Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

The proper terminology is whether you hold title to the property or not. Without passing of a deed, all you have are contractual rights to obtain title. If you did not get the deeds when you paid the purchase price, something seems wrong, unless everything is being held by a third party (sometimes called an "escrowee") waiting for something to happen like title clearance, before you would want to take title and become the owner of fee title. If you did this as a DIY, time to spend a few bucks on getting an attorney involved.

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There is no piece of paper which is a the "title" to real estate as there is with vehicles. Title to real estate is determined by researching the county records, not by an individual piece of paper. You should contact the attorney who represented you in the purchase. Likely what happened is that the deeds were "tendered" but the closing agent or one of the attorneys took them to record them at the county recorder's office. Depending on your contract, you may or may not get a title insurance policy at some point, but it can often take months to get these completed. Check with your attorney, and I will bet he or she will let you know that everything is fine.