Closing costs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Closing in 30-days and seller is paying closing costs.

Not in a desirable part of NOVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

I’m selling a house in MD. The last offer I got, the buyer requested 3% closing costs assistance for $560,000 instead of $550,000 (We dropped the price to $550,000).

Our agent said it was a common practice because we’re in a buyer market but we decided to decline the offer.

We sold the house after 3 months on market at $550,000, no seller credits. At last we're done! For some people here it was weird to turn down the last offer but we believed it was unfair. It doesn't matter if it is a buyer market. We were ready to remove the house from the market and rent it for a while if needed. Follow your gut...

How much was your mortgage and insurance in that three months?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

I’m selling a house in MD. The last offer I got, the buyer requested 3% closing costs assistance for $560,000 instead of $550,000 (We dropped the price to $550,000).

Our agent said it was a common practice because we’re in a buyer market but we decided to decline the offer.

We sold the house after 3 months on market at $550,000, no seller credits. At last we're done! For some people here it was weird to turn down the last offer but we believed it was unfair. It doesn't matter if it is a buyer market. We were ready to remove the house from the market and rent it for a while if needed. Follow your gut...

The previous offer wasn't unfair. It was only effectively 7k below asking. For a house on the market for three months that was a realistic offer. You never considered the carrying costs of sitting on the market for three months, the extra interest paid, taxes paid, pro rated of course. So I can see you didn't really save much money, if any.

When adults use language like “it wasn’t fair” I assume they aren’t serious people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

I’m selling a house in MD. The last offer I got, the buyer requested 3% closing costs assistance for $560,000 instead of $550,000 (We dropped the price to $550,000).

Our agent said it was a common practice because we’re in a buyer market but we decided to decline the offer.

We sold the house after 3 months on market at $550,000, no seller credits. At last we're done! For some people here it was weird to turn down the last offer but we believed it was unfair. It doesn't matter if it is a buyer market. We were ready to remove the house from the market and rent it for a while if needed. Follow your gut...

The previous offer wasn't unfair. It was only effectively 7k below asking. For a house on the market for three months that was a realistic offer. You never considered the carrying costs of sitting on the market for three months, the extra interest paid, taxes paid, pro rated of course. So I can see you didn't really save much money, if any.

There are 20 days between these two offers. We didn’t pay $16,800 in mortgage, taxes… during that time, so yes, we saved money by declining the other offer.

[Anonymous]

So buyer #1 offered $543,200. Did buyer #2 offer $550,000?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

I’m selling a house in MD. The last offer I got, the buyer requested 3% closing costs assistance for $560,000 instead of $550,000 (We dropped the price to $550,000).

Our agent said it was a common practice because we’re in a buyer market but we decided to decline the offer.

We sold the house after 3 months on market at $550,000, no seller credits. At last we're done! For some people here it was weird to turn down the last offer but we believed it was unfair. It doesn't matter if it is a buyer market. We were ready to remove the house from the market and rent it for a while if needed. Follow your gut...

The previous offer wasn't unfair. It was only effectively 7k below asking. For a house on the market for three months that was a realistic offer. You never considered the carrying costs of sitting on the market for three months, the extra interest paid, taxes paid, pro rated of course. So I can see you didn't really save much money, if any.

When adults use language like “it wasn’t fair” I assume they aren’t serious people

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So buyer #1 offered $543,200. Did buyer #2 offer $550,000?

The selling price was $550,000 and both buyers agreed.

Offer 1 : $550,000 + $16,800 seller assistance. We declined.

Offer 2, 30 days later : $550,000, no seller credit. We accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So buyer #1 offered $543,200. Did buyer #2 offer $550,000?

The selling price was $550,000 and both buyers agreed.

Offer 1 : $550,000 + $16,800 seller assistance. We declined.

Offer 2, 30 days later : $550,000, no seller credit. We accepted.

Sorry I made a mistake. The selling price was $550,000.

