Buyer Closing Costs

Escrow Fees

These are fees paid to the escrow company to manage your transaction as a neutral 3rd party. In SF, Sonoma and Napa Counties the buyer customarily pays the entire escrow fee. 

Title Insurance

This optional insurance policy protects you from any defects in the chain of title or any future claims made by people on the title of your new property. If you borrow a loan as part of your purchase you will need to buy 2 policies - one for you and one for your lender. Buyers in SF, Sonoma, and Napa customarily pay for their own title insurance.

Inspection Fees 

If the seller has not ordered inspections on the property in advance, you’ll need to conduct your own investigations into the condition of the home and its systems. These can include inspections for general systems in the home (aka contractor’s inspection), pests/fungus, sewer/septic, well/water quality, or engineering. Additional inspections may be required depending upon the specifics of your purchase.

Property Taxes

Condo Fees

For condo buyers, these include prepaid HOA dues and sometimes can include a move-in fee and/or move-in deposit.

Buyer Agent Commission

In most cases, the buyer agent commission is paid by the seller and is deducted from the seller’s closing statement. However, in some rare cases, such as a non-listed property or an off-market property, the seller may not offer a commission to the buyer’s agent. In this situation, we would inform you immediately, and you would pay this fee yourself if you chose to write an offer. Often when this occurs, the property will receive very little attention and the buyer will be able to negotiate a far better purchase price than would be possible if it were listed publicly. So it is often worth pursuing!