The offer on the new dream home has been accepted, along with a growing excitement about decorating the new house, setting up the garage and cooking on that new range. But getting the deal closed involves several more steps that often create a great deal of anxiety in the hearts of the cottage owner hopefuls like a home inspection, warranties and total closing costs. To complicate matters, each state has its own specific costs, so there often isn’t a “one size fits all” approach you can take to figure these added expenses out.
Before completing the sale, the buyer has the option to inspect the home for defects. The real value to the prospective homeowner is the piece of mind that defects in the home can be identified before the purchase and potentially addressed in the final agreement and before moving in. The range of skills to assess a home for imperfections is broad. It’s a good idea to interview several prospective home inspectors and to ask for references to evaluate previous inspections – did they actually identify any defects? A home inspection cost invoice averages between $300 and $500, but it can change depending on size (don’t scrimp on this inspection).
Home warranties offer another level of protection. Like purchasing a warranty for a car, there are levels of coverage – it can be just for appliances, the major structural components, pool or spa, and many other aspects of the home as well as replacement costs or parts and labor. The cost of such warranties can vary between $200 per year and $2000 depending on the scope of the insurance.
To collect all of these costs, it’s a great idea to use a closing costs calculator. Based on the state, the calculator can give an estimate of all the costs. It can also add variable costs like the inspection or the warranty to the calculation to give a total. With input options for percentages, it is easy to generate scenarios that can also help during sales negotiations.