Most buyers I work with have the down payment figured out and nothing else. Then the inspection invoice lands, then the lender asks for a tax escrow deposit, and the number they had in their head stops matching the number on the closing statement. This post walks through every cash item in a Monroe County purchase, in the order you pay it, so you know what leaves your account and when. I will also tell you where I do not have a reliable local average, because guessing at those numbers is how budgets break.

How much money do I need to buy a house in Rochester NY?

You need four separate pots of money, and they come due on four different dates, not all at closing. Here is the order in real life:

• Earnest money, paid within days of a signed contract. Held in escrow, credited back to you at closing.
• Inspection fees, paid to the inspector at or near the time of service. Gone whether you buy the house or not.
• Appraisal fee, either charged by the lender up front or rolled into closing, depending on the lender.
• Cash to close, wired shortly before closing. This is the down payment plus lender charges plus prepaid items plus escrow setup, minus your earnest money and any seller credit.

The last one is the big wire. The first three are the ones people forget, and they arrive early, while your savings are still committed to moving costs.

What the down payment looks like against local prices

Down payment is a percentage, so the only way to make it concrete is to anchor it to a price. Two anchors, both with their reporting period attached:

• Monroe County median listing price: $319,900 (Realtor.com via FRED, May 2026). Note that this is a listing price, not a closed sale price, and the county series lags by several months.
• City of Rochester median sale price: $230,000 (Houzeo, July 2026). For the same month, Movoto reported $199,000. The aggregators disagree by more than $30,000, which is a good reason to price your own target street rather than a metro average.

Straight arithmetic off the $319,900 county median listing price:

Down payment	Dollars
3%	$9,597
3.5%	$11,197
5%	$15,995
10%	$31,990
20%	$63,980

Off the $230,000 city median sale price, 3.5% is $8,050 and 20% is $46,000. Some loan programs, including VA and USDA, are structured with no down payment for buyers and properties that qualify. Below 20% on a conventional loan you should expect PMI, which is a monthly cost rather than a closing cost, but it changes what you can afford to spend on everything else.

Inspection money is spent before you own anything

Inspection fees are the first truly non-refundable dollars in the process, and they are the ones I most often see left out of a budget. You pay for the general inspection. Depending on the house, you may add a separate radon test, a sewer lateral scope, a water potability and quantity test on a well, a septic dye test, or a pest inspection. On older Monroe County housing stock, and on homes with an older furnace or a wet basement, those add-ons are frequently worth it.

I do not have a verified local average for inspection pricing, so I am not going to quote one. What I tell buyers is to call two inspectors before you write an offer, get the general fee and each add-on fee in writing, and set that total aside as spent money. If you lose an inspection contingency and walk away, you pay again on the next house. Budget for the possibility of two rounds.

What does a real estate attorney fee in New York cover?

In New York, both buyer and seller are represented by attorneys, and your attorney handles the contract, the title review, the payoff and lien issues, and the closing itself. This is different from many states where the title company runs the file, which is why out of state buyers are often surprised there is an attorney line at all.

Ask for the fee as a flat quote in writing before you sign anything, and ask specifically what is not included: title search and title insurance premiums, recording charges, and any extra work if the deal has an estate, a survey problem or a short sale. Most attorneys here are paid at closing out of the settlement statement rather than up front. Real estate attorney fee levels in New York vary by firm and by complexity, so I do not publish a number. Two calls will give you a real one for your deal.

Earnest money and escrow are two different things

Earnest money is your deposit, held in an escrow account after contract signing and credited toward your purchase at closing. Escrow, in the lender sense, is a separate account your lender sets up to pay your property taxes and homeowners insurance as they come due. At closing you fund it, usually with several months of taxes and insurance in advance, plus the first year of insurance premium.

That escrow setup can be one of the largest single lines in your closing costs in Monroe County, because it scales directly with the property tax bill. Two houses at the same price in different taxing jurisdictions, say Henrietta versus Pittsford versus the Honeoye Falls-Lima district, can require noticeably different escrow deposits. When you compare two homes, compare the tax bills, not just the list prices.

The full cash timeline

Item	When you pay	Comes back to you?
Earnest money	Days after contract	Yes, credited at closing
Inspections and add-on tests	Inspection week	No
Appraisal fee	Lender's schedule	No
Down payment	Wired before closing	It becomes your equity
Lender fees, title, recording	At closing	No
Attorney fee	Usually at closing	No
Prepaid interest and insurance	At closing	No, but it is cost you would owe anyway
Tax and insurance escrow deposit	At closing	Held for your future bills

How to build a cash to close number you can trust

Do it in this order and it stops being guesswork:

1. Get a Loan Estimate from at least two lenders on a real target price. That document itemises lender fees, prepaids and estimated escrow. It is the only closing cost estimate that carries any weight.
2. Add your inspection quotes, which the Loan Estimate does not include.
3. Add your attorney's flat fee quote.
4. Pull the actual tax bill for the specific property before you commit, not a county average.
5. Keep a reserve on top. Lenders often want to see reserves anyway, and a first winter in an older house tends to find something.

One more thing on timing. The 30 year fixed averaged 6.65% for the week ending August 20, 2026, down slightly from 6.67% the prior week, per Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Rates have sat in a narrow band through 2026, which means small rate movement is not what will make or break your cash position. Your tax escrow and your inspection choices will move it more.

Common questions

Is the earnest money deposit refundable in New York?

It depends entirely on the contingencies written into your contract. If you cancel within a valid inspection, mortgage or appraisal contingency and follow the notice requirements and deadlines, the deposit is generally returned. If you walk away after those windows close, the seller may have a claim to it. Read the contingency dates with your attorney and put them in your calendar.

Can closing costs be rolled into the loan?

Some can, some cannot. A lender credit or a seller concession negotiated into the contract can cover part or all of your closing costs, and certain loan programs allow financing specific fees. Your down payment cannot be financed by the same mortgage. Ask your lender to run one Loan Estimate with a lender credit and one without so you can see the trade against the interest rate.

Do out of state buyers need to be physically present at a Monroe County closing?

Often no. Many closings here are handled with documents sent in advance, a mail-away signing before a notary where you are, and a wire for the funds. Your attorney and the lender both have to agree to the arrangement, so raise it early rather than the week of closing.

How much should I keep in savings after closing?

Enough to cover the first repairs and the deductible on your homeowners policy, plus a few months of the new payment. I do not have a verified local figure to cite here, so treat it as judgment rather than a rule: the older the house and the more deferred maintenance the inspection flagged, the larger that cushion should be.

Why do online estimates of my closing costs differ so much?

Because they are estimating different things. Some include the down payment, some do not. Some include the escrow deposit, which varies by property tax bill and by the month you close. A Loan Estimate for your actual address is the only version that reflects your taxes, your insurance and your lender's fee sheet.

If you want to sit down and build the real number for a specific house or a specific price range in Henrietta, Pittsford, Brighton, Mendon, Rush or Honeoye Falls, I will walk the line items with you before you write an offer. Book a time with me here and bring your Loan Estimate if you already have one.

Khem Kadariya, Sold By Khem

About this data

The figures in this post were compiled from publicly available sources including Redfin, Houzeo, Zillow, Movoto and FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), along with other public market data. Real estate numbers change quickly, and these were accurate as of August 2026. For current figures on a specific home, street, or town, ask me directly rather than relying on a published average.

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