Closing Cost

[PLNUBRIDE]

OK...I am in the process of buying a home (a new home from a builder) and I am very curious as to the average closing cost people pay when buying a new home (whether it is brand new or just "new"to them).

It appears that the total closting costs are going to be around ~$7,500. (Of that, the builder is paying for $5,000. So, I have to pay $2,500). I just think this is a bit steep. I have refinanced several times and it never cost me over $3,600.

So, if you don't mind sharing, what did you pay? This includes impound accounts, interest incurred during escrow, any insurance premiums that had to be paid...everything.

ETD: If you feel comfortable, I guess knowing the purchase price is revelant as well

ETD: Clarification, thanks KAM:)

[kam]

So the total closing costs are 11,500 (builder's 5k + your $7,500)?

[PLNUBRIDE]

see edited comments:)

[Oakley]

Oh, a topic so near and dear to me as we're closing next week on a new build house. :) I'm looking at my Good Faith Estimate (although it's not the "final" one because we don't have the correct property tax info yet) right now. We'll be paying around $8000 in closing costs- but about half of those are the pre-paid items.

This is our third house and yes, it does seem to be more expensive this time around. Not sure if it's because it's a new build or because we're in the land o'taxes (NY state).

That's nice that your builder is picking up a lot of the closing costs!!

[kam]

According to my soon-to-be-neighbor, his were about $6k (ours will be about the same). Now, with the homebuilder, chances are there might be fees (origination fees, for example) which others might not charge so the $5k he's contributing might be inflated. Some things depend on the cost of the house, insurance, etc.

[Hokulea]

Our closing costs for our new build will probably be about $6000, after they pay 1% and our title. This includes a small ($3000) down payment. We are, for the moment, using our builder's mortgage company. That may change.

FH is a loan officer and the fees to close with the builder are significantly higher. They charge a lot of fees he doesn't charge, and they also charge more for each fee.

For us, if they can't get our interest rate down to what it should be, then we won't be saving any money by taking advantage of the incentives vs. FH doing the loan. If that's the case, FH will do my loan. Why should they make money off of it if they aren't saving me any, ya know?

[MrsSmith]

I was very surprised at closing to discover that I did not have to pay at all. The seller had covered way more than was expected, so we were able to pocket the amount that we had put aside of that. You might get a surprise like that too!

[Asha]

grrrhhhh!! i get so mad when i think about our closing costs. they were like close to $13k. the good faith estimate was around $8k. we figured that was low so expected to pay around $10k. luckily, for us closing ended up being 2 mos later than it was supposed to be, so we had ended up saving some extra money in those couple of months.

i am in nyc, and i have never heard of sellers paying closing costs. when we were negotiating a lower price for the house we told the realtor we would be willing to pay a higher price if the seller paid closing costs. she looked at me like i had two heads.

[shellbell516]

We put down about $1500 on our house and had the seller pay $3000 towards closing. We ended up walking away with about $700 in our pockets from closing.

[kindermom]

We paid about $8,000 in closing costs with an additional $12,000 down. The seller did not contribute anything.

[pride&prejudice]

We paid about $7000 in closing costs, not including a $5000 deposit. When we were signing the papers, they actually screwed up, and we walked out with a $1000 check. But on the way to the house, they called up to say they screwed up, and that they had put a stop payment on the check and we owed them $600. :rolleyes:

[kiddo]

Our closing costs were $4100, not including our 20% down payment. The seller did not pay anything.

[andrew&shannah]

We just recently closed on our new construction home. We ended up paying around 9k in closing costs. Our good faith estimated $8k and we had to give them a check for the difference at closing.

[BethElena]

We ended up spending $7000 at closing, which included our 5% down. The seller helped with $3000 towards closing costs. (Glad he did, b/c we spend $3000 putting all new flooring in thanks to his cats using the house as a litter box). We brought $10000 to closing just in case, though.

[PLNUBRIDE]

Hey everyone...thanks for the replies. Well, it appears that my closing cost are not too out of line....so I can at least take comfort in that:)

Hokulea...you hit the nail on the head...I was a bit worried that the builder inflates fees and charges some that are not necessary...oh well. I guess I can at least take comfort in the fact that they are paying for a good portion of the closing costs.


I guess I am just bit overwhelmed by all the cost that are involved in house buying. From the down payment, to deposits, to closing costs, to moving costs...it just adds up so quickly.

[andrew&shannah]

From the down payment, to deposits, to closing costs, to moving costs...it just adds up so quickly.

It is quite overwhelming! No matter how much you plan, it will always throw you for a loop when it actually comes time to make all those payments.
For us, we had so many unexpected costs even AFTER we moved in! Since it was a new home, window treatments, light bulbs, and other simple things weren't there so we had to buy them. It adds up quick! After dropping so much money on the intital stuff like the downpayment and closing costs, we ended up spending another couple of thousand dollars to get it "liveable" :)

[PLNUBRIDE]

Andrew……you are soo right. You know you brought up a good point. Since we are also moving into a new home I will have a bunch of “extra’s” to buy just to make it livable as well.

Luckily, they are providing all the window coverings (2 inch blinds)….so although I might not have drapes right away I have something. But, I didn’t even think about the bulbs….not to mention that we are planning on buying 2 ceiling fans as well. Luckily, the rooms are pre-wired for the fan…..so that is taken care of. Geese…I guess I just better get used to writing checks:)

[kam]

Blinds. I think I've had nightmares about new blinds. Since we neglected to order them on time, we'll be sleeping in a bedroom where the windows are covered in sheets ;)

[andrew&shannah]

Since we are also moving into a new home I will have a bunch of “extra’s” to buy just to make it livable as well.

haha. be prepared for lots of trips to Target/Wal-Mart. Oh, and Lowes too. I went to Lowe's so many times during the first week that the cashier knew me by name. sad...very sad.

[kuklaki]

We are in escrow now, and our "estimated" closing costs are about $5500. But we are getting the seller to pay for these (we compensated in our offering price). We just didn't want to give up so much cash when we have big plans for our new condo. Our Agent says we are lucky to get them to agree to this since the market is CRAZY in Calif....but, they had just lowered the price to sell quickly too.

[mel7dog]

We got back $1500 at closing and had to pay nothing! We used a Veteran's Loan to buy our first house

[Rancid13]

Our closing costs were in the $6,000 range, but the sellers payed $5,000 of that and the rest was taken out of our deposit, so we got about half of our deposit back in the end...

Our purchase price was $403K and I believe the closing costs included the lender fees (appraisal, paperwork, etc), escrow fees, insurance, and I can't remember what else.

[Lil' Peach]

We haven't closed yet, but our costs are estimated at $2500. We also put down $5000. The seller won't be contributing anything.