For agents
What your buyer actually brings to closing
Priced for the state your buyer is buying in, from that state's own statutes and filed schedules — not a national average with a local address typed into it. It separates the lines the seller customarily pays, because in several states the largest single charge at the table is not the buyer's. Nothing to sign up for.
Common questions
How accurate is a closing cost estimate before there is a loan application?
The state-driven lines — recording charges, transfer and mortgage taxes, title and settlement charges, and who customarily pays for what — are accurate at the offer stage, because they follow the state and the price rather than the borrower. What moves later is the rate-dependent piece, prepaid interest, and the real property tax and insurance figures once the address and the carrier are known.
Why does a national closing cost calculator disagree with this?
Because closing structure is state law and national calculators average across it. Georgia charges an intangible recording tax and requires an attorney to conduct the closing; Minnesota charges a mortgage registry tax and a deed tax; South Carolina puts deed stamps on the seller; Louisiana records into two separate sets of public records. None of that survives an average, and the gap is largest exactly where it matters — at the offer.
Does this tell me what the seller pays?
Yes, where the state has a settled custom. The estimate separates the lines customarily paid by the seller from the buyer’s, which matters most in states where the largest single charge at the table is the seller’s. Custom is not law — the contract governs and every line is negotiable — but knowing the default is what makes the negotiation informed.
Is this a Loan Estimate?
No. A Loan Estimate is a specific disclosure that follows an application on a particular property, and it is issued to the applicant. This is a scenario priced for a state and a price, intended for planning an offer. It states nothing about whether any person qualifies for anything.
Which states can this price?
The 14 states licensed to originate in, each built from that state’s own statutes and filed schedules rather than a national template. A state is only added once its closing rules have been researched to primary sources, which is why the list grows slowly and why the numbers hold up.
More on what a referral looks like on the file is on the agent page, and what changes at each state line covers the closing rules behind these numbers.