The Quick Read: The cost comes in two pieces. One is a small flat fee the county charges to file your documents. The other is a tax, in some states and counties, that scales with the size of your new loan. On a jumbo balance, that second piece drives nearly all of the difference from one county to the next. No single national figure exists, so the honest answer is “it depends on where the home sits.”.
Key Terms Defined
Recording fee: The flat charge a county recorder takes to file your deed of trust or mortgage.
Mortgage recording tax (recordation tax): A tax on the privilege of recording a loan, usually figured as a percentage of the amount borrowed. Some states use other names for it.
Documentary stamp tax: Florida’s name for a state tax on loan paperwork, based on the amount secured.
Transfer tax: The disclosure category for any government charge that scales with the sale price or the loan amount.
Consolidation agreement: A document, used in some New York deals, that folds the old loan into the new one so tax may apply only to the added money. It depends on the existing lender’s cooperation.
New money: The part of a cash-out loan above what you owe today. Some places tax only this slice.
CLTV (combined loan-to-value): All loans against the home, divided by its appraised value.
Jumbo cash-out estimate
Enter the value, the balance, and the cash wanted; choose the occupancy and the structure; the lanes, the payment, and the reserves follow.
Editable benchmark: 7.40% as of October 15, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not a jumbo cash-out refinance quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $2,000,000 home value in the jumbo range, a $1,000,000 current balance, a principal residence on a thirty-year fixed structure at the current Freddie Mac conforming benchmark, and property taxes and insurance estimated at typical national rates. Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conforming benchmark, a market reference and not a jumbo cash-out refinance quote; a jumbo loan is priced by the lender at lock. The lanes shown are the wholesale cash-out lanes behind this page as of the snapshot date; the calculator reads each lane’s leverage, loan maximum by occupancy, cash-in-hand cap, and reserves as the lane table states them, and a Lendmire loan officer confirms the lane on the file. The cash available is the loan the lane allows less the balances paid off, before closing costs, which are not included; on most lanes a jumbo cash-out begins one dollar above the conforming limit for the county, and two lanes start at a stated dollar floor instead. The HELOC line is the line program’s combined loan-to-value ceiling applied to the same value and balance. Taxes and insurance are editable estimates. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages.
Why a Jumbo Cash-Out Makes This Cost Bigger
A jumbo loan is any loan above your county’s conforming limit. The wholesale lenders Lendmire works with place these loans up to $5,000,000 on the largest lanes. Leverage reaches 90% on the headline lane for a purchase, and a 660 decision score is the starting point on that lane. Cash-out sits at lower leverage than a purchase, and the largest lanes add a cash cap. Every figure here is subject to lender guidelines and full file review. Nothing is a commitment to lend.
Here is why that matters for recording. A flat filing fee is the same whether you borrow a little or a lot. A tax built on the loan amount grows with every dollar you borrow. A jumbo cash-out is, by definition, a large loan, so the tax lands on a big number.
Cash-out also tends to produce a larger new loan than a refinance that only replaces your current balance. The same tax rate then produces a bigger bill. Lendmire’s jumbo cash-out refinance program is built around that reality. You need to see the full cost of the new loan before deciding how much equity to pull.
The Two Buckets: Flat Fee vs. Loan-Based Tax
Think of recording cost as two buckets. Most counties fill only the first. A smaller group of states and counties fill both.
| Factor | Flat recording fee | Loan-based tax |
|---|---|---|
| Based on | Document type, page count | Percentage of loan amount |
| Who sets it | County recorder | State, and sometimes county or city |
| Grows with loan size | No | Yes |
| Where it appears | Recording fees line | Often a transfer-tax-type line |
| Present everywhere | Yes | No |
The federal rule on mortgage disclosures draws this line clearly. Per the federal consumer-finance regulator’s rule on the Loan Estimate, recording fees are charges based on the type of document or its physical characteristics, such as page count. A charge based on a percentage of the loan amount counts as a transfer tax instead.
