Sterling/ Herndon/ Chantilly- How to check if sellers are helping with closing costs? (credit)

[QuinDuke]

We're looking to possibly buy in Sterling, Herndon, or Chantilly, and we're in the middle of sailing through the preapproval process. I'm trying to figure out how much everything will cost, using the lender's Good Faith Estimate (although I guess it's not called that anymore), and one question I have is whether we'll have to pay for all the closing costs ourselves. Several of our friends have purchased in other neighborhoods (not any of the above, unfortunately) in the past year to year-and-a-half, and all received closing cost assistance from the seller.

Is there a way to check if deals like that are currently occurring in these neighborhoods? I've looked at FranklyMLS and talked to coworkers and it seems as though the most desirable houses in our price range are lasting a week or less on the market, and the sellers are getting 94% or more of listing price, if that helps.

[hilsmom]

the franklymls site will have subsidy information in the sold home section.

We looked in and live in this area, and I would say that closing cost help is not out of the question. A realtor is your best bet for finding this information out, of course.

If you are asking for help, I think it is best to offer as close to your best price as possible.

Our first offer on our house was $10K below list - they countered at $5K and said no to another split-the-difference offer, so we settled at $5K below list, which was about 99% of list. We did NOT ask for settlement help, which made our offer more attractive. However, we knew we were going to have to put money into the house right away as there was a lot that needed to be fixed/updated.

[FCNova]

There's no way of knowing now if you'll get a closing cost credit or not. Depends if the seller wants to give it to you. But really all the seller cares about is the net, so if you are strapped for cash and need a credit go in with higher offer. I.e. 500k and no credit vs 510k and a 10k closing cost credit is the same thing to a seller. Both net them 500k. But the latter may be more beneficial to you if you need the 10k credit to help cover closing costs. The place will need to appraise for the offer price though.

[gammann]

You could also negotiate a price first, and then once you have agreed on a price, ask if you can increase your bid by $X amount for $X amount in closing assistance. Keep in mind that the appraisal/loan/down payment will be based off the final contract price.

When I sold my townhouse last year, the buyer was upfront and said they needed $X amount of closing, so we just adjusted the contract price up by that amount.

As FCNova stated, the seller should only care about net. Of course a higher price can help others in the neighborhood, as I'm not sure future appraisals look at net.

One thing to note, a higher contract price will cause your and the seller's fees to increase as some things are based on the contract price, but it will probably negligible.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by FCNova

There's no way of knowing now if you'll get a closing cost credit or not. Depends if the seller wants to give it to you. But really all the seller cares about is the net, so if you are strapped for cash and need a credit go in with higher offer.

Some sellers are really weird. I don't think it necessarily matters what neighborhood you're buying in so much as the individual you're buying from. When we bough our house in the fall, we offered them their list price and asked for $10k in closing costs. They declined, and countered back at list price. We offered them list + $10k with $10k closing to net them their list price and they again declined. We finally agreed on list plus $5k with $5k back. They were terrified the house wasn't going to appraise at the higher level.

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

Some sellers are really weird. I don't think it necessarily matters what neighborhood you're buying in so much as the individual you're buying from. When we bough our house in the fall, we offered them their list price and asked for $10k in closing costs. They declined, and countered back at list price. We offered them list + $10k with $10k closing to net them their list price and they again declined. We finally agreed on list plus $5k with $5k back. They were terrified the house wasn't going to appraise at the higher level.

That is weird. I guess either they had a really bad realtor or they didn't think the place would appraise for much higher than list price.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by FCNova

That is weird. I guess either they had a really bad realtor or they didn't think the place would appraise for much higher than list price.

It was the appraisal fear...but I've come to believe that the appraisal is slightly biased, since it came back at exactly what we paid for the house...