The parties normally split the costs of the escrow officer. Buyer must also purchase enough insurance on the property to protect the lender if the property is destroyed or damaged and proof of insurance is also deposited into escrow. One of the documents deposited into escrow is title insurance . This is a document prepared by a title insurance company that warrants that the title is in the name of the seller and that seller is empowered to transfer title to the buyer. Down payments are normally between twenty and thirty percent.
Buyers normally pay for the title insurance, half of escrow costs, and the inspections.
Usually two brokers are involved and they split the commission which is normally between five and six percent of the selling price of most property. The commission is paid from escrow upon the close of the transaction. The commission is NOT set by law and may be negotiated with the broker. Brokers take on the bulk of the work of the real estate transaction, seeking property to show to a prospective buyer or showing the listed property of sellers. Brokers often have access to computerized listings of all property for sale thus can quickly ascertain what property may be appropriate for a buyer.