Impish Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I know things are going to vary, but was interested in getting sort of an average of closing costs and how quickly a closing date is typical when buying real estate. As much as I'd love to just buy a house and move, I can't see things happening that quickly...I mean, by the time we get official word, we're looking at 5 wks. And we won't have cash in hand for a down payment til Mar 20...Wolf would start the job Apr 2nd...nothing moves that fast :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Usually closings occur a few weeks out. As for closing costs, a local realtor will know what is the norm for that market. In some areas, who pays what varies. Some years ago I accepted an offer on a Friday for a place I owned, and closed on a Tuesday. It was many states away and a holiday weekend, and I couldn't even get there in time. Thankfully the realtor was a family friend, and handled everything. In our current house, the closing was delayed twice, and we closed a month later than expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Interesting...I know we'll be calling a realtor once we're pre-approved. We're kinda delaying on getting pre-approved until we have cash in hand for a mortgage downpayment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I've found 30-60 days is normal for closing. And you might want to talk to the bank now about your pre-approval. March 20th isn't that far away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntieM Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I've found 30-60 days is normal for closing. And you might want to talk to the bank now about your pre-approval. March 20th isn't that far away. :iagree: Are you asking for the place you're in, or the place you're going? Are you just renting now? I assume yes? On the purchase end, I would start calling for mortgage rates and get that letter of preapproval. You can start shopping online for a new home now. The seller will have something to say about the closing date. It could vary widely. This is a good time to decide a firm price range, what tomspend on a house. Do some research on cost of living, taxes, insurance rates, etc. It's much easier to decide on a house when you know clearly what's affordable and what's not. If you like to negotiate, you will know how far sellers have to go down if you look at homes priced above your set goal. As for closing costs, some are fixed (fees), some are percentage based on the cost of the house (taxes), some vary with your loan package (how many points you buy to get the rate down). It's hard to say, but at least in the US, a realtor will use a worksheet to estimate the costs to expect at close, taking your individual situation into account. It's hard to give a "ballpark" figure, because even when you calculate things out, you have the opportunity tomshift some of them between buyer and seller, depending on the market. A realtor in the local market can have you answer a few questions and would be able to give you a better idea than anyone on board here (unless of course, there's a home schooling Canadian realtor perfectly placed -- anyone?!!! Wouldn't that be nice!). House shopping can be fun. Try to enjoy it and not let the details stress you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Closings occur anywhere from 30-60 days from the date of the signed contract. When we bought the house we had a 30 day closing. We are working on 45 days selling to allow the buyers a bit of extra time. I'd start looking ASAP because it might take time to find the house you want. Then again, house selling/buying season isn't officially open yet here so there may not be many houses on the market in your area. I know here we will see more houses for sale after the snow melts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 We're renting. What we're trying to figure out is if it's even worth looking to buy now, or wait, since if it's a 30-60 day closing, we'll have to rent a place there anyways...and most want a min 6 mth lease, if not a year. I'd rather pay mortgage than rent, obviously...plus, we have a large dog, which makes renting difficult. Don't you have to give the down payment when the offer is accepted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindyD Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 You don't pay the down payment until closing, but you will usually have to offer earnest money when you make an offer for a house. They don't actually get the money until closing, but it lets them know you're serious. It might be worth it to rent for 6 months or so to figure out exactly where you want to buy. It's hard to know neighborhoods and traffic flow if you haven't lived somewhere before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Not a down payment, but earnest money. You loose that money if you back out for any reason. I'd only give $1000. That to me says serious, but not stupid about money. When we move to a new area, we prefer to rent for the first six months (well, we've been stuck renting for the last 5 years but that will change soon.) to get a feel for the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 The biggest town is 13,000 ppl. The others nearby are small...like, 900 ppl. Our biggest issue is the dog. Finding a place that will let us rent w/her is looking to be a problem. Diva's worried about it...I told her that push comes to shove, we'll set her and the dog up at a campsite :tongue_smilie: She was all, "OK!" :001_huh::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Nyssa Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I have many of the same questions. I just got back from the bank for the pre-approval. We haven't found a house we like/can afford yet. I learned that here closing costs is $5,000 which includes closing, escrow, taxes, & insurance. I learned that you can negotiate with seller to pay these instead of you. (But I guess it all comes out of your payment to the seller, in the end, so we pay it anyhow, right?) I will have to ask about length of time. I think it will be tricky to balance it with the end of our lease so IF Possible we won't be paying rent and mortgage in the same month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garddwr Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 We're renting. What we're trying to figure out is if it's even worth looking to buy now, or wait, since if it's a 30-60 day closing, we'll have to rent a place there anyways...and most want a min 6 mth lease, if not a year. I'd rather pay mortgage than rent, obviously...plus, we have a large dog, which makes renting difficult. Don't you have to give the down payment when the offer is accepted? We didn't have a chance to go househunting before our last move, so we couldn't even get started before arrival. We looked for short-term rental options and found a nice trailor park that let us rent on a month-by-month basis. We had to pay a couple hundred dollars more than the going rate per month, but it was way cheaper than trying to stay in a hotel! It took us a little under two months to pick and buy a house. If there are decent trailor parks in the area you're going try calling and explaining your situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Nyssa Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 OK, I asked the bank guy, I mean loan officer. He says it's 30-40 days til closing but he can speed it up under special circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 It may be wise to rent just to get to know the area better. I considered renting vs. buying when we moved this past fall. I am soooooo glad we ended up renting. Now that we live in the area, we are finding that where we thought we would want to live is okay, but not fully what we want. We have also found that an entire area we had rejected is actually far more desirable than initially realized. We had to actually live here and get to know people and set up a life to figure that out. For us it's been well worth renting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.