California buyer closing costs

The number that decides whether an offer is possible is not "closing costs" - it is cash to close: down payment, fees and prepaids together, less anything you negotiate from the seller. Most calculators bury it. This one leads with it.

This calculator needs JavaScript, which is not running right now. What a California buyer typically brings to closing: the down payment, lender fees and any points, the buyer's share of escrow, a lender's title policy, recording fees, and prepaids - first-year insurance, a tax impound and interest from funding to month end.

Several lines are customarily seller-paid here, which is why this looks different from a national calculator. Call 619-987-6543 and we will work through a specific offer with you.

The purchase

Purchase price

Down payment

Equity, not a cost - but it is cash you need on the day.

Interest rate (%)

Lender costs

Discount points (% of loan)

A percentage of the loan, not the price.

Origination / underwriting

Appraisal

Credit report

Escrow, title & recording

Who pays each of these is customary, not fixed, and it varies by county. In much of Southern California the seller customarily pays the transfer tax and the owner's policy, and escrow is often split - so those start at zero here. All of it is negotiable.

Escrow fee (your share)

Lender's title policy

Owner's title policy

Usually seller-paid in Southern California.

Recording fees

County transfer tax

Customarily the seller's cost here. $1.10 per $1,000 if it lands on you.

Prepaids & impounds

Not fees - money you would owe anyway, collected early.

Homeowner's insurance (per year)

Insurance months impounded

Property tax rate (%)

Prop 13 sets a 1% base; local bonds sit on top and vary by parcel.

Tax months impounded

Prepaid interest (days)

From funding to the end of that month. Closing early in a month costs more.

Other

Inspections

Anything else

Seller credit toward costs

Often more achievable than a price reduction, and it lands where you need it.

What you bring to closing

An estimate from the figures you entered. Your Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure from the lender are the authoritative versions, and escrow's settlement statement is the final one.

The line worth negotiating

A seller credit toward closing costs is frequently easier to get than the equivalent price reduction, and it lands exactly where a stretched buyer needs it - on the cash required at the table rather than spread across thirty years of payments. It is capped by loan type and by appraised value, so it is worth asking what is actually possible before writing it into an offer.

Documents you'll need covers what underwriting will ask for and what causes the most delay.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Customary cost allocation varies by county and everything in a purchase agreement is negotiable.

Want these checked against a real offer?

Send it over and we will tell you what is customary in that county, what is genuinely negotiable, and what a seller credit could realistically cover.

Your name

Phone

How soon are you looking to move?

Where are you with financing?

The figures you entered above are included so we can look at the same numbers you are. We will not pass your details to anyone, and one reply asking us to stop is enough.

Would rather just talk? 619-987-6543.