The name the state gives the charge does not decide the line. A “mortgage recording tax” can show up as a transfer-tax-type line even though its legal name says “recording.” Don’t be thrown if the label on your paperwork doesn’t match the label on your disclosure.
Which Places Charge a Loan-Based Tax
There is no clean national list, and the lists that circulate online often contradict each other. Some places charge only the flat fee. Others add a percentage of the loan. A few add several layers. Use the table below as a map of how different the rules are, not as a rate card.
| Place | What the tax is called | What it is based on | Notable twist |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Mortgage recording tax | Principal secured | Varies by county and city |
| Florida | Documentary stamp tax | Amount of obligation | Cap applies to notes, not recorded mortgages |
| Maryland (county level) | Recordation tax | Loan, or only the increase on a refinance | Depends on county and the form you sign |
| Virginia | Recordation tax | Deed of trust amount | Refinance treatment can turn on who the borrower is |
Treat any county-level figure you find online as a lead, not an answer. County and state rules change, and many online lists are stale. Your title or settlement agent calculates the real number from the county’s current rules. Ask for it in writing.
How the Cost Scales on a Jumbo Balance
Take a modeled example with no dollar amounts, so the logic stays visible. Say a state taxes a loan at a flat percentage of the amount secured. Double the loan and you double the tax. A borrower who takes out a loan three times the size pays three times the tax. The county’s flat filing fee barely moves.
That is why two homeowners with identical houses can pay different amounts. They might live one county apart, or they might simply borrow different amounts.
Florida shows the scale effect plainly. The state’s Department of Revenue applies its documentary stamp tax at 0.35 percent of the obligation, a figure it states as 35 cents per $100. It also caps the tax on notes and other written obligations at a set dollar amount. The trap for jumbo borrowers is this. That cap covers unsecured notes, and the state taxes mortgages filed and recorded in Florida separately, based on the amount secured. Don’t assume the cap puts a ceiling on a jumbo cash-out. Title agents also commonly quote a separate state tax on the recorded mortgage itself. Ask your agent to itemize every line.
New York shows the other side of the problem, which is variation within one state. The state tax department’s guidance on the mortgage recording tax explains that the tax is made up of several separate taxes. The total depends on what is in effect in the county and, where it applies, the city. It also taxes the principal secured by the mortgage, including the maximum that could be secured under any future contingency. The top of the combined range runs several times higher than the bottom. That memo is dated, so rates may have changed. Use it to understand the structure, then confirm the current numbers locally. New York City adds its own layer on top of the state tax. One- and two-family homes get a partial exclusion on a portion of the tax, and your agent can tell you whether it applies.
Only the New Money, or the Whole Loan?
This is the biggest question on a cash-out, and the answer changes by place. Some jurisdictions tax the entire new loan. Others exempt the part that replaces your current balance and tax only the increase. A modeled example shows what that does to the taxable base.
| Existing balance as share of new loan | Whole-loan tax base | New-money-only tax base |
|---|---|---|
| 50% | 100% of the loan | 50% of the loan |
| 70% | 100% of the loan | 30% of the loan |
| 85% | 100% of the loan | 15% of the loan |
These percentages are modeled assumptions, not market data. The point is the pattern. The more you owe today relative to the new loan, the more an exemption on the existing balance helps you. In a cash-out where you take out a lot of equity, that exemption helps less.
Prince George’s County’s affidavit instructions describe taxing only the difference between the new loan and the unpaid principal balance on a refinance. They also separate a true refinance from new financing only. Montgomery County’s 311 page on recordation tax describes a scale where the tax steps up on larger amounts, and it notes that an exemption may be available for owners of occupied residential property. Other sources describe the whole new loan being taxed in some Maryland refinances. That conflict most likely comes down to the form signed and the property type. The practical lesson: the county and the form you sign decide the base. Confirm with your title agent before you count on an exemption.
