Home Buying Fees You Might Not Know About

The buying process is complicated, super complicated. There are all sorts of variables and things to look out for. One of those things are fees. We all know that buying a house is expensive but what do you actually have to pay for besides the house itself?

Application Fee

Ah, applications. You need to pay this to even start the process. This is a fee the lender charges you… because they can honestly. You can ask for a breakdown of the application fee and might get a little more information but mostly it's an unavoidable nonsense fee that you should expect.

The Home Inspector

I hear what you’re thinking and no, you can’t skip it. Inspectors are what stand between you and utter ruin. They are your champion in the house buying process. Structural issues, mold, roofing, anything that could go wrong, they’re the experts that keep you from being buried under a pile of problems. That can all come to at an easy payment of 300 to 500 dollars. Yes, you still have to pay them if you decide not to buy the house.   

Appraisal Report Fee

This appraisal report fee is also charged by your lender… figures. This one actually goes towards something though. This one pays for the lender to appraise the cost of the house in question so that the buyer, a.k.a you aren’t paying more than the house you’re trying to buy is worth. This costs between 200 and 425 dollars. At least this fee does something useful.

Title Service Fees

Title Service fees covers several different services. Appraisal covers a lot of the necessary government paperwork. Searching public records for the houses title, notary for the person bearing witness to the signing of documents, government filing, etc. This will cost you between 150 and 400 dollars all together.

Lenders Organization Costs

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Your lender with another fee for you. Nope, not very funny unfortunately it’s not a joke. This is an upfront fee for processing the application (yes, the obligatory application fee doesn’t cover this), underwriting (researching your loan), and funding the loan. I really don’t get it either but either way it’s gonna cost you somewhere between .5% and 1.5% of your total loan.

Survey Report

Literally this is just a report that shows you the boundaries of the property, features and dimensions. It costs between 150$ and 400$.

Tax Payment Fee

Here we’ll end with a light one that won’t hurt your soul as much. Tax payment fee basically insures that tax payments on the property are up to date and that the payments you make are appropriately credited to the right home. This costs you about 50$.

So… I’m sure your super discouraged after seeing all of these fees and the numbers that go along with them. Here’s the thing, print out all of your documents, go over them, ask an obnoxious amount of questions you might be able to haggle down the prices of some of them. BE SURE YOU’RE GETTING THE BEST PRICE POSSIBLE! There are far too many fees to have necessary amounts of money taken from you for any of them.

Putting You into Your Home STEP ONE: Painting

You bought a house! Congratulations, you’re almost done but now it’s time to make the space your own. Everything you’ve done up until now has lead to this step of the process and if planned properly this step should be the fun part. Once you’ve had deep cleaned your new home, cleaning the place of any debris from the construction or the previous owner move out, it’s time for you to paint. Personally, I suggest that you do this step before all of your stuff is moved in. It will be easier for you to do it in this order, fewer things to maneuver around and protect from paint.

The first step here is visualization. Figure out what you want, which may be something that is easier said than done. I suggest you look at magazines, use internet blogs and resources like Pinterest, even watch some HGTV… don’t go overboard with that last one.  The point is the first thing you need is a goal. Unfortunately for those of you who are not artistically inclined, this part is more art than science. What colors do you like? What is your design aesthetic? These are all things you need figure out before you pick up a paint chip.

Next, make a little chart or map with each room of the house and write down the notes for each room. Who is that room for? What are they going to do in there? Allocate a feeling for each room, use adjectives; how do you want to feel when you walk through the door? How do you want the house to feel as a whole? Draws lines between the rooms you want to be cohesive, write little notes on how and why you’d like them to flow together.

For more information, check out our "Choosing your Paint" series

Delana Cotton servers the north east Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.

Choosing your Paint: Go Soft, Dark, or Vibrant

An important part of choosing your paint colors is choosing the tone of your colors. A large part of setting the mood of a space is choosing between the softness, depth, and vibrancy of your colors. So jumping right in:

Soft – Soft colors reflect light and brighten a space. The more light there is in a space the bigger the space looks.  This can be achieved by using lighter colors. Scientifically light colors bounce more light off its surface, meaning there’s more light being cast into the surrounding space. Brighter lighter spaces also have the benefit of being more inviting. If you want people to linger, you want the space to feel open and bright. It’s also a bonus that bright and light spaces are good for your mental health.

Caution: Ultra-light colors do tend to wash out. If you want an off-white color that subtly ties into the color of another room with the same undertone getting a very light version of that color will work beautifully. However, this is more a subconscious tie-in, at first glance the room will look white. If you want a hint of whatever color you’re going to want to go a little more saturated unless the rest of the rooms color scheme will make the very subtle color pop.

Dark – Darker spaces have the effect of feeling and looking smaller. Dark colors absorb light, thus casting less light into the surrounding space. Which can make a room feel close and cozy. Not everyone wants every room to be sunny and bright. Deeper, richer colors can be soothing, relaxing, and homey. Also, when you have a larger room or an open floor plan darker colors are good for making rooms feel fuller and occupied instead of being vast and intimidating.

