Monies You’ll Be Responsible to Provide at Closing:

As a Buyer, if you are purchasing your new home subject to a mortgage, you will have certain costs that will be settled at your closing. Some of these may vary by state but as a general rule, before they hand you the keys, you will be handing them:

Down payment:  This is the difference between your purchase price and your mortgage and ultimately represents how much equity you will possess on day one.

Escrow funds: Your mortgage lender will require these funds at closing to make sure that there’s enough money in your account to pay upcoming tax and insurance.

Third-party fees: Third party costs incurred in the processing of your loan. ie: appraisal fees, title insurance & fees for your credit report if applicable.

Per diem interest: This covers the daily interest cost covering the time frame between your closing date & your first mortgage payment due date.

Homeowners association (HOA) dues: If your new home requires HOA or Condo Assoc dues, you may be required to pay the first year’s cost at closing. Sometimes this is negotiated with the seller and if they have paid the fees as part of your agreement, they should provide proof of payment at closing.

Discount points: A discount point is a fee you’ve agreed to pay to lower your interest rate. This is due at closing.

Commission:  Though this is typically a seller’s cost, if you’ve agreed to pay your agent any part of the commission due, that will be deducted at closing.

If you have any other costs, they will be detailed on your Closing Disclosure form which you will receive 3 days prior to your closing date for review. If you question any of the costs on that document, contact the closing agency asap to ensure your closing is not delayed.

Are you feeling stressed and challenged about moving from your comfort zone neighborhood to a new one where you know no one? Is this especially difficult because you have young or teen children who are not happy at all with your decision to move and tear them away from their friends and the school they love? Then take advantage of a medium you’re probably already very familiar with to “move in” to the area before you ever make the physical move.

1. Check Facebook pages for Neighborhood Posts for the area you are moving to. If you find one, send a post or message to the administrator for that Facebook group introducing yourself and letting them know that you’re moving into the neighborhood with children (mention ages) and would love to join the group and glean input and general info about all the area offers you and your children.
2. Check Nextdoor.com and see if your new neighborhood has a group on there and do the same thing.
3. Go to the new school’s website and see if they have facebook/instagram/twitter groups that you can join and follow.

Not really a social media follower or subscriber? Be bold and create a postcard on a site like shutterfly with a family photo and take a walk around your new block(s) leaving them at your new neighbor’s homes with a note on it introducing yourself. If you don’t feel comfortable having your family’s photo out there like that, simply buy a pack of note cards, write a short note and leave those in the neighbor’s doors. (Do NOT put in mailboxes as that may not be allowed by the city or your association.)

Another friendly proclamation of your becoming their new neighbors is to plan an open house once you move in and invite the neighbors on your block and surrounding blocks if not a huge area to come on over and meet you.

Once your kids make some new friends in the neighborhood and school, not only will their stress level be reduced, so will yours!