For Your Wisdom:
It happens time and time again, where a buyer is so excited because they have their down payment saved up, yet they don’t know they have closing costs. So what are closing costs? Closing costs are any fees over the home purchase price. Typically for buyers, you’re looking at:
- Lender fees: origination fee, underwriting fees, credit report fees, & lender’s policy title insurance
- Title company fees: title search fees, settlement fees, courier fees
- Owner’s policy title insurance
- Pre-paids like Insurance and taxes
- Deposit (1.5% of home price)
- We like to include the deposit in your closing cost estimates because it is money that some buyers may not be aware they need before the act of sale.
When you add all of these together, in the Greater New Orleans Area, we see a decent estimate of a buyer’s closing costs is 5% of the home sale price. Now, what can you do to minimize your closing costs?
- SHOP AROUND- check out different lenders, title, & insurance companies.
- Pick a time of year to purchase- When it comes to taxes, Orleans Parish is quite different from the rest of the metro area. In Orleans Parish, you pay your property taxes at the beginning of the year versus the end of the year for the other parishes.
Questions? Drop us a line!