Closing Costs in Arkansas 2026: Buyer & Seller Guide

· ✓ Last verified Sep 29, 2026 · March 3, 2026 · by AskDoss Editorial Team ·Home Buying · 8 min read

Arkansas deed stamps cost $3.30 per $1,000 of the price, or fraction of $1,000, on any sale over $100. Two provisions speak to who pays. Section 26-60-106(3) says the tax, “unless agreed upon otherwise, shall be paid one-half (1/2) by the grantor or seller and one-half (1/2) by the grantee or purchaser.” Section 26-60-105(b) levies $2.20 of the $3.30 “to be paid by the purchaser.” Put the split in your purchase contract. Every county records at one state rate: $15 for the first page, $5 for each page after.

How the $3.30 Arkansas deed stamp is computed

The $3.30 is two levies stacked in Ark. Code § 26-60-105: $1.10 per $1,000 under subsection (a), and “an additional tax of two dollars and twenty cents ($2.20)” per $1,000 under subsection (b), whose money goes to the purposes listed in § 15-12-103. The tax applies only when the consideration “exceeds one hundred dollars ($100)”. The Department of Finance and Administration gives the same combined figure: “$3.30 per $1,000 of actual consideration on transactions that exceed $100.” DFA’s 2012 report to the legislature dates the current rate to Act 1181 of 1993.

DFA states that the tax also “applies to transferring ownership of mineral rights.”

Price of the realty $1,000 units (fractions round up) Stamps due
$250,000 250 $825.00
$250,500 251 $828.30
$300,000 300 $990.00

Sales the stamp statute skips

Section 26-60-102 lists twelve exempt transfers. Those a household is likely to meet:

  • A mortgage or deed of trust: “any instrument or writing given solely to secure a debt” (item 2).
  • A deed from one spouse to the other dividing marital property in a divorce, “whether by agreement or order of the court” (item 7).
  • A foreclosure deed to the lender enforcing the loan, or a deed given to a secured party in lieu of foreclosure (items 8 and 9).
  • A home financed by FHA, VA or USDA Rural Development with a sale price of $60,000 or less. The exemption holds only if the seller files with the county recorder a sworn statement by the buyer that neither the buyer nor the buyer’s spouse has owned a home within three years of closing, and giving the sale price (item 10).
  • A beneficiary deed under § 18-12-608 (item 12), and a transfer to or from the United States, the State of Arkansas or their agencies and political subdivisions (item 1).

Seller, buyer, or both: two payer rules in the statute

Section 26-60-106(3) says the tax, “unless agreed upon otherwise, shall be paid one-half (1/2) by the grantor or seller and one-half (1/2) by the grantee or purchaser.” Section 26-60-105(b) levies its $2.20 add-on “to be paid by the purchaser.” The two provisions point different ways for two-thirds of the tax, and we found no Arkansas court decision or DFA ruling reconciling them. Write the split into the purchase contract rather than relying on either default. If your contract has no transfer-tax clause, ask the closing agent before signing how the settlement statement will divide it.

The buyer’s side carries the paperwork. Before a county recorder accepts the deed, “the grantee, buyer, or the agent of the grantee or buyer shall furnish proof of payment of tax or proof of an exemption” (§ 26-60-110(a)). DFA sells the stamps at its Revenue offices and through consignment with title companies, banks and savings and loan associations (§ 26-60-109(a)(2)).

Recording with the circuit clerk: $15 and $5 in every county

Arkansas sets recording fees by statute, not county by county. Section 21-6-306(a)(1)(A) fixes “uniform fees to be charged by the recorders in the various counties”: $15 for one page, one side only, and $5 for each additional page, for deeds, deeds of trust and mortgages alike. The Pulaski County Circuit Clerk’s real estate page, as captured in September 2026, lists the same $15 and $5. A three-page warranty deed therefore records for $25 (plus $5 for each added page, such as the grantor’s ID copy that the recorder attaches when the grantor files the deed personally under the Act 752 rule below). A document that misses the § 14-15-402(b)(1) format rules can still be recorded if the recorder waives them for good cause, for an extra $25 (§ 21-6-306(a)(2)).

Act 752 of 2025 added a photo-ID rule, § 14-15-403(f). A deed brought to the recorder in person or by mail is not accepted unless the grantor, or the person signing for the grantor, appears in person with a valid photo ID; a mailed deed must include a photocopy of it. The rule does not apply when the deed is presented by an attorney, a real estate broker or agent, a representative of a bank, mortgage company or lending institution, a title insurance agent or agency, or one of the government filers listed in § 14-15-403(f)(2). Pulaski County’s clerk gives August 5, 2025 as the start date.

Title insurance: no state rate, but required disclosures

Arkansas’s insurance rate-regulation chapter lists “Title insurance” among the kinds of coverage it does not apply to (§ 23-67-203(7)), and the Arkansas Title Insurance Act (§§ 23-103-401 to -417) contains no premium schedule. So there is no state-set premium to quote here. Get owner’s-policy quotes from more than one agency. What the Act does require:

  • Every policy rests on a search covering “not less than the immediately preceding thirty (30) years” (§ 23-103-408(b)).
  • On a resale of owner-occupied housing, if the title report offers an owner’s policy, you get that report “as soon as reasonably possible before closing” (§ 23-103-413(a)(1)).
  • If you buy with a loan and no one requested an owner’s policy, the insurer or agency issuing the lender’s policy must give you a written notice at closing. It explains that the lender’s policy does not protect you as owner and that you may buy an owner’s policy “at a specified premium.” You sign it, and a copy stays in the closing file for at least five years (§ 23-103-413(b)).
  • At an Arkansas closing where title insurance may be issued, the closing agent must tell every party that closing protection is available. On written request, the insurer must issue a closing protection letter if the closing is run by a licensed title agency under contract with it or a closing agent in privity of contract with it. Its form and fee are filed with the Insurance Commissioner at least 20 days before first use (§ 23-103-405(c)(1), (2), (5)).

