Lending Question
What are closing costs? –Ask the Expert
Closing costs are some of the most misunderstood charges on a home purchase. When you see a sign, ZERO down, you would think you did not have any fees to pay. Wrong! If you do not get closing costs on your contract, guess who pays this, YOU. All realtors do not automatically ask for closing costs! Tamela does! I had a sales contract come in from a client who had gone from one of the agents I work with, to another agent. This new agent did not ask for closing costs! There were no seller paid closing costs on the contract. The buyer did not have the money to pay these closing costs. When I called the new realtor to ask about it, his reply was “ they did not tell me they needed it”! Hello!!! It was his responsibility to ask his customer if they needed closing costs.
Closing costs consist of banks fees, attorney fees, appraisal fees, inspection fees, etc. Also along with closing costs, you have prepaids. Prepaids consist of your first years homeowners insurance, interest from the day you close till the end of the month and about 3 months of homeowners insurance and about 3-5 months of taxes, depending on the time of the year that you close. If you do not escrow taxes and insurance, you will not have these fees. Most loans require taxes and insurance to be escrowed, especially if you are not paying 20% down. You will not have to worry about closing costs if you work with a good experienced agent like Tamela. She will make sure you get closing costs in your contract if you need them! Also, a good experienced loan officer will go over all these charges and make sure you understand them.
Written by Diane Phillips (NMLS # 107944) part of the Diane Phillips/Michelle Cobb team at Homestar Financial Corporation.(NMLS # 70864) Homestar’s corporate headquarters is located in Gainesville, Georgia but Diane and Michelle have a local office and cater to the Mecklenburg/Gaston/Cleveland county areas. Diane is also licensed in SC. They have done several loans for me and my customers love them. She knows and has had experience with about every loan program out there. Diane is an educator and will tell you if she knows of a program that will work better for your situation. I always tell my clients, who have not done so, to be sure to find out your purchasing power before you start looking for that investment. Knowledge is Power and Diane will be glad to get you on the road to making that next purchase. Call Diane at 704 214-3344.
