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Comment by Simon_says | Hacker News Reader

Same way you negotiate everything else: have a real willingness to walk away.

Oh please....have you ever bought a house? The loan company and title company drag their feet to provide the final numbers between 24-72 hours before closing. By this point you've filled out miles of paperwork and spent more than a day (cumulatively) on the phone. Some of those papers you signed probably listed out these fees in tiny print somewhere, so you've already agreed to pay them. If you walk away you're losing due diligence and earnest money down, which is guaranteed to be more than the hundreds you're trying to "save" in fees. You've probably also made plans to move out of your current place and on with your life after the realty and mortgage industries sucked your soul out.

Earnest money is used when you've already made an offer. How do you make an offer while not including the cost of the fees in the sale? That sounds like poor negotiation.

Fees levied by the lending company and title company are in no way tied to the offer on the house itself. These fees are not included in an offer, which is an agreement between the buyer and seller.

The offer is an agreement on the price of the house, due diligence and earnest money from the buyer, contingencies (buyer needs to sell their own house) and any concessions from the seller (repairs, money at closing, etc).

Indeed. Except you have every right to know all the fees at that time. You can include those in your offer to the seller. Or even say the seller assumes all the fees. This is part of the negotiation because you're the one making the offer.

I've never bought a house before. But I plan on reading all the contracts before I sign them when I do.

Good. But unless you're paying cash and you own a title company, expect to pay fees when closing on a house.

Well, I will be paying cash ....

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