Don’t Feel Like a Chump When You Close on Your New Mortgage
Mortgage closing costs dropped 7 percent over the past year, falling to $1,847 on a $200,000 loan, according to a new analysis by Bankrate.
Typical closing costs varied by state, ranging from $2,163 in Hawaii to $1,613 in Ohio. You can find the average rate for your state in the table below.
Lenders compete for business, so shopping around with at least three mortgage providers can help you reduce the fees associated with your loan. “Homebuyers have more say over closing costs than they think,” Bankrate Senior Mortgage Analyst Holden Lewis said in a statement.
Even as banks lower their mortgage fees, they’re increasing fees in most other categories, according to MoneyRates.com.
While lower mortgage fees are good news for homebuyers and those refinancing their loans, the average saving amount to just $140. That’s not much relative to the total costs associated with buying a house. The average down payment for homebuyers in the first quarter of 2015 was $57,710, for example.
Related: Want Your Own Home? Here’s How to Do the Math
The costs don’t stop once the buyers move in. On top of mortgage payments, homeowners face an average of more than $6,000 in additional costs related to their house, including homeowners insurance, property taxes and utilities.
The National Association of Realtors expects home prices to increase 6.5 percent this year to a median $221,900, which would put them at the same level as their 2006 record high.
For buyers, better news than the lower mortgage fees is that rates remain relatively low, falling to 3.98 percent last week, per Freddie Mac.
Closing costs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| State | Average origination fees | Average third-party fees | Average origination plus third-party fees |
| Alabama | $1,066 | $776 | $1,842 |
| Alaska | $935 | $922 | $1,857 |
| Arizona | $1,208 | $761 | $1,969 |
| Arkansas | $1,057 | $760 | $1,817 |
| California | $937 | $896 | $1,834 |
| Colorado | $1,192 | $719 | $1,910 |
| Connecticut | $1,074 | $960 | $2,033 |
| Delaware | $904 | $924 | $1,828 |
| District of Columbia | $1,077 | $718 | $1,794 |
| Florida | $1,028 | $778 | $1,806 |
| Georgia | $1,058 | $821 | $1,879 |
| Hawaii | $1,033 | $1,130 | $2,163 |
| Idaho | $894 | $788 | $1,682 |
| Illinois | $1,080 | $767 | $1,847 |
| Indiana | $1,067 | $770 | $1,837 |
| Iowa | $1,161 | $762 | $1,923 |
| Kansas | $1,047 | $753 | $1,800 |
| Kentucky | $1,060 | $737 | $1,797 |
| Louisiana | $1,060 | $817 | $1,877 |
| Maine | $897 | $830 | $1,727 |
| Maryland | $1,093 | $742 | $1,835 |
| Massachusetts | $905 | $851 | $1,756 |
| Michigan | $1,072 | $746 | $1,818 |
| Minnesota | $1,067 | $689 | $1,757 |
| Mississippi | $1,046 | $837 | $1,884 |
| Missouri | $1,040 | $792 | $1,833 |
| Montana | $1,062 | $855 | $1,917 |
| Nebraska | $1,047 | $770 | $1,817 |
| Nevada | $1,002 | $848 | $1,850 |
| New Hampshire | $1,084 | $750 | $1,835 |
| New Jersey | $1,181 | $913 | $2,094 |
| New Mexico | $1,076 | $876 | $1,952 |
| New York | $1,032 | $879 | $1,911 |
| North Carolina | $1,036 | $875 | $1,911 |
| North Dakota | $1,045 | $791 | $1,836 |
| Ohio | $933 | $681 | $1,613 |
| Oklahoma | $1,027 | $734 | $1,761 |
| Oregon | $1,080 | $785 | $1,864 |
| Pennsylvania | $1,055 | $678 | $1,733 |
| Rhode Island | $1,093 | $802 | $1,896 |
| South Carolina | $1,058 | $837 | $1,895 |
| South Dakota | $1,055 | $704 | $1,759 |
| Tennessee | $1,033 | $773 | $1,806 |
| Texas | $1,031 | $833 | $1,864 |
| Utah | $909 | $788 | $1,697 |
| Vermont | $1,074 | $862 | $1,936 |
| Virginia | $1,050 | $787 | $1,837 |
| Washington | $1,077 | $824 | $1,901 |
| West Virginia | $1,067 | $904 | $1,971 |
| Wisconsin | $1,047 | $723 | $1,770 |
| Wyoming | $874 | $814 | $1,689 |
| Average | $1,041 | $807 | $1,847 |
Bankrate.com surveyed up to 10 lenders in each state in June 2015 and obtained online Good Faith Estimates for a $200,000 mortgage to buy a single-family home with a 20 percent down payment in a prominent city. Costs include fees charged by lenders, as well as third-party fees for services such as appraisals and credit reports. The survey excludes title insurance, title search, taxes, property insurance, association fees, interest and other prepaid items.
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