Who pays closing costs?

[Martin Warren]

Just looking for some opinions here.  I know there are probably several different ways of doing this.  How do you generally work the closing costs?  My realtor suggested offering more on the purchase price and requesting the seller pay all closing costs.  I have also read some opinions that say to offer less towards the purchase price and also offer to pay all closing costs.  Or just split them?  Just looking for some pros/cons for each option.  Thanks in advance. 

[Richard C.]

I bought my first couple of personal residences by negotiating a price, and then submitting a written offer that increased that amount by the amount of the projected closing costs.

The advantage, assuming the house appraises for the higher price, is that it is no skin off the seller's nose, and it allows you to effectively roll the closing costs into your mortgage.

The disadvantage is a lot of lenders are wise to this, and limit the amount of "Seller Concessions."  Also, if the appraisal won't support that extra few thousand bucks, it doesn't work.