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At age 27, I am in the process of buying my FIFTH house. I feel slightly insane moving again after just recently purchasing a new home earlier this year, but when your dream house down the street hits the market, you jump.
Despite having bought 4 houses in the past 7 years, I still forget the up-front hidden costs involved. Most people know they have to save for a down payment, but surprise, there are many other things you have to pay for before you even get to closing!
#1 Earnest Money
When you put an offer in on a house and it is accepted, you have a certain period of time to send over earnest money. This is typically 1% of the purchase price to prove your serious interest for the property. Earnest money eventually gets applied to your total costs, but you have to be prepared to pay it up-front.
#2 Inspection(s)
Once your offer is accepted, you will likely pay for an inspection. There is your typical home inspection plus speciality services such as a sewer scope and/or radon testing. These are often individual costs and depending on your area, it may be smart to pay for all three. I want to say we paid around $800.00 for radon, sewer and the general home inspection. This will likely fluctuate depending on your area.
#3 Appraisal
Another up-front cost that I completely forgot about was the appraisal. We recently paid around $450.00 to have our new house appraised, which is a must if you are securing a loan to purchase your home.
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It’s fairly common knowledge that you need a down payment to buy a house, but these up-front costs are often overlooked and may be a surprise when you put an offer in on your first home.
Other additional costs besides the down payment include closing costs such as a loan origination fee, property taxes, and title fees. Plus, don’t forget to account for the commission paid to your real estate agent.
I hope this insight will help make your home buying experience smooth as butter! Have questions for me? Leave a comment or send me a DM on Instagram.
I forgot about appraisal costs completely! We’re preparing to sell our home and have been renovating for the last couple of weeks. It’s been a little stressful with the dumpster rental and everything, and as we get closer to officially putting it on the market, I’ve been thinking about how we can make it more attractive! Maybe we should offer to pay appraisal costs or something! Anyways, thanks for sharing!