Where the General Rule Breaks
The general picture holds up most of the time, but it bends in a few places.
New York consolidation agreements. In New York, a consolidation agreement can let the tax apply only to the new money by tying the old loan to the new one. It works only if the existing lender cooperates, and not every deal can use it. Treat it as a structure to ask about, not a feature you can count on.
Virginia and borrower status. In Virginia, the refinance treatment of a deed of trust can depend on whether the person recording is the borrower on the original deeds of trust. Treatment can turn on who the borrower is and how the document is labeled. Check your own paperwork for the same kind of detail.
Splitting the loan to dodge the tax. Some borrowers wonder if they can split a cash-out into two steps to lower the tax. Conforming-loan guidelines prohibit arranging a refinance in a way that circumvents cash-out policies. Those rules don’t govern jumbo loans, and jumbo lenders set their own. A lender can still object to a structure built to avoid a tax or a pricing tier. Ask first.
Occupancy. This article covers the home you live in. If a home is a second home or a rental, occupancy decides the leverage the lender allows. Some state refinance exemptions are also tied to owner-occupied principal residences, so the same loan can be taxed differently.
Which loan program applies. The conforming limit decides whether your loan is jumbo, and it does not decide the tax. The Federal Housing Finance Agency sets the limit for each county each year. The local limit rises where 115 percent of the local median home value exceeds the baseline, and it cannot exceed 50 percent above the baseline. A loan above your county’s limit is a jumbo loan. The tax then depends on state and county law, whatever the loan’s label.
What a Large Recording Cost Does to Your Cash-Out
Recording cost can change your cash-out in three ways.
It shrinks the check. Recording charges are usually part of closing costs. If you pay them from proceeds, your net cash-out falls by that amount. In a place that taxes the whole new loan, the drop can be real on a jumbo balance.
It can raise your leverage. You can sometimes roll costs into the loan, subject to program rules. A larger loan means a higher CLTV. Cash-out on a jumbo program already sits at lower leverage than a purchase, so extra financed costs can use up room you wanted for cash. Across the wholesale jumbo programs Lendmire places files with, the 90% ceiling belongs to the headline lane on a purchase. Several lanes reach 89.99% CLTV, and the rest stop at 80%. Cash-out sits below those marks, and the largest lanes also cap the cash you can take.
It does not change the appraisal. The home is worth what it is worth. Recording costs matter only through the loan amount and the leverage that follows from it.
Other parts of the file scale with size too. Reserves are measured in months of the full payment and rise with the loan amount. Above a lane’s threshold amount, two appraisals are required. Debt-to-income ceilings are 50% on the fixed lanes, 45% on the adjustable lanes and 43% on the interest-only lanes. A large cash-out means a large recording bill and a heavier file.
If you pay recording costs out of pocket, they don’t change your monthly payment. If you roll them in, the principal grows slightly.
Cash-Out vs. a Second Lien on This One Line
A second lien borrows less, so the loan-based tax applies to a smaller amount. That can make a second lien cheaper on this one line item, especially in a state that taxes the full amount secured. But it is cheaper on this line only. A second lien leaves your existing loan in place and adds another payment. Compare the whole picture, not one fee.
Think it through with percentages. Say you want to pull out an amount equal to 15% of your home’s value. A cash-out loan taxes the full new loan in a whole-loan state. A second lien taxes only the 15% slice. The gap in tax can be large on a jumbo balance. It still has to be weighed against the terms of the loan you would be keeping.
How to Read It on Your Disclosure
Government recording charges sit in the “Taxes and Other Government Fees” section on page 2 of the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure. Recording fees and other taxes come first in that section. Transfer taxes come second. A loan-based tax may appear in either, so read the line, not only the heading.
Because the government sets these lines by law, they should be nearly identical from one lender to the next. What differs is everything else. Compare origination charges and lender credits side by side on the disclosure, not the recording lines.
