Suffolk County Legislature To Raise Your Closing Costs
– Joseph A. Latini, Wading River
There isn’t a day that goes by without someone telling me about the ridiculously high costs associated with purchasing a home on Long Island. Why? How did we get to this place? The answer, is, that you elect people who do not care
On Tuesday morning, the Suffolk County Legislature will vote to increase mortgage recording instruments by $300, in an effort to lay off the monumental cost of the budget they passed earlier in the year. Doesn’t sound like much. $300. The truth is, most people don’t even know what recording a mortgage instrument entails, let alone how it hurts working families on Long Island.
Here is a simple way to understand:
Any instrument associated with mortgage that is recorded at the county clerk’s office will go up by $300 after this vote. Only 18 Months ago, this cost was approx. $145. It was raised to $350 last year. This move will make it $650. $650 per recording. Now, in order to see the impact, we need to understand what gets recorded at a typical Real Estate Transaction.
Buying a home? Your mortgage gets recorded. $650. The person selling their home records the satisfaction of their mortgage. $650. You record a deed to your home. That already costs $555. We are already at $1855. But wait, there is more! Perhaps the seller also had a small Home Equity Loan for $5000 that they took to repair their deck or put in new windows. That costs $650 to satisfy as well. Perhaps you got a grant from the County to help with closing costs. That costs $650 to record as well. This one transaction, which is fairly typical, would cost $3155 just to RECORD THE TRANSACTION IN SUFFOLK COUNTY! 18 months ago this would have cost $750.
What about someone refinancing? They record both a mortgage and a satisfaction, and most times a CEMA, which is a document filed to say that you already paid your mortgage tax. That means the cost to record your refinance with the county just went to $1950. Keep in mind, this is not counting all typical closing costs associated with banks, title companies, attorneys, Realtors, etc, etc.
Whether you are for or against this, you can be heard.
The Suffolk County Legislature votes on this measure on Tuesday morning in Hauppauge at 9:30am at the Hauppauge Legislative Complex, 725 Veterans Memorial Highway, Smithtown, NY 11787.
Mr. Latini is a father, and a resident of Wading River as well as a local businessperson. He is actively involved in the Republican party and Suffolk County politics.
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