Closing Costs Calculator

Closing costs are the fees and expenses paid at the final step of a real estate transaction, beyond the purchase price itself. They catch many first-time buyers off guard because they can add 2–5% of the purchase price on top of the down payment.

Formula: Total Buyer Closing Costs ≈ Purchase Price × 2–5% Total Seller Closing Costs ≈ Purchase Price × 6–10% (mainly agent commissions)

⚠️ You will see the buyer figure quoted both ways, as a percentage of the purchase price and as a percentage of the loan amount. They are not the same number. On a 20% down purchase, 3% of the price is 3.75% of the loan. This page works in percent of purchase price throughout, and states which it means every time it prints one.

Fees versus prepaid items, which is a distinction worth having

Not everything at closing is a fee. Roughly half of a typical buyer’s closing costs are prepaid items, and you are not losing that money, you are paying it earlier than you otherwise would:

• Your first year of homeowner’s insurance, which you would owe anyway
• Two to three months of property tax and insurance held in escrow, which is your money sitting in an account with your name on it
• Prepaid interest from the closing date to the end of that month

The genuine fees are origination, appraisal, inspection, title work, attorney and recording. When you compare Loan Estimates between lenders, compare the fees. The prepaid items will be near identical whoever lends to you, and a lender is not cheaper because it happened to quote you a closing date later in the month.

Discount points are the one optional line. One point costs 1% of the loan and typically buys about a 0.25% rate reduction. Whether that is worth it comes down to how long you keep the loan: divide the cost of the point by the monthly saving to get the break-even in months, and if you expect to move or refinance before then, skip it.

Attorney states. Some states, New York and Massachusetts among them, require a licensed attorney at closing rather than a title agent. If you are buying in one, the attorney line is not negotiable away.

Typical buyer closing costs:

Typical seller closing costs:

Worked example, a $350,000 purchase with 10% down: Loan amount = $315,000. These are the figures this calculator uses, so you can reproduce them exactly:

Total buyer closing costs: $8,161, which is 2.33% of the purchase price. Down payment: $35,000 Total cash needed at closing: $43,161

The same house sold from the other side costs the seller far more: 5% commission alone is $17,500, and with transfer tax, owner’s title policy, attorney and recording the total comes to $21,150, or 6.04%. That asymmetry is the single most surprising thing about closing costs for anyone selling their first home.

Two of the flat figures above move a lot by region, and the tax rate assumption moves even more. A 1.2% effective property tax rate is roughly the national middle; New Jersey is more than double that and Hawaii is a quarter of it, so the escrow line is the one to check against your own county before trusting the total.

Saving strategy: Shop multiple lenders, because origination fees and points vary widely.
Negotiate with the seller to cover some of the costs, which is what a seller concession is.
Close near the end of the month to minimize the prepaid interest line.