Closing costs in San Diego County: who usually pays what

Who pays closing costs in San Diego County?

"Usually" is local custom here, not law. Who pays what gets written into your purchase contract, and any line can be negotiated. I treat the custom as a starting point for the math and nothing more.

Which closing costs are mine and which are the seller's?

Most of your cash to close goes to the loan. By local custom in San Diego County, the seller's side usually comes down to two big items: the owner's title policy and the county transfer tax. An owner's title policy protects you if a problem with the ownership record turns up later, and a transfer tax is charged when a property changes hands. Escrow deposits, on your side, are money your lender collects at closing to pay property taxes and insurance later.

Sources: San Diego County local custom, which your purchase contract can change (seller rows); CFPB, Regulation Z §1026.4 and its Loan Estimate guidance (buyer rows).

Start your estimate with the rows marked "You." Your lender's quote fills those in. I left two lines off on purpose: the escrow fee and the lender's title insurance. Your contract says who covers them, so check it before you count either one.

Points and lender fees: the part you can shop

Points and lender fees are the closing costs you can compare across lenders. Because they're finance charges, they count toward the APR (annual percentage rate, the yearly cost of the loan including those charges). A discount point is a fee you pay up front to lower your rate.

Plenty of buyers pay points. According to the CFPB, more than half of 2023 home purchase buyers paid discount points, and the median paid was $3,000. That's a real chunk of cash to close, so ask each lender for quotes with and without points on the same day and compare them. If you're weighing loan types too, my FHA vs conventional five-year cost comparison lays the two side by side.

Points sit inside the APR. The example below shows a rate and its APR side by side, so you can see the gap points make.

Example: a $400,000 30-year fixed loan at 6.11% (6.181% APR) with 20% down ($100,000) on a $500,000 home has 360 monthly payments of $2,426.56 in principal and interest. The APR assumes 0.75 discount points ($3,000, the median paid by 2023 home buyers who paid points, according to the CFPB) and no other lender fees. Taxes and insurance are not included, so the actual payment will be higher. The rate is the market average for February 5, 2026 from Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey; yours depends on your credit, loan and property.

The APR can't show your whole cash picture. Title insurance, the appraisal and escrow amounts are left out of it. So compare APRs for the loan cost, then add those other lines yourself.

How much can the seller pay toward my closing costs?

Your loan type decides how big a seller credit can be. A seller credit is money the seller puts toward your costs at closing. Fannie Mae sets the limit for conventional loans, and HUD (the Department of Housing and Urban Development) sets it for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) set their own.

Fannie Mae's limits also depend on your loan-to-value (LTV), which is your loan divided by the home's value.

Sources: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-4.1-02; HUD Handbook 4000.1; VA guidance on funding fee and loan closing costs; USDA, 7 CFR 3555.102(h).

On a conventional loan, the Fannie Mae tiers go by LTV, not by your down payment. A larger loan against the value means a lower cap, so a credit that fits at one LTV can be too big at another.

Under Fannie Mae's rule, a seller credit on a conventional loan also can't be more than your actual closing costs. Anything over the cap or over those costs is treated as a sales concession. That amount comes off the price Fannie Mae uses to figure your LTV.

VA loans are for eligible veterans and service members, and for them a VA loan leaves the most room, because the VA sets no limit on ordinary closing costs. A VA credit for your funding fee or debts stops at 4% of reasonable value. FHA stops at 6% of the sales price, and USDA stops at 6% unless USDA provides otherwise. If you can't use a VA loan, the Fannie Mae or FHA cap is the one I'd plan around.

California help with closing costs

In California, according to the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), the MyHome Assistance Program can go toward down payment or closing costs. It's a deferred-payment junior loan, meaning a second loan you don't make payments on right away.

According to the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), the program requires a first-time homebuyer. The amount is the lesser of 3.5% of the price or appraised value with a CalHFA FHA loan, or 3% with a CalHFA conventional loan. Ask a CalHFA-approved lender how that amount compares with the costs on your Loan Estimate.

It's a loan, not a gift, so you pay it back later. Its rate and fees vary by lender, so ask each one how it prices the loan.

Does being self-employed change my closing costs?

Being self-employed doesn't change the seller's side of the split. It can change which loan you use. That loan's lender sets the loan-side costs, so compare more than one lender's quote.

If your tax returns show less than you make, your returns aren't the only way to show income. We close bank-statement, asset-based and non-warrantable condo loans that retail banks turn away. My guide to bank-statement loans explains how those work.

Different lenders want different deals. As a broker, I shop one file across a network of wholesale lenders, bank-statement lenders included, so the points and fees can differ from quote to quote. Ask each lender for its own Loan Estimate and line them up. How closing costs are treated on your taxes is a question for your certified public accountant (CPA).

When can my closing costs change? The CFPB's limits

According to the CFPB, fees paid to the lender for a required service can't go up from your Loan Estimate. Recording fees can rise by up to 10 percent as part of a group of fees. Prepaid interest can change too, since it depends on your closing date.

You get your Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing. Set it next to your Loan Estimate and check each line. A lender fee that moved is worth a question before you sign.

Loan size and property taxes in your cash to close

Property taxes and insurance often show up at closing as escrow deposits, which are not finance charges, so they sit outside the APR. An escrow account is where your lender holds money to pay those bills for you. Loan size works the other way. The price minus your loan is the down payment you bring on top of those costs.

For how big a loan makes sense here, read San Diego's 2026 conforming limit. Then ask your lender how many months of tax and insurance deposits it will collect at closing, since that goes straight into your cash to close.

How I know this

I've done this for 21 years in San Diego. When renters in Eastlake asked me about owning, we set their rent beside a full payment with taxes, insurance and homeowners association (HOA) dues. Once their savings covered the down payment and closing costs, the gap was smaller than they expected. As a broker at Rate Rebel (NMLS #282828), I lean on rules from the CFPB, Fannie Mae, HUD, VA, USDA and CalHFA.

What this estimate can and can't tell you

Use the San Diego County split as a starting estimate, then let your own Loan Estimate and contract replace it. Custom isn't a rule. Your contract, your loan type and your lender set the real numbers.

On a conventional, FHA, VA or USDA loan, I'd plan to pay the loan-side costs yourself unless you negotiate a seller credit within your program's limit. If you're a first-time buyer in California, ask about CalHFA's MyHome Assistance. If you're self-employed and need a bank-statement loan, ask more than one lender for a Loan Estimate, since those costs come from the lender, not local custom. Before you write an offer, run your numbers on the calculator on this page.

Questions people ask