That said, you can still expect to pay at least a few thousand dollars in standard taxes, services, and processing fees before being handed the keys to your new home. This is especially true if you intend to take out a mortgage.<\/p>\n
In this post, we\u2019ll break down exactly what those closing costs are so you can properly prepare for these sometimes overlooked homebuying expenses. We\u2019ll also review how you can estimate your closing costs and ways you might be able to lower your closing costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n <\/div>\n \n A Top Georgia Agent Can Help Reduce Your Costs<\/h3>\n
Partner with a top Georgia buyer\u2019s agent who can help you navigate your homebuying journey and reduce the final amount you\u2019ll pay at closing. We analyze over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs.<\/p>\n \n
What are closing costs?<\/h2>\n
Closing costs are a set of fees related to buying a house, which are due on the official date of purchase (also known as closing). Some of these costs, such as property taxes and insurance, are related to homeownership in general. Others, such as origination fees and interest, are directly related to obtaining a mortgage.<\/p>\n
Richie Helali<\/a>, a licensed, senior mortgage advisor at HomeLight Home Loans<\/a>, says that closing costs are most often paid through wire transfer or certified check, along with the down payment<\/a> for your home loan (which is not part of your closing costs, but is typically due at the same time).<\/p>\n If the total amount of your closing costs plus your down payment is financially overwhelming, sometimes lenders will allow you to add the closing costs into the total amount of your loan, thus reducing the amount of cash needed at closing \u2013 we expand on this in the Additional Expert Insights<\/i> section toward the end of the article.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll also provide some example closing costs in a minute to illustrate how this all plays out.<\/p>\n\n Both buyers and sellers are responsible for certain fees and closing costs in a home sale transaction, which we\u2019ll break down in more detail in the next section.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a general idea of what those costs amount to for each party:<\/p>\n While the percentages above are typical, buyers and sellers can negotiate to determine who pays specific closing costs.<\/p>\n Depending on the market conditions, a motivated seller might consider covering part or all of the closing costs for a buyer in order to help close the deal.<\/p>\n In the current Georgia housing market, however, it\u2019s rare for a seller to cover any of the buyer\u2019s closing costs, Jefferson says.<\/p>\n \u201cI know different parts of the country are having different experiences, but at least in my market, it\u2019s still very much a seller\u2019s market,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you put a good, decent house on the market, we\u2019re going to see it sell within two or three days, and you\u2019re going to have more than one offer on it. Some buyers are scared to ask the seller to pay the closing costs because it hurts how they appear compared to other offers.\u201d<\/p>\n Jefferson imagines his market will balance out in the next year or two. When it does, he predicts sellers will likely start covering about half of the buyers\u2019 closing costs.<\/p>\n For buyers, most of the closing costs are associated with whatever amount of money they decide to borrow from a lender to purchase a home.<\/p>\n For instance, let\u2019s say someone puts 15% down on a home purchase and takes out a loan for the remaining 85%.<\/p>\n For this illustration, we\u2019ll use a Georgia median home price<\/a> of $330,700. That 85% mortgage would amount to $281,095. Since buyers typically pay between 3% and 4% on the loan amount in closing costs, the dollar amount would equate to $9,838.<\/p>\n If someone buys a house and pays cash without a loan, then the total closing costs can be as low as $1,000, Jefferson says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re paying cash, there just aren\u2019t a lot of closing costs,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes people don\u2019t think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n For sellers, the lion\u2019s share of the closing costs is the agent commissions, which are percentages of the home\u2019s total sales price.<\/p>\n In Georgia, agent commissions average about 5.8%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Typical buyer closing cost total:<\/b> $9,800 (3.5% of a $281,095 loan, which is 85% of a $330,700 median-priced home)<\/p>\nWho pays for closing costs in Georgia?<\/h2>\n
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How much are closing costs in Georgia?<\/h2>\n
Buyer closing costs in Georgia<\/h3>\n