Chi phí giao dịch ở Massachusetts, từng dòng một

Buyers ask us the same thing in their second week: how much do I need on the day, on top of the deposit. The honest answer runs to about ten lines, and half of them are fixed no matter who lends you the money.

One real statement then, with the numbers left in: a two-bedroom condo in Somerville at $985,000, twenty percent down, a conventional thirty-year loan at 6.4%, closing on a Thursday in April.

What the buyer brings

The deposit is $197,000 and it is already spoken for. Everything below sits on top of it, and your lender owes you a written estimate of the lot within three days of your application.

Owner's title insurance is the line that is missing, at $2,315 on this sale. It is optional in Massachusetts, it pays out to you rather than to the bank, and about two thirds of our buyers take it. On a house with three owners in the past decade we tell people to take it.

What the seller pays

One of the seller's lines is unique to this state and it surprises people who have sold elsewhere. Massachusetts charges deed excise stamps at $4.56 per $1,000 of the price, which on $985,000 is $4,492, due at the registry before the deed can be recorded.

• Deed excise stamps, $4.56 per $1,000: $4,492
• Seller's attorney: $1,150
• Municipal lien certificate and the discharge recording: $180
• The broker fee agreed in the listing agreement, which for us is one of three rates and printed on the site

The two lines people miss

The tax escrow is the first. Your lender collects several months of property tax up front so the account is never short, and in a town that bills quarterly the number depends on which month you close in. Closing in the week before a bill lands can cost you an extra quarter.

The second is the municipal lien certificate, which the buyer's attorney orders from the city to prove nothing is owed on the property. It takes ten working days in Boston and Cambridge. Order it late and it moves your closing, which is the one delay on this list that nobody can shorten with money.