The closing costs are too dam high.

riversider! can you please go comment on my question on the to buy or not to buy thread. thank you.

Sure,

I think the Euro is in trouble, but politically they are not ready to let countries leave.. just yet. So I think there's a good chance they depreciate the Euro as a way of encouraging Americans and non-Euro currency holders into taking that cheap Greek vacation or the places you mentioned.

not that you know or anyone knows the answer, but do you think it's likely that italy experiences massive strikes? i know italy is one of the club med trouble countries, do you know if they are planning, or will reasonable have not choice but make, any across the board cuts that might result in that? these are stupid general question, i know. thank you so much for answering.

^^will reasonably have no choice but make^^^sorry

I don't know.

i appreciate your honesty.

Most other states don't require lawyers for closing. It's a racket.

Of course if you ask JuiceDrivel & LICCDope, closing costs don't count.

HAHAHAHAHA!

I'm glad the conversation is back to closing costs. They are too damn high! The city & state are too aggressive here.

Basically, RS - and this is a fact not known to most Austrians - with the exception of property, all that a government can tax is transactions. That's why they tax them: they are easy to find, easy to identify, and easy to audit. Even better because the government gets the private sector to do all the work for them - collection, record-keeping, paying in. Quite the deal.

But the problem in NY aren't closing costs. The problem is the cost structure of the city and state: too many small towns, hamlets, cities, duplicated services, too high pensions, no accountability teachers, etc., etc., and so on and so forth.

You'd save a fortune by switching local government to the county level, including for schools, and dumping the rest. I say sell public housing like Mrs. Thatcher did. Let everybody die in the streets like in the good-old days of the gold standard!

county-level govt, good idea. how many counties make up nyc anyway?

>problem is the cost structure of the city and state: too many small towns, hamlets, cities, duplicated services, too high pensions, no accountability teachers, etc., etc., and so on and so forth.

Yup

Thank God Elizabeth Warren is out--now, finally, the mortgage and closing process can be made ever more complicated.

New York counts on real estate for too much income.

Here's to the Banks! You give them free money, and they STILL lose money.

Btw - there is nothing cheap about a Greek European vacation right now. And, some EURO cash buyer just outbid us. At least there won't be any closing costs! They really are insane and can easily exceed 4% of the transaction value. Mansion tax is 1%, Title insurance is about 0.8%, mortgage recording tax is around 1.93%, a mortgage broker may run you 1%, legal costs around $2K, UCC filing, recognition agreement, lien search, appraisal and bank attorney somewhere around $2,750 and if you need an inspection that could go anywhere from $500 to $5,000 depending on how deep you want to dig into issues.

I'm a mortgage broker and I don't charge a borrower. I get paid by the bank. Many times the bank will give the borrower a rebate to go towards the closing costs. I close my loans with Wells Fargo Wholesale Division.

In some cases when one buys an apartment, the mortgage tax can be reduced or avoided altogether depending on the amount of the seller's mortgage. It's called a purchase CEMA.

Title charges can vary somewhat. Usually in a purchase, the attorney insists I use his title company. I usually ask for a schedule of the title costs, and if they are too high I make him and the purchaser aware of this.

Ellen Silverman
E.S. Funding co.
www.esfunding.instant lender.com

Many times the bank will give the borrower a rebate to go towards the closing costs

Of course you are aware that they pare paying the borrower back with his own money and this is coming right out of his coupon which would have been lower. This is like refunding part but not all of his yield spread premium.

We need to start a new political party in NY. Let's call it "the closing costs are too damn high party"

yes dumpkopf...start the party.

and you can fund it with your money.

not that you have any.

higher closing costs are one of the many ways that bubbles can be prevented. egregiously high transaction-related costs can basically stop a market cold, think japan before they liberalized their system (and i wonder what they think about the results of that now).

high closing costs, much more so than in the US, are found in many places in europe, italy is an example.. with high closing costs one thinks twice about buying the studio that one will outgrow in less than five years. although even with our moderately high closing costs people were/are often too shortsighted to consider those costs.

What a load of crap.
This is not regulation but gov't trying to raise money in a way parties may least object to.

how does it stack up against raising the price of cream cheese?

>yes dumpkopf...start the party.

oh look, we have our very own Nazi up in Columbia County, with the racial superiority rhetoric down cold.

But that's the beauty part: it's BOTH regulation AND the gov't trying to raise money in a way parties may least object to. It's superawesome, best of both worlds, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (TM), cake and eat it.

I Hart NY.

>higher closing costs are one of the many ways that bubbles can be prevented. egregiously high transaction-related costs can basically stop a market cold, think japan before they liberalized their system (and i wonder what they think about the results of that now).
>high closing costs, much more so than in the US, are found in many places in europe, italy is an example.. with high closing costs one thinks twice about buying the studio that one will outgrow in less than five years. although even with our moderately high closing costs people were/are often too shortsighted to consider those costs.

brilliant, we want a system that prevent bubbles by preventing any activity whatsoever. Let's strangle our economy with excess regulation and fees to feed bureaucrats' largesse so that there are no bubbles.

load of crap? nobody is forcing people to buy, renting is always an option. new york city, despite your claims that the closing costs are too "dam" high, has very robust sales levels. maybe they should be charging more?

Those who can't afford to buy always describe renting as an "option". Perhaps for this class it's more of a Hobson's choice