Page 12 - Delaware Association of Realtors

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION
NEED A PLUMBER?
costs are especially burdensome because they’re unexpected. It’s simple to estimate a 10 percent down payment, but closing costs are less obvious.
“I hear it every day; people have no idea how much it’ll cost them to close,” he says.
One strategy to help overcome high closing costs is called a settlement credit. As much as a buyer wants to buy, a seller wants to close the deal. So, the seller may help a buyer pay some closing costs (but not the down payment) and add the total to the sales price.
“In the end, the seller walks away with the same amount,” says Chrissy Steele, who was named 2019 REALTOR® of the Year by the Sussex County Association of REALTORS®. But the closing costs are much more manageable when they’re spread over decades of mortgage payments.
Get a plumber, NOT a salesman!
302.421.9000 | budgetrooterinc.com | FREE ESTIMATES Full Service Plumbing | Water Heaters Replaced | High Velocity Sewer Jetting | Water & Sewer
Line Repaired/Replaced | Commercial and Residential Service | Drain Cleaning Serving New Castle County & the surrounding areas for over 25 years.
100% family owned • licensed • bonded • insured • emergency service Looking to get into a new home?
An Advocate in Dover
The DAR’s work for first-time buyers reaches from the front lines of the housing market to the General Assembly.
Regulations and taxes are some of the biggest contributors to closing costs, which hit first-time buyers particularly hard because they can’t rely on equity from previous home sales. The Delaware Association of REALTORS® is the voice for property rights throughout Delaware, all the way to the doors of Legislative Hall in Dover.
In 2017, the state raised transfer taxes from 3 percent to 4 percent, making them the highest in the country. Because they are evenly split between buyer and seller, for a $200,000 home the hike added $1,000 more each for the buyer and seller.
The year after the tax hike, the DAR successfully lobbied to grant first-time buyers an exemption from the increase.
Contact us to help you get started.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
7465 Lancaster Pike, Suite C Hockessin, DE 19707
302-239-6300
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N. A. © 2019 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. NMLSR ID 399801. AS4942479 Expires 06/2020
Waterfront Estate on 6.59 Acres | Bethel, Delaware
Tranquility, privacy & grandeur at its best! Waterfront home on Broad Creek w/nearly 8,000 sf of luxurious living, abundant wildlife, and views of gorgeous sunsets over the water. Offered at $879,900.
302.236.6232 | LisaMathena.com
(O): 302-672-9400
“REALTORS® are really fighting to lower
R12 I www.DelawareToday.com I SEPTEMBER 2019