No one really likes surprises. Particularly when they come up shortly before a scheduled closing.
As a buyer, your mortgage banker will provide you with a Good Faith Estimate after you’ve submitted your mortgage application. The GFE will help you understand approximately how much money you’ll need to bring to the closing.
The mortgage brokers my clients tend to use have typically been very accurate with their GFEs, which is a happy occassion for my clients. However, there are some things that the GFEs don’t always estimate well, one of which is utility adjustments, which are typically done a day or so before the closing.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that oil and gas prices have been moving upward at a pretty good clip. The current average price for home heating oil is $4.189. *barf*
If you’re buying a house that is heated by oil, you might want to clarify with the sellers and their agent that the oil tank should be read at the current fill level. You don’t necessarily want the oil tank topped off as a “closing courtesy” because your closing costs could increase significantly.
For example, if the house has a 330 gallon tank and it’s only 1/4 full, your closing costs will increase by over $1,000. Yikes!
Time to start investigating solar and wind…