Are you selling your home? If so, you’ll want to know the closing costs involved in the process. These closing costs can add up quickly, so it’s crucial to know what to expect. Here’s what you need to know about closing costs for sellers.
What Are Closing Costs?
When you list your house for sale, closing costs are the fees associated with the sale of the property. The seller pays them at the close of escrow and can include things like real estate agent commissions, title insurance, and taxes.
How Much are Seller Closing Costs for Sellers?
In most cases, sellers can expect to pay between 2-5% of the sales price in closing costs. The exact closing costs will vary depending on the circumstances of the sale, but it is not uncommon for sellers to expect to pay several thousand dollars in closing costs. For example, seller closing costs on a $250,000 home might be $5,000-$7,500.
Given the high price of closing costs, sellers need to be aware of them upfront so that they can factor them into their negotiating strategies.
Buyers Have Closing Costs, Too
The buyer also has a set of closing costs they are responsible for paying. These costs can vary depending on the price of the home and the location. They typically range from 2-5% of the purchase price.
In some scenarios, the buyer will ask the seller to pay all or a portion of their closing costs. For example, if you’re selling a $200,000 home, the buyer can expect to pay between $4,000 and $10,000 in closing costs. Some standard buyer closing costs include a loan origination fee, appraisal, and title insurance.
What are Seller Concessions?
When selling your home, the buyer may ask you to provide seller concessions. These are additional incentives you offer to the buyer to sweeten the deal and make your home more attractive.
Typical seller concessions include things like offering to pay for the buyer’s closing costs, providing a home warranty, or offering a home security system.
Seller concessions can be negotiable, so if the buyer asks you to provide them, be sure you get all of the details of the deal in writing before you agree to anything.
Buyers often view these concessions as a way to save money, so they can help get your home sold. However, it’s essential to remember that any concession you make will reduce the overall amount of money you’ll receive at closing.
What's Included in Seller Closing Costs?
Closing costs will vary, but here’s a list of some of the most common fees a home seller will pay when closing the sale:
Paying off your mortgage: If you have an outstanding mortgage on your home, you’ll need to pay it off at closing.
Real estate agent commissions: In most cases, the seller’s real estate agent will charge a commission that is a percentage of the sales price. The typical commission is 6%, but it can vary depending on the market and the agent.
Outstanding Liens: If you have any outstanding liens on your property, you will need to pay them off at closing. These might include things like a mortgage or a home equity loan.
Title insurance: This type of insurance protects the buyer and lender from title problems that might arise during the sale. The buyer typically pays title insurance, but in some cases, the seller might pay it.
Home warranty: The seller, in some cases, may be responsible for paying for a home warranty. For the buyer, a home warranty is a kind of insurance that covers repairs to major appliances and systems in the home.
Escrow fees: These are fees the escrow company charges for their services in handling the sale. These fees can vary depending on the company and the services they provide.
Taxes: Depending on the state in which you live, you may be responsible for paying taxes on the sale of your home. The buyer typically pays these taxes, but in some cases, the seller may pay them.
Real estate attorney: In some cases, the seller may be responsible for paying a real estate attorney’s fees.
Recording and transfer fees: These are fees charged by the county for recording the deed and transferring ownership of the property. These fees can vary depending on the county.
HOA fees: If the property is part of a homeowners association, the seller may be responsible for paying HOA fees.
Price Your Home Accordingly
When selling your house is vital to factor in seller closing costs when determining the price.
Your real estate agent can help you estimate closing costs and advise you on how to price your property accordingly. To assist you in choosing the best sales price for your home, your agent will provide you with a CMA, which is a comparative market analysis. The CMA will show you the prices of similar homes recently sold in your area. You’ll also be able to learn how long each house was on the market and how many times its price was reduced. This will help you better gauge the pricetag to put on your home.
You can also use an online closing costs calculator to estimate your seller closing costs.
Keep in mind that if you don’t factor in closing costs when setting your price, you may end up losing some the money you were counting on.
Conclusion
Many home sellers aren’t aware that they have to pay closing costs that add up to thousands of dollars. It would be best if you figured in these costs when pricing your home. With the help of a real estate agent, you can determine the right listing price that takes these costs into account. Doing this will help ensure a successful and profitable sale.