Offer 1 : $560,000 + $16,800 seller assistance. We declined.

Offer 2, 30 days later : $550,000, no seller credit. We accepted.

If the offer 1 was a great deal our agent didn’t explain anything he just was eager to accept any offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So buyer #1 offered $543,200. Did buyer #2 offer $550,000?

The selling price was $550,000 and both buyers agreed.

Offer 1 : $550,000 + $16,800 seller assistance. We declined.

Offer 2, 30 days later : $550,000, no seller credit. We accepted.

Sorry I made a mistake. The selling price was $550,000.

Offer 1 : $560,000 + $16,800 seller assistance. We declined.

Offer 2, 30 days later : $550,000, no seller credit. We accepted.

If the offer 1 was a great deal our agent didn’t explain anything he just was eager to accept any offer.

Offer 1 : The buyer’s agent wanted a 3% commission instead of the 2.5% we were offering. Her client refused to cover the missing 0.5%. So 3% on $560,000.

In the meantime we decided to increase the buyer’s agent commission to 3%.

Offer 2: Buyer’s agent commission 3% but it was calculated on $550,000 rather than $560,000 as in Offer 1. Our agent received 2.5%.

Our mortgage interest rate was low : 3.1%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

I’m selling a house in MD. The last offer I got, the buyer requested 3% closing costs assistance for $560,000 instead of $550,000 (We dropped the price to $550,000).

Our agent said it was a common practice because we’re in a buyer market but we decided to decline the offer.

We sold the house after 3 months on market at $550,000, no seller credits. At last we're done! For some people here it was weird to turn down the last offer but we believed it was unfair. It doesn't matter if it is a buyer market. We were ready to remove the house from the market and rent it for a while if needed. Follow your gut...

The issue for you didn't seem to the net sale amount, but that you seem to have a philosophical objection to paying closing costs. That doesn't make sense to me unless you're scamming the buyer on the price (in which case the house might not appraise). But that's unlikely in this market.

[Anonymous]

From ChatGPT :

“Which was better?
Even after covering the extra mortgage you paid while waiting, Offer 2 was about $5,900 better for you than Offer 1.
The key reason: although the sale price was $10,000 lower, you didn't have to give 3% seller assistance, which made your net proceeds higher.”


We relied on chatgpt a lot to make our decisions since our agent was useless.

The first buyer didn’t seem serious anyway, and his agent had a strong influence on him. We had already dealt with two buyers who backed out for no reason and we wanted to avoid a third.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
From ChatGPT :

“Which was better?
Even after covering the extra mortgage you paid while waiting, Offer 2 was about $5,900 better for you than Offer 1.
The key reason: although the sale price was $10,000 lower, you didn't have to give 3% seller assistance, which made your net proceeds higher.”


We relied on chatgpt a lot to make our decisions since our agent was useless.

The first buyer didn’t seem serious anyway, and his agent had a strong influence on him. We had already dealt with two buyers who backed out for no reason and we wanted to avoid a third.

Ultimately the offer you later received was better, but it wasn't rational to focus on the closing cost assistance. You very easily could have ended up in a worse situation.

[Anonymous]

As a seller I don’t care about anything but the bottom line, but if you need to put closing costs in the mortgage that would make me a little nervous about your financing. But as long as it otherwise checks out, it’s fine with me. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s just moving from one column to another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a seller I don’t care about anything but the bottom line, but if you need to put closing costs in the mortgage that would make me a little nervous about your financing. But as long as it otherwise checks out, it’s fine with me. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s just moving from one column to another.

Right. I really don't understand why the OP thinks differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So buyer #1 offered $543,200. Did buyer #2 offer $550,000?

The selling price was $550,000 and both buyers agreed.

Offer 1 : $550,000 + $16,800 seller assistance. We declined.

Offer 2, 30 days later : $550,000, no seller credit. We accepted.

If they need seller assistance they cannot afford the house.