For a lot of home sellers, there’s an expectation that if the buyer pays a certain amount for the home, that’s the amount of money the seller should receive, right? But in real estate, things aren’t always so cut and dried, which can lead to the question: “Why is the check from the sale of my home less than I thought it would be?”
To answer this question, let’s look at a hypothetical scenario:
Shortly after listing your home for sale, you receive an offer from a potential buyer of $350,000. You accept the offer and sign the contract to get the sale going. But before you are ready to close on the sale of your home, the title company needs to find out if there are any liens against the property or if there are mortgages that will need to be paid.
The title search uncovers that there are two mortgages on the property amounting to $200,000. You cannot sell the property without paying these mortgages off first. Unfortunately there isn’t a mortgage fairy that magically makes your mortgage go away; instead, the title company will work with the mortgage holder(s) to arrange paying off the mortgage from the money you receive from the sale of the property. There may be other fees and costs that will also come out of the money from the sale of your home; these can vary with every transaction.
So if the sale price is $350,000 and you owe $200,000 on the property, you will receive an estimated $150,000 for the sale of the home, not taking into consideration any other added costs.
At Title Junction, we care about helping you stay informed throughout your real estate transaction. The experts at our title company have extensive knowledge about real estate not only in Cape Coral and Fort Myers, but all of Florida as well.
Have questions? Give us a call at 239.415.6574.
In case you missed it, check out our last Title Junction post: Do Lenders Have To Approve Your Loan In 3 Days?