Closing Cost Calculator

Closing costs usually run 2% to 5% of the home price. On a $400,000 home that is about $8,000 to $20,000, covering loan origination, title insurance, appraisal, recording and transfer fees, and prepaid taxes and insurance.

What Goes Into Closing Costs

The biggest pieces are lender fees and title. Loan origination runs about 0.75% of the loan in this estimate. Title insurance and settlement run roughly 0.75% of the purchase price. The appraisal is a flat few hundred dollars regardless of price. Recording and transfer taxes vary a lot by state, so this tool uses a 0.2% placeholder that you should replace with your county's actual rate once you know it. Prepaids are the property taxes and homeowners insurance the lender collects up front to seed your escrow account, estimated here at 1% of price.

A worked example at the numbers above

On a $400,000 home with a $320,000 loan, this calculator's own math works out to roughly $2,400 in loan origination, $3,000 in title and settlement, $500 for the appraisal, $800 in recording and transfer, and $4,000 in prepaids, for a midpoint estimate near $10,700. That sits comfortably inside the broader 2% to 5% range ($8,000 to $20,000) most buyers are quoted before they have a specific Loan Estimate in hand.

How Is The Closing Cost Range Calculated

This tool adds five line items: loan origination (a percentage of your loan amount), title and settlement (a percentage of price), a flat appraisal fee, recording and transfer costs (a percentage of price), and prepaid taxes and insurance (a percentage of price). Summing those gives the midpoint dollar estimate shown above the table. The wider 2% to 5% range shown alongside it is the industry rule of thumb for total closing costs and is not derived from your two inputs directly, it exists as a sanity check against the line-item math.

Things To Know Before You Lock A Rate

Shop lenders and compare the Loan Estimate line by line rather than trusting a single verbal quote. Ask the seller for a credit toward your costs, which is common in a buyer's market. Scheduling the closing late in the month cuts the prepaid interest you owe at signing. Some of these fees are effectively fixed no matter who you use, but title and lender fees genuinely have room to negotiate, especially on a larger loan.