"We pay all closing costs." It is on every land-buyer billboard, postcard, and cold-call script in North Carolina. The phrase is doing a lot of work, and your gut is right to pause on it. Nobody covers your costs out of kindness.
Here is the thing most "we pay closing costs" articles skip: in a cash land deal the closing fees are tiny. The fight is never really about the $26 to record a deed. It is about whether the number you shake hands on is the number that lands in your bank account. That is where a promise either holds up or quietly falls apart.
So this is not another list of every fee and who customarily pays it. We have a separate guide on who pays closing costs when selling vacant land in NC for that breakdown. This is the skeptic's version: where the "we pay closing costs" line actually breaks, the trick to watch for, and the four lines on your closing paperwork that tell you the truth. I have bought 200+ properties across North Carolina, so I will also show you exactly how Cinch handles it.
Why "We Pay Closing Costs" Is the Easiest Promise to Make
Start with the real math, because it reframes everything. On a small cash land deal, the closing costs a buyer "absorbs" are almost nothing:
- Recording the deed: $26. By statute (G.S. 161-10), North Carolina registers of deeds charge a flat $26 for the first 15 pages, then $4 per extra page. A normal deed is two or three pages. So this is $26, not the $50–$100 some buyers like to quote.
- Closing attorney: a few hundred dollars, often around $400–$800 for a clean vacant-lot file.
- NC excise tax: $1 per $500 of price. On a $25,000 lot that is $50.
Add it up and a buyer "covering all closing costs" on a $25,000 lot is eating roughly $500–$900. That is real, but it is rounding error next to the purchase price. Any buyer can promise it and mean it. The promise costs them almost nothing, which is precisely why it tells you almost nothing about whether you are getting a fair deal.
The money that actually moves your net is the offer price and whether it holds. Keep your eye there.
The Catch Isn't the Fees. It's the Re-Trade.
The most common way a "we pay closing costs" deal turns sour has a name in the industry: the re-trade. A buyer offers a strong price, gets you under contract and emotionally committed, then uses the inspection or due-diligence window to come back and lower the number. Survey "concern." A title hiccup. A vague "our partners want a discount." The fees they promised to cover are still covered. They just quietly carved a few thousand dollars off the price instead.
You end up exactly where the headline number said you would not: short. And because you have already mentally spent the money and told people the land is sold, the pressure to just accept the lower figure is enormous. That is the leverage they are buying with a high opening offer.
So the question that actually protects you is not "do you pay closing costs?" It is this: "Is your offer price firm, and what specifically would let you lower it later?" A straight buyer can answer that in one sentence. Cinch's offer is the number you get; we are not looking for an excuse to chip it down after you sign.
The Excise Tax Line: Your Tax, So Watch It
One fee deserves special attention because it is genuinely yours under North Carolina law. The state's excise tax, the "revenue stamps," runs $1 per $500 of the sale price (the same as $2 per $1,000). Here is what that is on common land amounts:
| Sale Price | NC Excise Tax |
|---|---|
| $10,000 | $20 |
| $25,000 | $50 |
| $50,000 | $100 |
| $75,000 | $150 |
| $100,000 | $200 |
Why single it out? Because under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-228.30 the tax is legally owed by the seller. The transferor pays it to the register of deeds before the deed can be recorded. So when a buyer says they "cover all closing costs," the excise tax is the one line where they are actually picking up your statutory obligation, not just their own. It is also the line most quietly shoved back onto the seller. If a buyer's "all closing costs" promise is hollow anywhere, it usually shows up here first. Make them name it out loud.
You'll Have an Attorney. Use Them.
North Carolina is, in practice, an attorney-state for closings. It is not one tidy statute so much as the rules around it: a non-lawyer cannot give an opinion on your title, title insurance can only be written off a licensed NC attorney's title opinion, and the State Bar expects a lawyer involved in the closing. Translation: a licensed North Carolina attorney runs your closing, prepares the deed, and disburses the funds.
That lawyer is the best fraud check you have, and they are already on the deal. The attorney produces the settlement statement that shows, to the penny, who paid what. You do not have to take the buyer's word for "we paid everything." You can read it on the document the attorney is legally responsible for. If you want to understand what that office actually does to your title before closing, see our walkthrough of the title search process for vacant land in NC.
