[sleepyjoeyt]

Commissions - usually does not affect the commission (most realtors will agree that the commission is based on the original sales price)

taxes (I assume you mean the transfer tax that is paid in most if not all states) - you must pay the transfer tax based on the increased price. In MA the seller pays $4.56 per thousand of the sale price, so if you increased the sale price by $5K, then the transfer tax would be increased by $22.80. The amount of the transfer tax varies state to state (as does who pays it) but the tax amount will have to be paid based on the new sale price (as that is the amount that will be on the deed, which is what controls the tax). In some states, like NH, the tax is $15.00 per thousand of the sale price, so a 5K increase in sale price would mean $75 increase in the transfer tax.

If the seller complained about the increased cost the buyer could always agree to cover the increased cost OUTSIDE of the closing (by handing a check for $25 or whatever) but this "increased sale price" CANNOT be revealed to the bank. It happens all the time but the bank can't be informed that this was done.

One other thing: understand that the bank will only allow the credit going from the Seller to the Buyer to be as much as the ACTUAL closing costs. So it is important to have a pretty good idea of what the closing costs will be and to make sure that the closing cost credit is equal to or less than that amount.

If you guess $5K and there are only 4K in closing costs then the bank will only allow the 4K in a credit from seller to buyer. The other $1K will have to be given from the Seller to the Buyer after the closing, and the Seller is under no obligation to follow thru and give back the money (although it is clearly the decent thing to do, as the sales price was increased by 5K and they only gave a 4K credit at the closing).

The attorney that does the closing will know this is going on but is not supposed to have any actual knowledge that this is happening, so avoid having any discussion about this infront of him.