Did you know that Colorado ranks as the 10th highest state for closing costs? Ouch. But, did you know that you can negotiate some of these charges? Your lender or mortgage broker is required by law to provide a “Good Faith Estimate” of your closing costs within at least 3 days of accepting the loan application. The article noted above recommends that you ask your lender specifically what the fees represent. Also according to the article the negotiable lender fees are mostly contained in the codes represented by numbers in the 800′s.
The article goes on to point out that you can also negotiate title fees which are typically in the 1100 code section. It gets a little trickier here because typically the seller’s agent picks the title company. (Which when you think about it is kind of backwards, but I don’t make the rules I just follow them – uh, most of the time.) If you want to negotiate title fees though don’t wait until you’re sitting at the closing table – it’s kind of awkward and you don’t have a lot of negotiating power at that point.
I love helping first time home buyers so if you have any questions or would like help viewing an available home please don’t hesitate to contact me at 303.887.1883 or beth@bethskinner.com.
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photo credit: Deputado Bruno Covas
