Budget for Closing Costs – Property Taxes, Legal Fees and Such

You probably spent a good bit of time getting disciplined to save money for your home purchase. You need to carry this financial discipline through the escrow period or you could run into problems.

Budget for Closing Costs – Property Taxes, Legal Fees and Such

When you decided it was time to purchase a home, you went through a number of steps to get your finances in order. You probably reviewed your credit report, cut down on credit card balances and reigned in your spending. A monthly budget was probably also an item you stuck to, probably with some aggravation. Once you have an offer for a home accepted, it is important that you keep budgeting for the closing costs associated with the purchase. Here are a couple of odd little fees that can show up and drive you nuts if you are not careful.

Being required to pay property taxes can be a nasty little surprise. After all, you do not even own the home yet! The requirement, however, comes because of the nature of how property taxes are paid. They are not paid every month, so the seller has prepaid the taxes beyond the period they will own the home. They will want that money back! You can negotiate this point as part of the purchase, but you need to be aware it is out there.

In some states, it is a legal requirement that you have a lawyer represent you in a real estate transaction. This requirement primarily exists in the East. Regardless, attorneys are expensive and you need to have money set aside to pay their fees. In truth, retaining a lawyer is a good idea since they tend to sniff out any questionable issues in the transaction. Fees can run you from a couple hundred bucks to thousands of dollars.

In addition to the above, there are a lot of small fees associated with closing. They can run from several hundred dollars paid to the escrow company to $20 or so for notary fees and so on. If you do not keep an eye out, they can add up quickly to a few thousand dollars.

Closing on a home can be aggravating with all the costs you have to pay. It will all be worth it when you walk into your new home the first time.

4 Dangers In Flipping Real Estate

If you have recently purchased some real estate for investment purposes, you are in good company. Recent reports suggest that as many as 25% of these purchases are made by those who plan on using the property for investment purposes only. If you hope to "flip" the property there are 4 things you must be aware of that can put a crimp on your profits.

<b>1. Property Taxes.</b> Keep the property for a few years and you may experience a surge in property taxes especially if your taxes are reevaluated during that time. Some hot real estate markets have seen taxes nearly double in just 5 or 6 years.

<b>2. Renovation Expenses.</b> You may have purchased a "fixer upper" at a bargain rate. Once your project is complete will you be able to recover the expenses and make a profit especially if the value of your renovated property is above those in your neighborhood? In addition, can you withstand a correction in real estate values?

<b>3. Insurance and Mortgage  Costs.</b> You will pay more for homeowners insurance if you do not occupy the residence and you have tenants. If you are financing the property you know that your mortgage rate is higher as well.

<b>4. Rental Pressures.</b> A market saturated with rentals will mean that the rents you can charge will be less than what you had hoped to receive. In some markets you are required to get special licensing in order to be a landlord. In other markets the legal rights of tenants mean you could have a lengthy and expensive battle in ridding yourself of a bad tenant. Will the lower income levels coupled with the added expenses drag your investment down?

Of course, you can limit your risks [and costs] by doing the majority of the upgrades yourself, appealing excessive property tax increases, and finding for yourself a trusted and dependable tenant. It isn't easy flipping a home, but with a lot of pluck and determination it can result in strong profits for you.