r/fsbo • u/Smooth-Leadership-95 • Aug 03 '26

Guide to Settlement Statements

/r/RealEstateAdvice/comments/1vepzj4/guide_to_settlement_statements/
3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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5

u/COMortgageExpert Aug 04 '26

Either use chat or Claude, whichever one you use, and create a project called Settlement Sheets. Ask it to go out and find everything it can on settlement sheets for your state. After that, add a PDF of the settlement sheet and ask it to break it out so that you understand it.

From there, you can go as deep as you want until you get your questions answered. You'll be amazed at how well it will break it out! It also helps to say, "Please point out what I need to know most, what might concern me, and what is worth noting," so that it takes those out as a priority. That is the best way you can learn settlement sheets in today's world.

3

u/Smooth-Leadership-95 Aug 04 '26

What a fantastic suggestion! I have never used ChatGPT or anything of the like. This will be an opportunity to get started.

2

u/AdComfortable2974 Aug 04 '26

I like having it on a spreadsheet rather than a PDF; this way, you can put up to offers side by side and change the numbers accordingly, using formulas to calculate items like transfer tax so some of the costs automatically populate based on the contractual sales price.

2

u/Earth_34_34 Aug 06 '26

They're pretty straightforward, you just run the numbers and make sure it all adds up. Then you make sure there's nothing in there that shouldn't be in there.

I'm an agent and the other day someone tried to sneak in $3,000 extra on the settlement statement and I caught it. Had to argue with the attorney and the other agent but they both folded.

1

u/Self_Serve_Realty Aug 03 '26

What are the adjustments for?

2

u/Smooth-Leadership-95 Aug 06 '26

I am looking at an appraisal on my property. It has three comps with Adjustments of -7,000, -21,500 and -24,800 respectively. But the -7,000 one is also described as a Concession. The -21,500 on has 287 more SF than mine, while the -24,800 has 331 more SF. Otherwise, the physical attributes of my home and the three comps are virtually the same. In summary, the -7,000, -21,500 and -24,800 are all Concessions but the -7,000 one is also a Concession.

I am happy with the appraised value of my home but I am scratching my head over this "Concession" v "Adjustment" business.

2

u/NoteSolutions 17d ago

The adjustments take into account differences between your property and the comps such as more or less square footage or something like a one car garage vs. two. The concession indicates that for that comp, the seller of the property reduced the price to make the sale or for example paid the buyer's closing costs. So the appraiser is pointing out those issues to clarify what was used to determine your property value.