# Title Agency Calculator > Run a Florida closing-cost and title-agency estimate from first principles — statutory charges, agency rate cards, tax proration, seller net, buyer cash to close, concession modelling, and every cost percentage. Use when quoting or checking what a closing will cost, comparing title agencies on price, sizing a seller concession, or answering "what percentage of the sale price is this". Triggers - "what will closing cost", "estimate the closing", "title fees", "how much is the title agency", "closing costs as a percentage", "seller net", "cash to close", "what if we split closing costs", "compare title quotes on price", "prorate the taxes". For QA of a settlement statement already received, use title-closing-review. For loan documents, use real-estate-closing-check. - Skill: `jp-solumhealth/title-agency-calculator` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add jp-solumhealth/title-agency-calculator` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/jp-solumhealth/title-agency-calculator/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: jp-solumhealth (https://skillmd.com/u/jp-solumhealth) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/jp-solumhealth/title-agency-calculator --- # Title Agency & Closing Cost Calculator Computes a closing instead of reading one. Give it a price and it derives every statutory charge, applies a recorded agency rate card, prorates the taxes, and reports the seller's net and every cost ratio. ## When to use - Quoting what a sale will cost before a statement exists. - Checking a statement someone sent you against what the numbers *should* be. - Choosing between title agencies on price. - Sizing or capping a seller concession. - Answering "what percentage of the sale price is that". **Not for:** QA of a received settlement statement → `title-closing-review`. Loan documents, Note/Mortgage/Guaranty → `real-estate-closing-check`. ## The engine `scripts/closing_calc.py`. **Run the self-test first, every time.** ```bash python3 scripts/closing_calc.py selftest # must print ALL PASS python3 scripts/closing_calc.py cards # show every recorded rate card ``` The self-test reproduces three real closings to the penny — 8 Pine Track under both agencies and the closed 31 Juniper file. If it does not print **ALL PASS**, a rate card or a statutory rate has drifted. Fix that before quoting anything. ```bash # full estimate python3 scripts/closing_calc.py estimate \ --price 279000 --agency marion-lake --loan 270630 --deposit 3000 \ --close 2026-08-24 --annual-tax 290.11 --commission 4.5 \ --basis 210474.47 --sf 1400 --notary 175 # concession as a share of the buyer's costs, with a cap python3 scripts/closing_calc.py estimate --price 279000 --agency marion-lake \ --loan 270630 --close 2026-08-24 --annual-tax 290.11 \ --concession-pct 50 --concession-cap 3500 # side-by-side agency comparison, notary forced onto both cards python3 scripts/closing_calc.py compare --price 279000 --loan 270630 \ --close 2026-08-24 --annual-tax 290.11 --commission 4.5 ``` Useful flags: `--strike-junk` (drop technology / warehousing / ID-verification / escrow- disbursement fees), `--exact-premium` (price the owner's policy on the exact sale price rather than rounding coverage up), `--survey`, `--noc-pages`, `--mortgage-pages`. ## The four rules this skill exists to enforce **1 — Quote the cost ex-commission and ex-concession.** A commission is a brokerage cost and a concession is a price adjustment; neither is a cost of closing. Folding them in inflates the percentage and hides the real number. Report **closing costs ex-commission** as the headline, then show commission and concession separately. **2 — Only the title-agency bucket is shoppable.** Deed stamps, the owner's premium and recording are fixed by Florida law or promulgated rate — identical at every agency in the state. On a typical file ~75% of non-commission closing cost cannot be negotiated by anyone. Comparing agencies on anything but their own fees compares noise. **3 — Normalise before comparing.** Agencies leave different things off. One quote omits the notary, another omits the proration; whichever is missing makes that agency look cheaper. Force the same line items onto both cards (`--notary`) before drawing a conclusion. This flips the answer more often than not. **4 — Distinguish what the agency keeps from what it collects.** A fee payable to the agency is its revenue. A fee payable to a search vendor, underwriter or Simplifile is a pass-through you pay anywhere. `keeps` vs `passed through` in the output. ## Reading the output | Figure | What it means | |---|---| | `CLOSING COSTS — EX-COMMISSION, EX-CONCESSION` | **The headline.** Benchmark 1.0%–3.0% of price in FL | | `TITLE AGENCY TOTAL` | The only shoppable bucket. Typically 0.25%–0.40% of price | | `the agency keeps` | The agency's actual revenue — what a discount request targets | | `ALL-IN TITLE` | Agency fees + promulgated premium | | `% of gross margin` | On a build-to-sell, the number that matters. Closing costs routinely eat 25%+ of margin | The tool prints `% price`, `% basis`, `% margin` and per-square-foot. On a spec build the margin ratio is the honest one: 1.6% of price is 6.7% of margin. ## Traps this tool is built around - **Prepaids and escrow reserves are not modelled.** A financed buyer usually adds $3,000– $6,000 in prepaid interest, hazard premium and tax/insurance reserves. If a draft HUD shows blank 900 and 1000 series, it is incomplete. **Never agree to a percentage concession before seeing the buyer's Loan Estimate** — and a flat concession larger than the buyer's actual costs is forfeited, not refunded to the seller. - **New-construction proration is deceptively small.** Florida assesses as of 1 January, so the construction year is taxed on land only. The following year picks up the house and the bill multiplies ~10×. Small at this closing, large for the next one. - **A missing line is not a saving.** An omitted proration or notary will be added before funding. Add it yourself before comparing. - **Cap percentage concessions in the contract.** "50% of buyer's closing costs, not to exceed $X" — otherwise an inflated buyer cost sheet expands the seller's exposure without limit. - **Check the transaction type before reusing a rate card.** A multi-property loan closing prices nothing like a one-house sale. The loan cards are marked as such. ## Adding a rate card Add an entry to `CARDS` in the script: `seller` and `buyer` fee dicts, `keeps` listing the lines payable to the agency itself, `notary_quoted`, and a `context` string naming the source document and transaction type. Then add an assertion to `selftest()` against a real statement from that agency — a card without a self-test assertion is not trustworthy. ## Reference `references/fl-rates-and-ratecards.md` — statutory formulas and worked examples, the recorded rate cards with provenance, Florida benchmarks, the full 8 Pine Track closing-cost record, the closed 31 Juniper comparable, and the open items on the live deal.