Closing cost question when buying a house in Florida (sale, real estate)

[SeaLark7]

It's "water under the bridge" now, but I am curious about this. The one complaint I have about the Realtor we used to buy our Florida house is that she did not suggest we ask the seller to pay part of the closing costs. Our offer was only $4k below the asking price, and was accepted without a counter offer. The house had been on the market less than a week. For some reason it never occurred to us to ask the seller for closing cost help in the contract, and our Realtor did not bring it up either. When we sold our house in Ohio a few months later, one of the first things requested was that we pay part of the closing costs for the buyer. My question: is this NOT a usual practice in Florida, and therefore the Realtor did not mention it ? I know that house selling "customs" can vary by region - for example, in Ohio it is standard for the seller to include their washer and dryer with the house; in Florida it is not. Is this the case with closing costs, or did our Realtor drop the ball on this ?

[PortStLucieWater]

I asked for the seller for a price reduction and for them to pay closing costs and they agreed. I did not use a realtor just did a lot of research on the internet before purchase.

[rusty78]

It is really you that dropped the ball!!!

No seller is going to offer you anything if you did not include it in your initial offer. Like buying a car, if you offer to pay the sticker price no one is going to say we can discount the car for you...Of course the fact the home was only on the market for less than a week before getting an almost full price offer did not help your situation at all.

Did you have a seller's agent or a buyer's agent when looking for a home?? A buyer's agent would of represented you and should of offered you some advice...a seller's agent only represents the seller and was probably smiling all the way to the bank...

Either way, like you said....water under the bridge...so forget the price and just enjoy your home...

[1insider]

The seller may not have accepted an offer with closing costs included. Unless you told your agent that you needed help with closing costs there was need for them to suggest complicating your offer and decreasing it's attactiveness. Clean offers are much more likely to get accepted. Sounds like your offer hit the sweet spot and was successful.

[SeaLark7]

Thanks for the interesting comments. Indeed we should have brought up the subject ourselves, but we were in that "new buyer daze" during our quick trip from Ohio to find a house. Certainly the short time the house was on the market would have made the seller hesitate to pay any of the closing costs. Our Realtor was representing us and the house was not within her agency's offerings. I don't think the seller paying closing costs would have lessened her commission, though. I was mainly curious to see if the closing cost issue was the same in Florida as it is in Ohio, and it sounds like it is.

[Greeneyes0412]

Buying a home in Florida is totally different then up in Pennsylvania. I have had my closing date changed 3 times because they found hidden loans while doing the title search. I wasn't allowed to choice on who was to do that title search. The day of my first closing I found out the closing wasn't going to happen due to the bank never starting the title search. They extended it for 1 month. Then the day before the second closing the bank and owner did nothing to take care of the liens on the house and they rescheduled it for another month.. I've been living in a hotel since Dec 20 and found the house on Jan 2 and put my offer in which they accepted. After the inspection, I was able to knock the price down by 14,000 as that is how much the work is going to cost to have fixed if I use outside contractors. Thank goodness I can do all the work myself as I have flipped homes in Pennsylvania. One thing good happen after they changed the second closing date, I got in touch with a real estate attorney and now the bank, owner and buyer/selling agents have to pay for my living expenses since the first closing date as in the contract someone put that if closing is changed buyer is to have 48 hours noticed and was not given that either times they changed my closing date. Seems who ever did the paperwork for the contract lived up North in a State that always had this in their paperwork. Just hope the person doesn't lose her job over this as Florida is a Right To Work State. They all have been notified that they have to pay my living expenses and are not happy about this. They also can't pull out of not selling me the house as the owner is now living in the house that they purchased and cannot afford the 2 mortgages.

[PortStLucieWater]

SeaLark7 unless you have a signed buyers agreement your agent was representing the seller. Read this for more info:

"Here's the answer: Unless you have signed a "Buyer Agency Agreement" with Bonnie making her your buyer agent, she is most likely acting as a sub-agent to the listing broker who represents the seller. If that is the case, she has a fiduciary obligation to the seller to disclose to him any information she has that might "promote or protect his interest" in the transaction. Guess what? Bonnie has that information."
REALTOR.com: Who Represents You?


"Traditionally, all agents involved in a real estate transaction legally represent the Seller (both the "Listing Agent" and the "Selling Agent.") When a Buyer's Agent is involved, the person buying the property is represented by the "Selling Agent," who is known as the "Buyer's Agent."

Representation: Difference between a Buyer's Agent and Seller's Agent

"The "Law of Agency" says that the agent or broker's fiduciary responsibility is to the client. In legal terms, the client may be the person who pays the commission"
Buying a Home with an Agent - Zillow

[FlaLadyB]

In this market -- I am not finding or hearing about anyone that is paying for buyers closing costs

Paying for buyers closing cost with some kinds of loan is not allowed except by increasing the selling price. That, may cause a problem and put you back to square one if it's higher than the appraisal

Washer and dryers being left behind in a sale is up to the seller. Some take them, some don't.

As far as choosing the Title company -- that is up to whoever is paying for the Title- usually the Seller, so no, you don't get to choose. The Title company trying to clean up everything is a good thing since they are trying to assure you have clean title going forward.

I have a cash closing that has not closed since Dec. 20th and has been put off AGAIN till the end of March. The bank has fines from the city and has now decided they want to fight the full payment. In the meantime, my buyer has no place to live. No, they don't care. Your choice is to wait it out or cancel and move on.

A Buyers Agent --is one who works for the Buyer not the Seller. Our relationship is with you and not the Seller. We have to disclose to the other agent that we are a Buyers Broker up front.

One person stated in another post (not here) that she was asked to sign the Buyers Agreement, and wouldn't. Besides stating that we are working only for you, that agreement also states that you will work only with us and not wander the street looking at homes will other agents.

FLORIDA is a Transaction Broker State. That means we are ALL Transaction Brokers unless that Agreement is signed.


And and FYI which apparently still needs repeating - we can all show any house listed by anyone, although there are still those out there that choose to only show their own listings. I am not one of them.

[PortStLucieWater]

To clarify I have an FHA loan and the buyer paid $5,500 of my closing costs without a price increase and I purchased for $10k lower than list.

[SeaLark7]

Thanks Barbara for your professional input on this ! I am feeling better about not thinking to ask about closing costs being paid by the seller. Fortunately our bank did not charge us points so that saved a lot on the closing costs.