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costs are especially burdensome because they’re unexpected. It’s simple to estimate a 10 percent down payment, but closing costs are less obvious.
“I hear it every day; people have no idea how much it’ll cost them to close,” he says.
One strategy to help overcome high closing costs is called a settlement credit. As much as a buyer wants to buy, a seller wants to close the deal. So, the seller may help a buyer pay some closing costs (but not the down payment) and add the total to the sales price.
“In the end, the seller walks away with the same amount,” says Chrissy Steele, who was named 2019 REALTOR® of the Year by the Sussex County Association of REALTORS®. But the closing costs are much more manageable when they’re spread over decades of mortgage payments.
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The DAR’s work for first-time buyers reaches from the front lines of the housing market to the General Assembly.
Regulations and taxes are some of the biggest contributors to closing costs, which hit first-time buyers particularly hard because they can’t rely on equity from previous home sales. The Delaware Association of REALTORS® is the voice for property rights throughout Delaware, all the way to the doors of Legislative Hall in Dover.
In 2017, the state raised transfer taxes from 3 percent to 4 percent, making them the highest in the country. Because they are evenly split between buyer and seller, for a $200,000 home the hike added $1,000 more each for the buyer and seller.
The year after the tax hike, the DAR successfully lobbied to grant first-time buyers an exemption from the increase.
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R12 I www.DelawareToday.com I SEPTEMBER 2019