Fees, fees and MORE FEES!

Ok, so, we finally found a house we liked, and last night went to draw up our contract. First off, let me clarify that I haven't been 100% happy with my realtor. He just started out (which, isn't a strike against him necessarily) but, because of that, he is only doing real estate part time. Again, not a big deal, except, he also has a regular full time job. Which, has impeded his ability to put in any time to search for listings for us. I would say that 90% of the houses we've checked out are ones that I found using the plain old internet. The problem there, is, those websites are never updated. So, sometimes, we would see a great one, and, by the time he got around to sending the listing to us, it would already be under contract. :\ Second, we are also in the same social circle as our realtor. So, we've hung out on numerous occasions. We figured if we used him, we know we wouldn't get screwed buying a crappy house or getting left with a crappy deal. While this is true, because we are friends outside of this professional relationship, he has been presenting himself on his "friend" level vs. his "professional" level when we are working. For instance, he's been late on more than one occasion when we've been out to show houses. And, last night, we went to go over the contract we are presenting for the house we liked, and, he hadn't even begun to fill it out. Instead, we sat there for 2 hours pretty much watching him write and check boxes. In my opinion, this should have been filled out before he showed it to us, and we could have just confirmed the information and given him details later.

Anyway, we will be signing the contract tonight. Something else about house buying that no one ever tells you, is, you need more than a down payment amount. Even if seller's are paying closing costs. For instance, we need $385 for an appraisal fee that goes to the lender, then, we need to pay another $300-400 for a home inspection, then, something else our realtor sprung on us last night, a $395 "transaction fee." WTF? I thought transaction fees were only crap you saw when you paid bills online. I guess what I'm confused about is, the "transaction" fee and then the appraisal fee...aren't they considered part of "closing costs" and, with our loan, (FHA loan) the seller is required to pay all closing costs. The home inspection I can live with, because we knew that going into the deal. We're just a little taken aback by the last minute fee our realtor sprung on us. Supposedly it goes to his "company" but, its his company who pays him. So, not very excited about that considering he's our friend. But, oh well. I guess we can't do anything about it, and I have no idea if this is typical or what. But, right now I just hope the seller accepts our offer, because I'm tired of house hunting!