You are in the driver's seat. this is a buyer's market. You have all the power.
This is a standard bait and switch tactic that banks use to cheat people who are not experienced, sophisticated investors.
These clowns sound like a bunch of jerks to me. they should be thanking you for bailing them out of a bad loan decision that they made.
I am an experienced investor. I always make the seller pay the closing costs, even the bank.
Even when the seller and their jerk of real estate broker says that it is customary in their County for the buyer to pay the closing costs.
This is a buyers market. they should be grateful to you for even agreeing to buy their overpriced piece of garbage.
It was also customary for banks to make stupid loans for the last few years. that is why the banks are in all of the trouble that they are in right now.
Tell the the bank no. you are not paying even one penny of the closing costs.
That as far as you are concerned, the closing costs are the responsibility of the seller not the buyer and if the bank is not willing to agree to that, you are withdrawing your offer and demanding every last penney of your deposit back with no deductions for anything.
The bank will probably make some excuse that all or part of your deposit is not refundable. that is baloney!!!!
Remember the people at the bank are a bunch of jerks and are always trying to come up with reaqsonable sounding ways to cheat you.
Do not let them get away with that nonsense!
If the bank will not agree to direct the title company or whoever is holding your deposit then I recommend that you take them to court immediately!!!.
Hire an attorney for this. Most contracts state that the loser pays the attorney fees of the winner.
I guarantee that if you hire a halfway competent real estate attorney that you will beat the bank in court and the court will order the bank to return your deposit and will also order the bank to pay your attorney fees, so your attorney will cost you nothing.
In some states the court can award additional damages to a buyer if the seller unreasonable refuses to release the FULL deposit to the buyer when the buyer withdraws their offer.
I know I have been through a few disputes over the return of a deposit.
The courts hate crooked sellers who try to steal the deposits of buyers who reasonably withdraw their offers.
The courts will bend over backward to find in your favor if you have to withdraw your offer and the bank tries to keep all or part of your deposit.
Remember the judge in most cases has bought his house and in fact may have bought several,. It is very likely that the judge has been through similar headaches and had a seller try to steal his deposit at one time or another.
Judges absolutely hate sellers who try to steal buyers deposits. If you have to take the bank to court you will win and you will hve loads of fun in the process of winning!!!.
I have taught a few sellers including a few banks that it is a very stupid idea to try to keep a deposit when someone withdraws from a purchase contract for good cause.
If the bank refuses to pay the closing costs and tries to make you pay them that is good cause for withdrawing from that contract. If you have to have your attorney take the bank to court your attorney will make the people at the bank look like a bunch of idiots.
Get tough with these crooks. It is not your fault that this stupid bank made a bad loan and you should not let these jerks try to make you pay for a bad decision by the bank by cheating you by making you pay any of the the closing costs.
I invite you to show my answer to the jerks that you are dealing with at the bank.
(edit) I see that a realtor said that you are responsible for the closing costs.
That is not true. That is one of the the reason sthat I never have anything to do with realtors. I always use attorney to write my offers.
Attorneys are much better trained and have much better experience.
Realtors are nothing more than very poorly trained sales people. they know nothing about proper negotiation of issues such as who pays the closing costs.
Realtors just try to bluff you into doing what they have decided amongst themselves is customary in their county.
My attorney tells me that when relators try to pull this customary nonsense that they are actually in violation of Federal Antitrust Law and this customary business is probably the next are of Federal Antitrust Law that the United States Attorney Generals' office will be going after because it is anti competitive.
With the mess in the real estate markets and the lending matrkets the United States Attorney General's Office is going to be coming down very hard on lenders, realtors and mortgage brokers.
Realtors and lenders are in no position to be telling us who should pay the closing costs in a transaction. .
According to the realtors, essentially who pays the closing costs is often customary and it often varies from county to county and state to state, Some say the buyer pays closing costs, others say the seller pays the closing costs others say the closing costs are split 50/50 or use some other formula.
That is only what these clowns have decided is customary.
There is no law in any state of the United States that says it is the responsiblity of the buyer to pay the closing costs.
This is a buyer's market. You have all the negotiating power. Who pays the closing costs is negotiable just like the price of the property and the realtors obscenely high commissions that they do not earn because they do not provide you with sufficient value to justify their ridiculously high commissions..
You tell the bank that they will either agree to pay the closing costs or that you will withdraw your offer and demand the RETURN OF ALL OF YOUR DEPOSIT AND NOT ONE PENNEY LESS!!!
Also I see some of the posters disagree whether the amount of closing costs is unreasonable.
Again it is the responsiblity of the bank to pay the closing costs if you use your negotiating power to make the bank responsible for the closing costs. so it does not make any difference to you what the closing costs are because the bank is either paying the closing costs or you are withdrawing your offer.
And your attorney will sue the bank in court for your deposit plus attorneys fees and additional damages if you are in a state that allows additional damages for a seller who unreasonably refuses to sign instructions directing the title company or whoever is holding you deposit to return your deposit to you.
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Again I ivite you to show my reply to the jerks at the bank and any realtors that you are working with.
Remember there are thousands of properties out there right now. You can walk and find another property if this bank does not agree to pay closing costs.
You can also tie the jerks at this bank and this property up in court for years if they do not agree to pay the all of the closing costs or return every last penney of your deposit. .
The jerks at this bank will find the court to be a very unfriendly place and you will find the court to be very friendly to you if you have to have your attorney take them to court
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