Closing Costs and Financing Incentives

How Financing Details Affect Your Offer

There may be times when, as part of your offer, you request the seller to pay all or a portion of your closing costs, or provide some other financial incentive. One common request is asking the seller to pay a certain specified amount towards “closing costs and pre-paids.” Such incentives can be especially effective if a buyer is tight on money for covering closing costs or has to put more money down than he previously anticipated.

Whenever you ask for incentives such as these, you will probably find the seller less willing to negotiate on price. After all, what you are really asking for is to have the seller to give you some money to help you buy their house. The end result is the same. The home price may be higher but you must considered the money credited towards closing costs and pre-paids as discount off that price.