{"id":120,"date":"2006-07-22T13:40:33","date_gmt":"2006-07-22T20:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=120"},"modified":"2006-07-22T13:50:55","modified_gmt":"2006-07-22T20:50:55","slug":"the-seller-paid-my-closing-costs-with-my-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/120\/the-seller-paid-my-closing-costs-with-my-money\/","title":{"rendered":"“The seller paid my closing costs — with my money!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not all of the calls I get in response to my Republic<\/i> columns<\/a> are irksome. I like the calls I get from real people, rather than Realtors or brokers. Very few of them are viable, in-the-market, potential clients, but that’s not why I write the column. On the other hand, a brief telephone call is not the best way for a person to wrap his mind around a new idea.<\/p>\n

As an example, the first call I had yesterday was about the “Who pays whom” article<\/a>. He was a very sweet man, but he insisted I must be wrong, because the seller of his home had paid his closing costs.<\/p>\n

I explained to him that I write deals that way all the time, that I prefer to do things that way no matter what the buyer’s financial circumstances, because, for now at least, retaining your own cash is usually more profitable that the interest-cost of the additional borrowed funds.<\/p>\n

But — emphasize that — but: It doesn’t matter. You’re paying your own closing costs either way. If you pay them in cash, you can watch the money come out of your checking account. But if “the seller pays the closing costs” all you’re doing is exchanging one price discount for another. Your money stays in your checking account because you are paying more<\/i> for the home and financing<\/i> the closing costs.<\/p>\n

“But, but, but–,” he sputtered.<\/p>\n

“I know. This is hard. If the seller hadn’t<\/i> paid your closing costs, would the purchase price have been the same?”<\/p>\n

“Hell,<\/i> no!”<\/p>\n

“So you took a three percent discount in closing costs instead of shaving three percent off the price.”<\/p>\n

“That sounds about right.”<\/p>\n

“So you borrowed three percent more than you would have done, if you had paid the closing costs out-of-pocket.”<\/p>\n

Silence — the threshold of rhetorical surrender.<\/p>\n

“So who paid the closing costs?”<\/p>\n

“…When you put it that way…”<\/p>\n

“Who paid for everything?”<\/p>\n

“I’ll be damned if you ain’t got me convinced…”<\/p>\n

If only my Realtor and broker callers were this reasonable…
\n<\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: arizona<\/a>, arizona real estate<\/a>, phoenix<\/a>, phoenix real estate<\/a>, real estate<\/a>, real estate marketing<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not all of the calls I get in response to my Republic columns are irksome. I like the calls I get from real people, rather than Realtors or brokers. Very few of them are viable, in-the-market, potential clients, but that’s not why I write the column. On the other hand, a brief telephone call is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-general","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":301,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/301\/who-pays-when-seller-pays-closing-costs-the-buyer\/","url_meta":{"origin":120,"position":0},"title":"Who pays when “seller pays closing costs”? The buyer . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is me in today's Arizona Republic (permanent link):Who pays when \"seller pays closing costs\"? The buyer... Not all of the phone calls I get in response to these columns are from angry Realtors. I like the calls I get from real people, rather than Realtors or brokers. Even so,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2198,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2198\/a-consumers-guide-to-the-divorced-real-estate-commission-were-just-sitting-here-at-the-closing-table-watching-the-money-flow\/","url_meta":{"origin":120,"position":1},"title":"A consumer’s guide to the divorced real estate commission: We’re just sitting here at the closing table, watching the money flow","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part III: The who-pays-whom of real estate is not as simple as you might have thought... All right, let's go buy a house. I want to talk about the flow of money in a real estate transaction, and there is no better way of understanding that flow than wading right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":521,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/521\/the-fetal-flat-fee-contract-language\/","url_meta":{"origin":120,"position":2},"title":"The fetal flat fee: Contract language . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The first transaction we do with the flat fee as a matter of policy will probably come together tomorrow or Monday, but, as I had mentioned, Cathy has been playing with the idea. She has a contract in play right now, so I had to write language for the Buyer-Broker\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":116,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/116\/who-pays-whom-for-real-estate-follow-the-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":120,"position":3},"title":"Who pays whom for real estate? Follow the money . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The second in my series of articles devised to tick off real estate brokers appeared in the Arizona Republic today. (Here is a more permanent link to a longer version of the article.) Torquing the brokers is not really my intent, just a secondary consequence. Next week we get to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Enduring Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Enduring Interest","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/enduring-interest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":948,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/948\/recent-refinancing-can-make-selling-a-house-costly\/","url_meta":{"origin":120,"position":4},"title":"Recent refinancing can make selling a house costly","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This is me in this morning's Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0Recent refinancing can make selling a house costly A buyer e-mailed me a question about a house she might be interested in. At first glance, it looked promising: A newer west-side home in good condition. The price wasn't awful, maybe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":519,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/519\/the-seller-really-pays-for-the-buyers-agent-definitely-not-when-the-buyer-pays-out-of-pocket-but-what-if-the-buyer-really-did-pay-for-the-buyers-agent-from-the-buyers-side-of-the-hud-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":120,"position":5},"title":"The seller really pays for the buyer’s agent? Definitely not when the buyer pays out of pocket. But what if the buyer really did pay for the buyer’s agent from the buyer’s side of the HUD-1?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a lot of discussion of Buyer Broker compensation going on around the RE.net, and I want to draw attention to it while I can. I have some further thoughts of my own, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get to them today. It's Saturday, after all. 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