Anticipated closing costs

There are certain basic expenses accompanying closing the sale of a house. These fees are commonly divided between the buyer and seller, as directed in the sales contract. Many are conventional, but there are nuances to each, so you'll want a real estate expert in Connecticut to help lead you through the deal.

Sellers: As we hammer out your deal, not only will we work to get the highest sales price, but we'll also push for lower closing costs. And once we've reached an agreement, we'll fully explain the closing costs so you know exactly what you're paying for.

Buyers: If you're buying real estate in Eastern CT, you'll be given a "Loan Estimate Worksheet" (which used to be called a "Good Faith Estimate" (GFE)) identifying closing costs/fees within three days of submitting your loan application. The estimate is based on the loan officer's prior experience and is required to be within a reasonable range so you're not astonished when you arrive at the closing table. We'll be happy to go over the Loan Estimate Worksheet with you, answering your questions and highlighting any estimates that appear to be out of the ordinary.

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The following information was provided by a local lender that does a great job servicing my Buyer clients:  Homestead Funding - Keith Turner:

New disclosure changes going into effect for any contracts signed after August 1, 2015.  Most Realtors are aware of the new RESPA/TILA changes, but below are the nuts and bolts of what to do to avoid having issues in the future.

With the biggest change is having to wait for 3 days from when everyone is ready to close to the actual closing, you may run into issues.  Some are:

Rate lock dates may begin to expire for your buyer’s mortgage

The buyer or seller already has their movers scheduled.

For a dual closing, where a seller is trying to sell their home, and buy another on the same day, be aware that if either HUD’s change, then this may delay one or both of the closings, which could also then be affected by rate locks, etc.

How to avoid issues?

-Direct your sellers to do the repairs from the inspection and the appraisals ASAP.  Give them a timetable (i.e. 1 week) This will give everyone more time.

-When writing contracts, commitment dates won’t really need to change but push out the closing dates an extra couple of days further to compensate for the 3 days that everyone will have to wait to close.

-Emphasize to your buyers, to keep their documents organized for the application beforehand and to get in their documents requested after making their mortgage application, ASAP (i.e. within 48 hours).  The faster they are getting them in, the faster the mortgage company can review, approve, and get them to the closing table.

-For the Oil Adjustment, some lenders are requiring everything, including the oil adjustment, to be disclosed ahead of time.  Since mortgage companies and attorneys will need that number, if you have the sellers just agree to fill the tank, then that amount can just be assumed at a set number earlier on.

-If they are self-employed, ask that they get a pre-approval, instead of a pre-qualification, so that the difficult part is complete on the underwriting end of the process.

It’s really just a case of getting as much done as you can, as early as you can.  You want to close as fast as the next person, and if you can make sure your part is completed (and everyone works on their own part), then this change really shouldn’t affect many people.  That way, you are also staying below the crossfire if anything were to come up, as your part is complete.  Just preparing your clients so they are aware of everything ahead of time, emphasizing the urgency with getting done what they need to, and constant communication within the home buying ‘team’ will make this effortless.