Vibrant – Bright, vibrant colors are the hardest to work with. These colors are exciting and good for creativity, so they’re good in small doses. However, in large quantities they can be overwhelming fast. Vibrant colors give you energy which is great in a work space but in high doses can make people jittery and irritable. Also, if the color is too bright when light bounces off of it the color can mess with your senses.

Deep Cleaning Your New House

So, you’ve bought a new home! First, congratulations on your new home. You’ve gotten past the hard part and now you’re on the final leg of the process, moving in. However, just because the house is new doesn’t mean it’s clean. Before you move in your furniture, you’re going to need to thoroughly clean your new house. Until then anything you move into the space is just going to an obstacle for your cleaning. So now you have the herculean task of deep cleaning the entirety of your new home, but where should you start?

1. Make a List

Everything is more manageable when you have things you can check off of a list You know everything that needs to be done, which reduces the stress of a task. Also, the instant gratification of being able to check things off of a list is amazing motivation. Go from room to room and write down everything that needs to be done in each space. Sweep the floor, dust the ceiling fan, wipe down the baseboards, mopping, dust the mantle, wipe down the windows, etc.

2. Start from one corner to the opposite corner.

It’s best to start from the ceiling, knocking all the dust and the dirt to the floor, so that you won’t end up having to clean the floors several times. I also suggest cleaning from the furthest corner from the door outwards until you make it out of the room. That way if you’re mopping or sweeping you don’t end up putting your dirty shoes or feet on your freshly cleaned floors.

3. Hit the Appliances

If you’ve inherited some of the appliances from the previous owners of the house, first congratulations they’ve saved you a good amount of money. However, even if they cleaned they’ve probably missed something, and you don’t want to cook in the remains of someone else’s crumbs, baked in grease, and dirt. Break everything down so you can clean your appliances thoroughly. Be much more careful with stainless steel, it’s not all that forgiving when it comes to chemical reactions — that blue dish soap and hot water will usually do the trick.

4. DON’T SKIP THE WINDOWS AND LIGHT FIXTURES

Look, I know you're tired of this by now and I’m sorry, but I promise that it’s totally worth it. If your house isn’t new you don’t know when they were last cleaned. You think your light fixtures are frosted glass… they might actually be clear. Accumulation of dirt in clear light fixtures looks strangely like they were meant to be opaque. You would be surprised at how much light you might be missing out on when your light fixtures aren’t clean.

Same with your windows. Unlock the window, lift it about a quarter of the way, then pinch the two tabs on the top toward the center while pulling the window toward you. On higher end windows, the top panel will also tilt in. With the bottom pane tilted into the room, lower the upper pane about a quarter of the way, or until you can see the same tabs that are on the lower pane and repeat the process. When you’re done cleaning, just push the panes back into their tracks one at a time until you hear a click. The increase of natural light will be rewarding.

Move-in Checklist: Steps for Transitioning into Your New Home

So, you’ve bought a new home! First, congratulations on your new home. You’ve gotten past
the hard part and now you’re on the final leg of the process, moving in.   

• Create a move-in budget and a timeline

You’re going to need to know how much you are able and willing to spend on this part of the
process. I know your wallet is in a delicate and vulnerable position and would rather not be
bothered right now but that’s more of a reason to prepare beforehand.

• Create a Battle Plan

Again, I know the last thing you want to do is plan right now. You’ve just gone through the
process of buying a house and you’re tired, you’re emotionally tired, you’re mentally tired,
and I get that, but it’ll be exponentially worse. How much of your stuff do you want to take
with you? What are you going to do with the stuff you don’t bring? How are you going to get
it there? Where are you getting boxes from? Do you have a system for getting all the right
stuff to the right rooms? Are you using labels? Who’s going  to help you move?

• Keep and organize your moving-related bills and receipts

It’s tax deductible, you’re welcome.

• Check on Moving Conditions.

As the date approaches, be sure everything is going according to that plan. What are the
weather conditions for your move in date?

• Set up and cancel old and new services

You’re going to need to cancel your sanitation services and utilities and get them set up at
your new home, hopefully before you move into the new place.

• Deep-clean Your New Home

Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s clean.  You’re going to need to do this step before you
move any of your stuff in. Moving in before you complete this step will hinder the process
making furniture just another obstacle.

• Get your mailing address and official documents updated.

You’re going to need to update stuff like your driver’s license, re-register to vote, get all
your mail forwarded to the right address. Change your address on everything that mails stuff
to you, like amazon. Change your billing address on all your credit cards.

• Move In!

Be sure you’ve taken off a day of work and have bribed, begged, guilt tripped, and
blackmailed your friends and family accordingly. It’s all hands-on deck time. You’ve
planned as well as you could, now be ready to be flexible and adjust as needed.

Delana Cotton servers the northeast Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.