax system rather than transaction guarantees (Cook County Assessor, 2026; Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026).
Conclusion
The difference between market value and land value in Wilmette is the difference between pricing a house as a home and pricing its ground as the site of the next home. Market value is built from comparable residences and absorbs every flaw of the structure. Land value is built backward from finished prices of 1,800,000 dollars to 2,900,000 dollars through construction costs and margin, and in the worked example it reaches 890,000 dollars to 980,000 dollars where the neighbouring older house itself traded near 633,000 dollars. For updated homes the first number rules. For the pre-1981 stock that builders acquired at a 100.0 percent rate in the sample, the second number is the one being paid, and sellers serve themselves by hearing it quoted cleanly, net of no commissions, closing costs or inspection deductions. Owners who want both numbers run for a specific address can telephone Frontier Capitals at 401-219-4207 or email [email protected].
When a buyer offers you a price for your house, can you tell whether they are paying for the rooms you live in or for the ground those rooms happen to be standing on?
Frequently Asked Questions
Can land value really be higher than the price of the house on it?
It can, on the documented arithmetic. The simplified residual illustration places land value at 890,000 dollars to 980,000 dollars on a 2,300,000 dollar new build example, while the older home beside such a build traded near 633,000 dollars at the sample ratio (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The structure and the selling route account for the difference.
Where can a Wilmette owner see an official land value figure?
County assessor records carry assessed land values alongside lot dimensions and zoning for each parcel in 60091 (Cook County Assessor, 2026). Assessed value is a tax figure rather than a sale price, but its land and improvement split shows the direction of the two values.
Why do automated estimates blur the two values?
Valuation models blend recorded sales, including new construction closings, into one figure for an address without inspecting the structure (Zillow, 2026). The model therefore borrows finished home prices when estimating an older home, overstating the residence and understating nothing, which is why sellers should separate the two values manually.
Which value should an owner of a pre-1981 Wilmette home negotiate from?
From the land evidence, if the likely buyer is a builder, as every sampled buyer of such homes was in this study (Frontier Capitals, 2026). From comparable home sales, if the structure is updated enough to compete for families. The error is mixing the frames, spending on the structure while negotiating on the land.
Does choosing the land route mean accepting less money?
Not on the net evidence. The listed route deducts commission of 37,500 to 45,000 dollars on a 750,000 dollar sale, closing costs of 1 to 2 percent and inspection concessions of 15,000 to 35,000 dollars from its gross figure (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). A land priced direct sale removes those lines, and the comparison that matters is net against net.
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder demand sample: 12 homes sampled in 60091, 12 acquired by builders, average older home price 27.5 percent of new build. Market data.
- Cook County Assessor, 2026. Parcel dimensions, zoning, and assessed land value records for 60091. Official record.
- Cook County Assessor's Office, 2026. Parcel records: lot dimensions, assessed land values, and recent sale prices. Official record.
- Cook County, 2026. Parcel and assessment records, Wilmette IL. Official record.
- Redfin, 2026. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 60091, Wilmette IL. Market data.
- Zillow, 2026. Home values and recently sold, 60091. Market data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Chicago market. Industry report.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2025. Appraisal standards and reconsideration of value guidance. Government data.
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2025. QuickFacts: Cook County, Illinois. Government data.
- Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026. Property tax cycle and assessment guidance. Government data.