Ask your title or settlement agent these questions:
1. What is the flat recording fee, and how many pages is it based on?
2. Does this county or state charge a tax based on the loan amount?
3. Is the whole new loan taxed, or only the new money?
4. Is there a consolidation option or an exemption, and what paperwork does it need?
5. Can any of these numbers change before closing?
On that last point, totals on the final disclosure can differ from the first estimate, so ask for the agent’s best current number and when it was last checked.
Tax treatment can depend on your situation; borrowers should speak with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction or credit.
Making the Decision in Practice
Start with where the home sits. If the state charges only flat fees, recording will be a small line, and your attention belongs on the other costs. If your state or county taxes the loan, build the tax into your plan from the start.
Then decide how much cash you need. Because the tax scales with the loan, every extra slice of equity you take carries a recording cost in a taxing place. Pull what you need, not the maximum.
Next, ask whether an exemption helps. If you owe a lot today relative to the new loan, an exemption on the existing balance can shrink the taxable amount. If you are taking out a lot of equity, it helps less.
Finally, decide whether to pay costs in cash or roll them into the loan. Rolling them in preserves cash but raises CLTV, and on a cash-out that matters. Check the numbers against the leverage the program allows before you count on it.
If you are weighing a cash-out refinance against keeping the loan you have, Lendmire can help you compare the programs and the equity each one reaches.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a recording fee a percentage of my loan?
No. A true recording fee is a flat charge based on the document and its page count. A charge that scales with the loan amount is classed as a transfer tax on your disclosure. That is true even when the state calls it a recording tax.
Which states charge a tax based on the loan amount?
It varies, and the online lists disagree. New York, Florida, Maryland and Virginia all tax recorded loans in some form, under different names. Many other places charge only a small flat fee. Ask your title agent about your county before you rely on any list.
Can I roll recording costs into a jumbo cash-out?
Often, subject to program rules. Financed costs raise your loan amount and your CLTV. Since jumbo cash-out sits at lower leverage than a purchase, extra financed costs can reduce the cash you can take. Lender guidelines and full file review decide.
Do I pay the loan-based tax on my whole balance in a refinance?
It depends on the place. Some jurisdictions exempt the part that replaces your existing balance and tax only the increase. Others tax the whole new loan. The county, the paperwork and your occupancy all matter, so confirm with your title agent.
Will recording costs differ between lenders?
Very little. Government recording and tax lines are set by law, so they should match across lenders. Origination charges and lender credits are where offers differ, and the Loan Estimate lets you compare them side by side.
The county line on your closing paperwork is set by law, which makes it one of the few costs you can predict before you pick a lender.
For your own numbers, request a scenario review with Lendmire.
About Lendmire
Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a mortgage brokerage serving homeowners and home buyers in 16 states. FHA, VA, conventional and jumbo purchase and refinance loans are arranged through wholesale lending channels; Lendmire brokers the financing and the lender underwrites each application. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
2. Florida Department of Revenue – Documentary Stamp Tax
3. New York State Tax Department – Mortgage Recording Tax Memo
4. Prince George’s County, MD – Finance Affidavit Instructions
5. Montgomery County, MD – MC311 Recordation Tax Page
This article is part of Lendmire’s jumbo cash-out refinance program — full qualification details, guidelines, and scenarios live on the program page.
Related reading: How Much Montgomery County Recordation Adds to a Jumbo Cash-Out · How Much Equity a Jumbo Cash-Out Leaves Usable vs. a Sale After Costs · How Much Equity a Paid-Off Home Yields in a Jumbo Cash-Out
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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- Lendmire LLC · Firm NMLS# 2371349 · Verify firm licensure
Important disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a licensed mortgage brokerage. Lendmire is not a direct lender, depository institution, or financial advisor. All loan inquiries are subject to lender underwriting; this article does not constitute a commitment to lend. Rates, terms, and program guidelines are subject to change without notice and vary by borrower profile, property type, and state. Information in this article is general in nature and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.