Other charges will depend upon your location. Bowers says that in Arizona there is a fee that goes into a fund used to clean up hazardous waste. In some areas there may be charges relating to flood plains. We have a one percent state mortgage tax, and in New York City there is an another one percent tax, which makes it two percent. Henein says closing costs also can be affected by what origination or discount points you are paying for the loan.
Discount points are a way to lower the interest rate by, in effect, paying some interest in advance.
Henein points out that it will take years to come out ahead on discount points, so before agreeing to pay them, figure out how long you expect to live in the house. None of the taxes and various fees we just looked at are negotiable. However, there may be some latitude when discussing the actual closing costs. There are two ways to negotiate. The first is to negotiate with the seller.