Who may advise on title and who may fill in a deed

The Title Insurance Act defines a closing agent simply as “a person that facilitates a closing,” and says that “a closing or escrow” is not title insurance business (§ 23-103-402(2), (12)(B)). Legal advice is a different matter. The title report on an owner-occupied resale must print this sentence on its first page: “No title insurance agent or any other person other than a licensed Arkansas attorney may provide legal advice concerning the status of title to the property described in the title commitment” (§ 23-103-413(a)(2)).

Who may fill in the deed comes from two Arkansas Supreme Court cases. Creekmore v. Izard, 236 Ark. 558, 367 S.W.2d 419 (1963), modified the 1959 ban in Arkansas Bar Ass’n v. Block, 230 Ark. 430, and Pope County Bar Ass’n v. Suggs, 274 Ark. 250, 624 S.W.2d 828 (1981), affirmed a decree spelling out the limits. A real estate broker may fill in the blanks of standard printed forms (warranty and quitclaim deeds, release deeds, bills of sale, leases, mortgages with power of sale) only if all six conditions hold:

  1. the client has declined to hire a lawyer to prepare the instruments and has authorized the broker to do so;
  2. a lawyer approves the forms, before or after the blanks are filled in, but before delivery to the client;
  3. the transaction is a simple one arising in the broker’s usual course of business;
  4. the broker is handling the transaction as a broker;
  5. the broker makes no charge for filling in the blanks;
  6. the broker gives no advice or opinions on the parties’ legal rights, the legal effect of the instruments, or the validity of title.

“Simple” was defined in Suggs as a direct, present conveyance of a fee simple absolute. Life estates, remainders, easements, right-of-way grants and other limited or future interests fall outside it. The court declined in Suggs to extend the permission to the abstract and title companies that asked for it as amici. Creekmore also held that a notary public’s preparation of deeds and mortgages for a fee “clearly constitutes the practice of law,” because his business had no connection to preparing such instruments.

ADFA money for down payment and closing costs

The Arkansas Development Finance Authority’s program pages, read on September 24, 2026, describe three linked products:

  • Down Payment Assistance (DPA): $1,000 to $15,000 toward down payment and closing costs. It is a second mortgage with a 10-year term, available only with an ADFA StartSmart or Move-Up first mortgage. ADFA allows cash back for expenses “paid outside of closing.”
  • StartSmart: a 30-year fixed first mortgage (FHA, VA, RD, or Freddie Mac conventional HFA Advantage) for first-time buyers, meaning someone who has not owned a principal residence in the three years before closing. That requirement is waived in 30 federally targeted counties and for veterans and veterans’ spouses with documentation. The purchase price cannot exceed $500,000, the minimum credit score is 640, and household income limits vary by family size and county.
  • Move-Up: a 30-year fixed first mortgage (FHA, VA, conventional or RD) with no first-time buyer requirement. Qualifying income cannot exceed $142,000, the minimum credit score is 640, and the maximum price is the Arkansas conventional conforming loan limit.

You apply through a lender; ADFA’s DPA page links to a lender search. A mortgage pre-approval from a lender that offers these loans comes first. The down payment estimator and the home affordability calculator show how the DPA amount changes the cash you bring to closing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the transfer tax on a $300,000 house in Arkansas?

$990: 300 units of $1,000 at $3.30 each. Who bears it should be written into your contract. Section 26-60-106(3) splits it half and half ($495 each) “unless agreed upon otherwise,” but § 26-60-105(b) says the $2.20-per-$1,000 part ($660 here) is “to be paid by the purchaser,” and we found no court or DFA ruling on how the two fit together. The buyer side must show proof of payment before the deed is recorded (§ 26-60-110(a)).

Is my mortgage taxed when it is recorded in Arkansas?

Not under the real property transfer tax. Section 26-60-102(2) exempts “any instrument or writing given solely to secure a debt.” The mortgage or deed of trust still pays the § 21-6-306 recording fee of $15 for the first page and $5 for each additional page.

Can my real estate broker fill out the deed?

Only under the six conditions of Creekmore v. Izard (1963) and Pope County Bar Ass’n v. Suggs (1981): you declined a lawyer and authorized the broker, a lawyer approves the form before it reaches you, the sale is a simple fee-simple conveyance the broker is handling as broker, there is no charge for the fill-in, and the broker gives no legal advice.

When do Arkansas property taxes become delinquent?

Taxes unpaid after October 15 are delinquent, and the county collector adds a 10% penalty (§ 26-36-201(a)(2), (b)(1)). Service members are not charged the penalty during a deployment and for one tax year after it ends (§ 26-36-201(d)). Check which year’s bill is still open before closing.

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