Plymouth, IN asked in Real Estate Law for Indiana

Q: when buying a house for cash what fees are there

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1 Lawyer Answer
Michael Ray Smith
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Michael Ray Smith
Answered
  • Indianapolis, IN
  • Licensed in Indiana

A: Even when my clients are buying a house for cash, I advise them to use a closing or settlement agent to handle the closing to make sure everything is done correctly, and I also advise them to obtain an owner's title insurance policy, which will likely require a survey to be performed. The usual practice is to have the title company serve as the closing or settlement agent, in addition to obtaining the title policy from an underwriter, and they will likely prepare the deed, sales disclosure form, and any affidavits or other necessary documents. Depending on the situation, you may also want to have a home inspector go through the house. So with all that -- there's the cost of the home inspection, the cost of title work and survey, the premium for the owner's title polcy, and the fee for the closing services (probably with separate document preparation fees for the deed, etc.). In addition, there will be a modest fee owed to the county recorder for recording the deed and a filing fee to the county auditor or assessor for the sales disclosure form. In addition, depending on how you negotiate the tax payments and what time of the year the sale happens, the buyer may need to reimburse the seller for taxes already paid or the seller may need to pay the buyer for taxes not yet paid, but those aren't really "fees." I suppose the fee for recording the deed and the fee for filing the sales disclosure form are the only ones that you simply cannot avoid by accepting more risk and doing all the work yourself, but again I'd never advise my own clients to do that. Although some of those fees are customarily paid for by the buyer and some by the seller, who pays for what is really all negotiable.

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