Who pays for the home inspection?

The buyer, in nearly every transaction. You hire the inspector and the report belongs to you, which is what gives you the standing to act on it. A seller who paid for it would be the client, and you would be reading someone else's report.

Is the option fee refundable?

Generally no. If you terminate during the option period you keep your earnest money but the option fee stays with the seller. If you close, it is credited toward the purchase price, so it is not lost in that case.

Do I have to pay my own agent now?

You are contractually responsible under your buyer agreement, but sellers still frequently agree to cover it as a concession. It is negotiated deal by deal rather than assumed, which is the actual change.

Who pays for what when you buy a house

Almost every cost in a purchase has a default payer, and almost none of those defaults are actually rules.

6 min read · Updated August 10, 2026

The default is local custom, not law

People talk about closing costs as though the split were fixed. It mostly is not. Who pays for the survey, who pays for the owner's title policy, who pays the escrow fee: these follow custom that varies by state, by county, and sometimes by brokerage. Custom is a strong starting position and it is what your agent will quote you, but it is a starting position.

Total closing costs commonly land somewhere between 2% and 5% of the purchase price, and the spread between states is driven mostly by transfer taxes and title practice rather than by anything about the house. If you are comparing what you are being asked to pay against something you read online, check that the something was written about your state.

What the buyer pays in almost every deal

A short list is genuinely consistent across the country, and it is worth knowing why. Each of these buys information for the buyer or satisfies the buyer's lender, so the buyer carries it.

The home inspection, commonly $300 to $500. You hire the inspector, the report is addressed to you, and that is exactly why you get to decide what to do with it.
The appraisal, commonly $300 to $600. Your lender orders it and you pay for it, but it answers the lender's question about collateral, not your question about condition.
Any specialist evaluation you decide to order after reading the report.
Your loan origination and underwriting fees, and the lender's title policy in most states.

The items that actually vary

The survey is the clearest example. A buyer who wants one usually pays for it, often around $550 depending on the size and shape of the lot, but in several states the seller customarily provides an existing survey and the contract decides whether a new one is needed.

Title insurance splits differently almost everywhere. In many places the seller buys the owner's policy that protects you and the buyer buys the lender's policy that protects the bank. In others the buyer pays both. Transfer taxes, recording fees, and the escrow or closing agent's fee follow the same pattern of strong local habit rather than national rule.

The option fee and the earnest money are not the same money

In Texas these get confused constantly, and the confusion is expensive. The option fee buys you an unrestricted right to terminate during a negotiated number of days. It is generally not refunded if you walk, and it is credited toward the sales price if you close. The earnest money is your deposit, and it comes back to you if you terminate properly inside the option period.

Both have to reach the escrow agent within three days of the effective date. If the option fee does not arrive on time, or the contract never states an amount, you lose the unrestricted right to terminate. That is a paperwork failure that costs you the entire point of the option period. The current form, TREC 20-19, became mandatory on July 1, 2026, so check that you are reading the version you actually signed.

Outside Texas the inspection contingency period plays the same role without a separate fee attached, which means the deadline is the thing to watch rather than the receipt.

Agent compensation is now its own negotiation

This changed recently and a lot of advice online has not caught up. Under the practice changes that followed the National Association of Realtors settlement, you sign a written agreement with your agent before touring homes, and that agreement has to state the fee and make clear it is negotiable.

Offers of compensation to a buyer's agent can no longer be advertised on the MLS. A seller can still agree to cover some or all of your agent's fee, but it is now negotiated between the parties or written into the contract rather than assumed. The honest answer to who pays the buyer's agent is that it depends on what you negotiated in that deal.

Repairs are the one line with no default at all

There is no custom for who pays to fix what an inspector found. It is whatever the two sides agree, which is why this is where most of the friction in a transaction ends up.

The only exception comes from the lender. If an FHA, VA, or USDA appraiser flags a condition as failing the minimum property requirements, that has to be resolved before the loan funds, and no amount of negotiating between buyer and seller makes it go away.

Common questions

Who pays for the home inspection?: The buyer, in nearly every transaction. You hire the inspector and the report belongs to you, which is what gives you the standing to act on it. A seller who paid for it would be the client, and you would be reading someone else's report.
Is the option fee refundable?: Generally no. If you terminate during the option period you keep your earnest money but the option fee stays with the seller. If you close, it is credited toward the purchase price, so it is not lost in that case.
Do I have to pay my own agent now?: You are contractually responsible under your buyer agreement, but sellers still frequently agree to cover it as a concession. It is negotiated deal by deal rather than assumed, which is the actual change.