closing costs

Are you the buyer or seller? Is this for a co-op or condo? Is it over $1,000,000. Is it a sponsor unit or not? Do you have a mortgage and if so, what is it for?

It can vary from relatively nothing to a percentage in the range of 3-5 percent. And just to play the devil's advocate, if you are a resident alien you have other things factored into that as well.

I have a good overview on all these fees from my attorney at my office which I will post later unless someone else posts something which goes over everything first.

(Matthew Russell - Brown Harris Stevens)

see this guide ----> http://www.corcoran.com/guides/index.aspx?page=ClosingCosts

I should add that I don't know how accurate the corcoran guide is . . . perhaps others can comment.

I found the corcoran guide pretty accurate for me.

too little info--condo with mtge, for example kicks in the mtge recording tax, a killer--coop doesnt

Thanks guys! Please MRussell post your list so that we can compare with this list from corcoran

"Miscellaneous Expenses: Legal fees, bank costs, managing agent/building fees, flip tax"

Seem to be also proportional to the house price for the most part (are legal fees a fixed amount?). Seem to me these expenses could end up being pretty substantial.

I'm using this new calculation of Buy vs Rent done by the FED of Cleveland, hence the need to be accurate with transaction costs. In this case I'd add both the transactions paid as a buyer and as a seller given that at some point I'll end up facing them (unless the property is never sold and remains in the family for generations to come).

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/data/rentvsbuy/index.cfm

RE: legal fees, $2k-$3k would be normal, hence multiplied by two (it's a transaction cost both at the buying and selling time): $4k-$6k. do you guys agree with this? got it from this SE thread:

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/23225-lawyer-fees

Here is a link to a PDF of my sheet (which is actually my mousepad, hence the quality of it).

http://www.filesavr.com/G3YBKUC7W1FSH8X

Corcoran's is VERY detailed, and this is pretty much just an overview. If you were looking to have your costs narrowed down to the dollar with various guides, mine probably will not help you as much as Corcoran's. But if you want to ballpark it, it should help.

thanks so much!!!

@ notadmin: Your legal fees are right on target for a moderately sized apartment. When you get into bigger apartments and townhouses that may require more work you can see the fee rise. But for most people that figure is right.

The key thing to focus on when getting a real estate attorney is to find one that will do the work for a flat fee (this is not uncommon). Some attorneys may try to charge you by the hour and you can expect your bill to be a lot larger since they will bill you for every detail.

according to corcoran:

Gains Tax Withholding (out of state seller) 7.7% of gain
Non-US Resident (FIRPTA) 10% of price withheld or paid

didn't know that this even existed! is part of this recovered afterwards?

well... living in NYC i guess i should be thankful to those that want a pied-a-terre in Manhattan. these guys pay taxes for all of us without using a whole lot of services.

FIRPTA is withheld from a foreign seller just in case he or she decides to leave the country with cash in pocket and forget to pay U.S. taxes.

It is indeed recovered when that tax return is actually filed and the relevant taxes are paid.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

If it is a sponsor unit and a condo you pay ALL closing costs. Recording fees are based on the amount of the loan -- transfer taxes, title ins etc based on purchase price. Prepared to be shocked -- this is the 3 property I have purchased - 1st in nyc and i'm still picking my jaw up off the floor. For a ~$550K purchase they were $31K - you even have to pay the sponsor attorney fees.