Who Pays for What at Closing?

The seller can normally be expected to pay for the following:

• Real estate commission.
• Owner’s title-insurance premiums.
• Payoff of all loans in seller’s name.
• Any judgments, tax liens, etc., against the seller.
• Recording fees to clear all documents of record against the seller.
• Tax pro-ration. This is for any unpaid taxes at the time of transfer of title.
• Any unpaid homeowner-association dues.
• Any assessments according to the contract.
• Any and all delinquent taxes per the contract.
• State real estate tax fee.
• New approval of well, septic, survey according to the contract.
• Half of the document-preparation fee.

The buyer can normally be expected to pay for the following:

• Lender’s title-policy premium—American Land Title Association (ALTA).
• Half of escrow fee.
• Recording charges for all documents in buyers’ names.
• All new loan charges.
• Interest on a new loan from date of funding to 30 days prior to first payment date.
• Home warranty according to contract.
• Fire-insurance premium for the first year.
• Home inspection.
• Reserve account for taxes, association dues and insurance.
• Flood-certification fee.
• Appraisal.

There are some mandatory costs:

Both FHA and VA require that the seller must pay for document preparation, tax service, warehousing, and loan-review fee (if any).

VA: 100% of escrow closing fee.