Virginia Real Estate Closing Costs Statistics (2024 Survey)
A new RealEstateBees.com survey of over 1,000 active real estate professionals found average closing costs for sellers and buyers in Virginia.
We reached out to over 1,000 active real estate professionals from Virginia to collect their insight on the real estate closing costs across the state.
The results are part of the large-scale survey—Nationwide Real Estate Closing Costs Index—conducted by the Real Estate Bees, a leading online real estate platform.
What Is Included in Closing Costs for a Seller in Virginia?
Costs included in seller’s closing costs most commonly across Virginia.
What Are Average Closing Costs for a Seller in Virginia When Selling with a Realtor?
The most common amounts of seller’s closing costs across the state of Virginia in an agent-assisted sale.
What Are Average Closing Costs for a Seller in Virginia When Selling 'by Owner'?
The most common amounts of seller’s closing costs across the state of Virginia in a FSBO sale.
How to Reduce Closing Costs for a Seller in Virginia?
Offer zero seller concessions to the buyer, reduce Realtor commissions, have the Virginia title company reissue title, work with a buyer who pays cash, ask the Realtor or buyer to provide credit, or cover the seller’s traditional closing costs.
Can a Seller Avoid Paying Closing Costs in Virginia?
Yes. By asking the Realtor or buyer (oftentimes, a cash buyer) to cover the seller’s standard closing costs. It happens often in cash transactions when selling a house to an investor.
A buyer can cover them. Find a good Realtor who can credit them. If need be, the purchase price could be increased to finance them. The seller could give advantageous financing options to the buyer in exchange.
They need their agent to cut commission.
What Is Included in Closing Costs for a Buyer in Virginia?
Costs included in buyer’s closing costs most commonly across the state of Virginia.
What Are Average Closing Costs for a Buyer in Virginia When Buying with a Realtor?
The most common amounts of buyer’s closing costs across the state of Virginia in an agent-assisted sale.
What Are Average Closing Costs for a Buyer in Virginia When Buying Without a Realtor?
The most common amounts of buyer’s closing costs across the state of Virginia in a FSBO sale.
What Are Average Closing Costs for a Cash Buyer in Virginia When Buying with a Realtor?
The most common amounts of closing costs paid by cash home buyers in Virginia in an agent-assisted sale.
What Are Average Closing Costs for a First-Time Buyer in Virginia When Buying with a Realtor?
The most common amounts of a first-time home buyer’s closing costs across the state of Virginia in an agent-assisted sale.
How to Reduce Closing Costs for a Buyer in Virginia?
A buyer can reduce closing costs by paying cash for a property, thereby avoiding all the Virginia real estate lender-incurred fees and transfer taxes associated with a loan.
Avoiding a loan in VA can save in itself half of the closing costs for a buyer.
A buyer could also ask a seller to credit them back up to 3% of the purchase price towards their closing costs for most financed deals and no limit on cash transactions.
Get the seller to pay most of it.
How to Negotiate Closing Costs With a Seller in Virginia?
Many different options on this one.
You can offer a higher price in exchange for a closing cost credit.
You can offer better terms, i.e., faster closing date, less contingencies, or help a seller with any of their known needs in exchange for a credit.
You could also take on a non-traditional sale (sub-2, land contract, lease option) to avoid closing costs altogether in the near future.
Can a Buyer Avoid Paying Closing Costs in Virginia?
Either by having the seller credit them the closing costs, OR doing any of the creative options outlined in the previous answer.
Are There Closing Costs Assistance Programs Available for Buyers in Virginia?
Yes. Virginia has various first-time homeowner assistance programs that contribute up to 3%. For move-up buyers and investors, few options exist.
One option real estate investors in Virginia often will do as husband/wife or biz partners is one partner will wholesale the deal to their other partner for a fee.
That fee is then used as down payment/closing costs with a hard money lender in Virginia or DSCR lender or community bank.
Who Pays Closing Costs in a Conventional Sale in Virginia?
Who Pays Closing Costs in a Cash Sale in Virginia?
Are Closing Costs Negotiable in Virginia?
What Are the Available Ways to Pay Closing Costs in Virginia?
Why Are Closing Costs So High in Virginia?
Closing costs tend to be a function of property values.
Since property values are high and closing costs correspond to a percentage, naturally closing costs are high, along with higher property sales prices.
It’s the cost of doing business. Ultimately dependent on the market, a good real estate agent in Virginia can get the seller to pay most of it.
Who Pays Closing Costs in a Divorce in Virginia?
Virginia is an ‘equitable distribution’ state, as are the vast majority of other states, so our approach should be quite common.
The party responsible for paying closing costs varies by case. The court can order the sale of a home and direct how to do so in a pendente lite court order, but that is rare.
This could occur if the parties are cash-poor and the court believes that their real estate asset(s) are the best remedy to serve cash flow needs until divorce settlement.
More commonly, one of two things happens:
1) The home is sold during the marriage by the title holders by mutual agreement, and the spouses will agree to use marital cash assets to pay closing costs and then split the equity after sale.
2) The home is sold during the marriage by the sole title holder (for investment properties) without consulting the spouse because the seller incorrectly believes he/she is not beholden to marital rights in the property.
He/she may try to use his/her separate cash assets to pay closing costs to make a stronger argument that the equity of the sale belongs solely to him/her.
In those cases, I will perform something called a ‘trace’ to prove that person wrong and determine the equity owed to my client.
3) The home will be ordered sold and equity shared upon divorce.
Typically the judge will select a marital asset and require that all closing costs be paid out of that asset and the remaining equity in that cash asset be divided between the spouses.
4) The home will be awarded to one of the spouses at settlement.
In this case, the awarded spouse almost always is responsible to pay any fees for retitling and will be responsible to pay closing costs when the property is sold.
Sometimes, the judge will determine that the receiving spouse paying closing costs or receiving all home equity would not be equitable.
It is common for a judge to complement terms of settlement with an unequal division of cash assets to account for this.