Close your eyes and try to picture with me--you're a seller in a dark alley battling with the buyers, each grappling to get the upper hand by slipping this or that in the contract, changing a date here or there, or moving this fee over, all attempting to get their bottom line figure.
As I sit with a seller going over their listing agreement, I find myself saying things like, "This is how it is 'usually;' this is 'fair closing costs'." But depending on how the other agent structures their offer, I would be able to say you can expect to net this amount. Not but a few days later, I find myself sitting in front of the same sellers going over an offer that has come in, saying again there is no "usual" offer. What do I mean?
Lets say you list your home for $100,000. A great question for me from my client is, "How much am I going to walk away from the closing table with?" Well here I go again, it will depend how the other agent structures the offer...who is paying for what? If the seller pays for all the charges related to getting the home out of his name and into the buyers name, and the buyers pay for all the related charges associated with the mortgage; then this is about as close as I can get to "fair" closing costs.
This by no means says that the buyer MUST pay for a certain fee or inspection, they can and sometimes do give you a lower offer than you wanted, and then ask for you to pay closing costs that are NORMALLY associated with their mortgage.
What can you do to be assured you get the amount you wanted when you get to the closing table despite the confusing mumbo jumbo of who is supposed to pay what? Well, what I recommend is getting a Preliminary HUD from the closing office that is going to perform the closing. This will give you the closest number to match what you will be receiving at the closing table.
Now close your eyes and picture with me a boxing ring with buyers in this corner in the red trunks and sellers in this corner in the blue trunks. Both come out of their corners, but there is also a third guy out there to make sure there is no hitting below the belt and no cheating. This is where I come in...
The buyer wants to get their dream home for the best and fairest price possible, and the seller wants to get the most out of their largest assets as they can. We, as Realtors, stand up and make sure there is no "hitting below the belt". Is that to say we never make a bad call...well no, does a ref make a bad call now and again? I still believe that the buyers and sellers are better off having representation in this market, just as I believe boxers are better off having a ref in the ring with them.
Grace and Peace...
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