What "We Pay Closing Costs" Does NOT Mean
Even an honest buyer who covers every fee is not handing you a check for the full purchase price. Two things still come off your side, and they are legitimate. They are not the catch. Know them so you are not blindsided at the table, and so you do not mistake a normal deduction for a buyer breaking their word.
1. Your property taxes up to the closing date. NC property taxes are billed annually, due September 1 and not delinquent until January 6 of the next year. You owe your share for the days you owned the land that year, prorated to the day and deducted at closing. Close in April and you carry roughly the first third of the year. This is true with any buyer; "we pay closing costs" was never a promise to pay your taxes.
2. Any existing liens or back taxes. If taxes are already delinquent, interest is running: 2% the first month past January 6, then 0.75% each month after, with the county's lien attached to the parcel. Liens have to be paid off so the buyer gets clear title. The good news is it comes out of the sale proceeds, handled by the attorney, so nothing leaves your pocket directly. But it does reduce your net, and that is correct, not a trick.
Everything else (attorney, recording, excise, title work) is the part a real "we pay closing costs" buyer should genuinely absorb. So the honest net formula is simple: agreed price, minus your prorated taxes, minus any liens. Nothing else. If a deduction shows up that is not one of those two, that is your cue to ask hard questions.
The Real Tradeoff (Said Plainly)
If a buyer pays all the closing costs and the offer is firm, where is their margin? Right here, and I will not dress it up: a cash buyer offers below retail. That is the whole model, mine included. Anyone who swears their cash offer matches what a patient retail buyer would pay over six months is not being straight with you.
What you are actually buying with that lower price is certainty and speed: a firm number, no commission, no fees out of pocket, and a check in a couple of weeks instead of a "for sale" sign that sits through two tax bills. Whether that trade is worth it depends on the land. A clean lot with road frontage and utilities in a busy market, and the patience to wait, may net more on the open market. Raw, rural, landlocked, or "I just want it gone," and the cash route is hard to beat. A straight buyer will tell you which one you have.
The 4 Lines to Check Before You Sign
You do not need to trust anyone's billboard. The settlement statement settles the argument. Before you sign, confirm these four things. Three are on paper; one you ask out loud:
- It is in the contract, not just the ad. The purchase agreement should say the buyer pays all closing costs. If the promise lives only on a postcard and not in the contract, it does not exist.
- The excise tax line shows the buyer paying. This is your statutory tax, so it is the line most often quietly shoved back. Find it on the settlement statement and confirm whose column it sits in.
- Your net equals price minus only taxes and liens. Read the seller's side line by line. Prorated property taxes and lien payoffs are expected. Any other deduction from your proceeds is a question to ask before, not after, you sign.
- The price never moved after you signed (ask why it would). Out loud, before contract: "Is this price firm, and what could change it?" Then watch that the final number matches the offer. A drop with no real new fact is the re-trade in action.
At Cinch Home Buyers, the offer we put in writing is the amount you receive, minus only your prorated taxes and any liens that have to be cleared. We do not pad fees, and we do not re-trade you on closing day. You will see all of it on the attorney's settlement statement before you sign a thing.
Same "We Pay Closing Costs," Two Very Different Checks
Here is why the closing-cost promise is a distraction. Picture the same $20,000 cash offer on a $25,000 lot. Both buyers swear they cover all closing costs. One holds the price; the other re-trades after you are committed. Watch the seller's column, not the fee line:
| Item | Straight Buyer (offer holds) | Re-Trade Buyer (drops price) |
|---|---|---|
| Offer at handshake | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| "Adjustment" during due diligence | $0 | -$2,500 (vague "title concern") |
| Attorney, recording, excise (buyer pays) | $0 to you | $0 to you |
| Prorated property taxes | -$150 | -$150 |
| Check to you | $19,850 | $17,350 |
Both buyers "paid all closing costs." The promise was technically kept in both columns. But the re-trade quietly cost you $2,500, far more than every closing fee in the deal combined. This is the whole point: the closing-cost line is small and easy to honor. The price is where you actually win or lose. Judge the buyer on whether the number holds.
We will put a real figure on your property and stand behind it. Call us at (919) 751-6768 and we will tell you straight what your land is worth to us.
