12 Typical Closing Costs for Seller in Alabama
If you’re about to close on your Alabama home sale, you’re likely wondering how much you’ll owe in closing costs. Nationally, sellers typically pay between 6% to 10% of the property’s sale price in closing costs. Since Alabama’s average sale price sits around $228,283, sellers pay $13,697 to $22,828 in closing costs on average.
To help you get a clearer picture of the closing costs for sellers in Alabama, HomeLight interviewed a leading Alabama real estate agent to put together this comprehensive guide.
Alabama sellers almost always pay these costs
Some closing costs are negotiable or unique to particular home sales. However, most Alabama sellers are on the hook for the following:
1. Mortgage payoff
Alabama has a homeownership rate of 73.8%, and the average mortgage balance carried by homeowners is $171,883. This means that the majority of Alabama sellers must pay off their existing mortgage before they can transfer the property title to the new buyer.
Typically, sellers use their home sale earnings to pay off their mortgage and other closing costs. Considering that housing prices in Alabama have increased by around 3.7% over the previous year, you may even pocket a significant profit from your sale if you have substantial equity.
2. Property taxes
Chris Walker, a top Alabama real estate agent who completes 8% more sales than his peers, explains that Alabama homeowners pay property taxes to both the state and local governments. On average, Alabama property owners typically only pay about 0.36% of their home’s value in combined property taxes.
According to Walker, state taxes are paid by the calendar year, while local taxes are paid in arrears yearly (for a period between October 1 and September 31). The Alabama Department of Revenue states that these taxes are due at the beginning of October and are considered delinquent after December 31. To find out more about taxes specific to your locality, search for your county area here.
When you sell your home, your taxes are prorated to the day of sale, meaning you’ll only pay taxes for the days of the fiscal year that you owned your home.
3. Transfer taxes
To transfer the ownership of your property to the buyer, you’ll need to pay a state deed recordation tax. Statewide, the rate for transferring a deed is 0.1% of the home’s sale price, while a mortgage transfer is 0.15%. Walker shares that it’s very uncommon in Alabama for homebuyers to assume the seller’s mortgage, so you’ll likely only pay 0.1% in state transfer tax.
On top of state deed recordation tax, your county may charge its own transfer tax. The best way to find out about your county’s real estate transfer tax code is to get in touch with your local revenue department.
4. Title search and recording fees
A title search reveals whether or not there are any liens against your property or conflicting ownership claims that would prevent you from selling.
Title searches typically cost around $75 to $100; sellers and buyers customarily split this fee in Alabama. Walker points out that the exception to this rule is if you sell your home to a cash buyer, in which case you’re typically expected to pay for the title search and recording fees.
5. Title insurance
Apart from title search and recording, sellers are also generally expected to pay half of the title insurance premium. Title insurance protects buyers and lenders in the instance a person or business not identified in the title search claims ownership of the property.
To give you an idea of cost, the premium for an average home in Birmingham is around $800. The cost of your title insurance may vary depending on your location, the value of the property, and the buyer’s mortgage details.
6. Attorney fees
Alabama state law requires a licensed attorney to draft and prepare all legal documents. Consequently, an attorney needs to handle the legal paperwork of all home sales in the state. On average, real estate attorneys charge anywhere between $150 to $400 per hour, but some may also offer a flat fee for standard closing documents. Walker tells us that, in Alabama, attorney’s fees are generally split evenly between buyer and seller.
Since attorney fees can range widely, we recommend using a site like Avvo or Justia to find highly rated real estate attorneys in your area and compare rates.
7. Agent commissions
When it comes to closing costs in Alabama, real estate agent commissions are usually the big-ticket item. Commissions cover services the agents provide, such as home staging, marketing, Multiple Listing Service access, and more. It’s standard for the seller to pay the commission for the listing agent, and they may offer to pay the buyer’s agent commission as another way to market their property; in Alabama, that amount usually runs between 3% to 6% of the home’s sale price.
While that might seem like a high price to pay at first glance, HomeLight’s research shows that the top 5% of real estate agents sell homes for as much as 10% more than their peers — meaning these agents pay for themselves and then some.
