What can I expect to pay in closing costs?

I had figured about $10K give or take a little, but then we met with a buyer's broker last weekend who told me it's more like 8% of the house cost now....that's at least $24K (BTW - why would the price of the house matter - isn't this fee the lawyer's fee, taxes, county filing, etc??)

Can it really be that high? Maybe if the entire year's worth of taxes are included?!

The amount of the mortgage determines part of (or all of?) the title company's fee, which for us was a large part of the closing costs-I'd say 40%. So yes, the costs consist of mostly flat fees but the amount of the mortgage ends up having a large influence.

You're right about the taxes-you need to reimburse the seller for anything they've prepaid for time that you'll be in the house. Depending on when they paid, when you close, etc., you could have to pay very little or a lot.

thanks everyone!

Jenn - we haven't reached that point yet...just want to make sure our estimates are accurate for when we do find the one

Check out SonyMa NO CLOSING FEES for first time buyers, its a gout. loan and liget. they dont figure it in to your cost, its covered by the state and it offers a 4.25% interest rate

BUT you cannot borrow more than 359,000.00

They are telling me it should be about 17K

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Posted by [email protected]

Check out SonyMa NO CLOSING FEES for first time buyers, its a gout. loan and liget. they dont figure it in to your cost, its covered by the state and it offers a 4.25% interest rate

BUT you cannot borrow more than 359,000.00

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What is SonyMa? What does that stand for?

Suzanne - $17K? Still better than my 8% quote but higher than we're expecting!!!

One of the many things to look out for in closing costs is the amount your lender wants in escro. I have heard some lenders look for 1 year of homeowners insurance and up to one year in taxes for first time homebuyers. Thats a big chunk of change!

Make sure you check out closing costs up front. If you are using a mortgage broker have them give you a side by side comparison of various lendors. Almost without exception, Mortg. Brokers should definately be giving you a choice of lendors rather than pushing the one they make the most money from. The best time to comparison shop for mortage money is Before you find a house.

Thanks Fran - I'm a member of BFCU so we'll probably go there once we find a house. they've offered the best rates for a while now, but I'll def. look into closing costs with them specifically.

Thanks!!

teri...just wanted to say...credit unions have great rates and low cost closing fees...but b/c of this they are very stingy with lending!!!

I would go first to pre-qualify and see...we were in shock...they (our credit union) offered us HALF of what we should qualify for!!!

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Posted by yabbobay

teri...just wanted to say...credit unions have great rates and low cost closing fees...but b/c of this they are very stingy with lending!!!

I would go first to pre-qualify and see...we were in shock...they (our credit union) offered us HALF of what we should qualify for!!!

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We were preapproved last year, so we're all set. I remember thinking it wasn't for the entire amount of the house prices on LI, but with the downpayment it would make up the difference

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Posted by Teri

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Posted by yabbobay

teri...just wanted to say...credit unions have great rates and low cost closing fees...but b/c of this they are very stingy with lending!!!

I would go first to pre-qualify and see...we were in shock...they (our credit union) offered us HALF of what we should qualify for!!!

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We were preapproved last year, so we're all set. I remember thinking it wasn't for the entire amount of the house prices on LI, but with the downpayment it would make up the difference

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Teri, just call the bank and make sure your pre-approval is still current before you find something you love. With interest rates changing, etc...you wouldn't want their 'approval' status to have changed within the past year, since the originally pre-approved you.

Re: closing costs...we were told that our costs would be around $15K, and they did end up to be in that ballpark, only slightly less. We opted for a point on our mortgage to get a lower rate, so we had to pay that at the closing as well...then, there was our lawyer's fee...and about $3,200 that went into escrow, so, all of these things factored into our total costs at the closing.

I would say that $24K sounds like an awful lot of money for closing! How much are the asking prices for the houses you are looking at?

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Posted by Claud2001

I would say that $24K sounds like an awful lot of money for closing! How much are the asking prices for the houses you are looking at?

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Is it an awful lot of money - I really can't see that being accurate. We're looking at houses in the high 300's, low 400's.

But I still don't see how the selling price of the house matters....if the closing costs include the following:
title
insurance
lawyer
some taxes
PMI (maybe)

(anything else?)

What does any of that have to do with the house price (except for maybe the cost of the insurance)

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Posted by Teri

Thanks Fran - I'm a member of BFCU so we'll probably go there once we find a house. they've offered the best rates for a while now, but I'll def. look into closing costs with them specifically.

Thanks!!

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I too use BFCU, and although we didn't go thru them for our mortgage, sicne we needed a construction one, they seem to have the best rates around.

Teri there is one fee that is determined by the amount of the mortgage, I can't rememebr what it is though. I remembered trasnfer tax, it is a tax due to NYS for the purchase price.

Also they usually escrow for real estate taxes, and the title company collects for those.