Special offer

Why Should a Seller Pay a Homebuyer’s Closing Costs?

Reblogger
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Charles Stallions Real Estate Services 610125

Sellers Flat Fee of $2995 when one of our agents sells your home or if you want MLS (where you home is available for all Real Estate Agents to sell) then the best program TODAY is $1495 to us +3 % offered to Buyers Agent for bringing the buyer.  When you understand how agents work you will clearly see why we sell 94% of our homes at or above asking price and why REAL ESTATE AGENTS would rather sell our homes than anyone else’s. The Real Estate Agent gets paid more and the seller saves over 63% on average.

Property Management for $50 Flat fee monthly

THOUSANDS OF HOMES.... One Address www.charlesstallions.com

Charles Stallions, CRS, CSP, CBR, CDPS, SREE, EREI - 800-309-3414

Charles is a Real Estate Investor of 25 years, a Real Estate Broker for over 15 years serving Pensacola, Pace and Gulf Breeze, Florida, an expert in the buying and selling of real estate, short sales and foreclosures. Whether you’re buying your first home, second home, vacation home, investing in rentals, a ‘kiddie’ condo for college or your dream home, buying any home is an investment in the future and you owe it to yourself to have Charles’s expertise to buy right, sell smart and make the right decisions for YOU. For an over the phone evaluation and NO Obligation CALL NOW! You have OPTIONS, we have FACTS, let’s TALK

Original content by Teri Eckholm Minnesota License#90858

Why Should A Seller Pay a Home Buyer's Closing Costs? The short answer is....To SELL the HOUSE! But how does this work and why is it so important in the sale of a home? Let me explain...

When I list a home for sale,  sellers are given a net sheet with estimates of closing costs associated with the sale home. One of the items on the list is “Seller contribution to the Buyer’s Closing Costs.” If the home is one that would be attractive to a first time buyer, I will put in an amount that is roughly 3% of the list price. Every now and again, I hear a seller scoff when they see this. "Why would I want to pay a BUYER'S Closing Costs?”
 
The answer is very simple:
So they can BUY the house!
 
Today almost all buyers are required to put down a minimum of 3% of the purchase price of the home as a down payment. The closing costs for a buyer include title insurance, home owner’s insurance, appraisals, loan origination fees, name search fees, filing fees and more. As a REALTOR
® for communities of Anoka, Chisago and Washington Counties and throughout the north metro Minneapolis/St. Paul area, I see closing costs that range from $3000-$7000 for a first time buyer. Couple this amount with a required down payment and only a handful of buyers have all the funds required to purchase a home.

So buyers have the option of waiting and saving the required closing costs or asking for seller assistance. In many cases a financial institution will allow a seller to assist a buyer by paying either points to reduce the interest rates and/or closing costs.

How does this work? Let’s say that a home is on the market for $200,000. The buyer writes their offer for $195,000 and their financial institution allows up to 3% seller’s assistance with fees and closing costs. They decide to ask the seller in their purchase agreement document for $5000, thus the net offer to the seller for the home is $190,000. However the since the home was sold at $195,000, it must appraise at this higher amount.
 
If a seller does not want to pay the closing costs, the buyer in many cases will not be able to purchase the home. It the offer is accepted, the seller’s proceeds at closing would then be reduced by the $5000. Sellers do not have to come up with the funds in cash if there is sufficient equity in the home to cover both the buyer's and the seller's costs.

When a purchase agreement is received on a home listed for sale, it can be confusing to a seller as to what the sale price versus net number is. In the case above, the $195,000 would be the sale’s price on the purchase agreement but by paying the $5000 in closing costs, the seller’s net number is really $190,000 (less the seller's own closing costs including all fees and commission).
 
If as a seller you decide to counter on the original offer, you can counter on the sales price of the home and/or the amount of closing costs paid. When counter offers are involved, a seller needs to make certain that they understand what the net proceeds will be in each offer and counter offer.

This is where the assistance of a good, professional REALTOR
® comes into play. As a real estate agent, I provide my clients with a seller's net sheet that outlines all costs and fees that has been updated after receiving the offer. When counter offers start going back and forth, I reiterate at each step what my seller's net number to help eliminate the confusion.
 
Assisting a buyer with closing costs can be the ticket to getting your home SOLD in any real estate market. Understanding the process is simple with the assistance of a knowledgable real estate agent!

If you are buying, selling or relocating to Minnesota and need help from a professional REALTOR®, give me a call or visit my website for a FREE Relocation Packet or FREE Homebuyers Success Packet.  I specialize in acreage and lakeshore properties in the north and east Twin Cities metro area including Ham Lake, Lino Lakes and all communities in the Forest Lake School District! Serving Anoka, Chisago, Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota.

 

Buying a Home? Check out my HOME BUYER'S BLOG!

Copyright 2012 Teri Eckholm http://www.terieckholm.com/

 

******************************************************************************************************

LIKE MY BLOG? Subscribe, Follow or Like...It's your choice!

 

Comments (0)