Transaction coordinator in New Hampshire: disclosures, deadlines and costs

What does a transaction coordinator do in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire is one of the friendlier states for an unlicensed coordinator. The Real Estate Commission has published a list of jobs unlicensed assistants may do, and it reads like a TC's week: following up on loan commitments, getting loan status reports, assembling closing documents and pulling records from the registry of deeds.

The coordinator's file starts with the seller's statutory disclosures, which come before or during the offer, and runs through the inspection deadlines, the financing commitment and the closing. Two state rules deserve a flag for agents new to New Hampshire: the waterfront septic evaluation and a transfer tax charged to both buyer and seller.

Which purchase contract do New Hampshire agents use?

The New Hampshire REALTORS standard Purchase and Sales Agreement. The association says it provides its standard forms on two platforms, Dotloop and zipLogix, and there is no current public copy on its site. A signed copy that a city posted with a council agenda shows how the inspection clause works, though its revision date isn't legible, so we don't cite paragraph numbers.

In that copy, the buyer ticks the inspections they want, such as general building, sewage disposal, water quality, radon, lead paint and pests, and writes in a number of days for each. The form says those days are calendar days counted from the effective date and that time is of the essence. If the buyer doesn't notify the seller in writing that a result is unsatisfactory within the period, that contingency is waived.

Which New Hampshire dates does a TC calendar?

Separate inspection periods are the New Hampshire twist. A coordinator may be tracking several inspection deadlines on one file, each counted in calendar days from the same effective date.

Put every inspection date into the calendar the day the agreement is signed, along with a reminder two days before each. Our deadline calculator does the date arithmetic for each period.

How should a TC handle the inspection notices?

Treat each inspection as its own small project. Book the inspector the day the agreement is signed, ask for the report a day or two before that inspection's deadline, and send it to the agent with the deadline in the subject line. The agent and buyer then decide whether to object, and the written notice goes out before the period ends.

The trap is the inspection that takes longest. If a water quality result depends on a laboratory, the window written in for it should allow for the lab's turnaround, and the coordinator should know that turnaround before the buyer signs. If a result can't arrive in time, the agent needs to ask the other side for more days in writing before the original period runs out, because time is of the essence and silence waives the contingency.

What must a New Hampshire seller disclose?

Under RSA 477:4-d, the seller of a one-to-four family home must give the buyer written information, before or during preparation of an offer, on several specific items:

• the private water supply, its location, problems and most recent water test
• the private sewage disposal system, its servicing and the contractor who services it
• the type and location of insulation
• whether the property is in a federally designated flood hazard zone
• any residential heating oil underground storage tank

The buyer signs a copy to acknowledge receiving it. The section was last amended effective August 4, 2026, so a coordinator using an older disclosure template should check it against the current statute.

What is the New Hampshire waterfront septic rule?

It applies to developed waterfront property on a septic system where any part of the system lies within 250 feet of the reference line. Under RSA 485-A:39, the buyer must hire a New Hampshire licensed septic evaluator before the transfer, at the buyer's expense. The buyer may instead accept an evaluation done for the seller within 180 days of the transfer date.

The evaluator's findings don't stop the sale, but they are disclosed to the buyer. If the system shows signs of failure, the buyer has to replace it within 180 days of the transfer. On a lake property, a coordinator should book the evaluation inside the inspection window and make sure the buyer understands the replacement obligation before the contingency lapses.

How does the New Hampshire transfer tax work?

Both sides pay. RSA 78-B sets a rate of $0.75 per $100 of the price, with a $20 minimum on sales of $4,000 or less, and applies that rate to the buyer and the seller separately. Each buys and attaches stamps showing the tax paid. On a $569,900 sale, the September 2026 median, that comes to $4,274 each, or $8,548 in all, by our arithmetic on the statutory rate.

Who runs the closing is less clear-cut than in Massachusetts or Connecticut. New Hampshire closings are generally handled by a closing attorney or a title company, usually chosen by the lender. We found no statute that requires an attorney at the table, so ask early who the closing agent is and send them the contract.

What can an unlicensed TC do in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire doesn't license coordinators. The Real Estate Commission's published guidelines, reproduced in a 2017 National Association of REALTORS summary, list what an unlicensed assistant may do. Several items are core coordinator work:

• type contract forms for the licensee and supervising broker to approve
• pick up and deliver paperwork to other brokers and salespeople
• follow up on loan commitments once a contract has been negotiated
• obtain status reports on a loan's progress
• assemble closing documents
• obtain public information from the registry of deeds and utilities

The list doesn't cover negotiating or giving advice, and those stay with a licensee. An unlicensed New Hampshire TC who sticks to the tasks above is on well-marked ground.

Which MLS will a New Hampshire TC use?

Mostly PrimeMLS, which calls itself the primary MLS for New Hampshire and Vermont and is based in Concord. MLS PIN, the large Massachusetts service, also carries public records for much of New Hampshire. New Hampshire REALTORS is the state association and the publisher of the standard forms.

How busy is the New Hampshire market?

The New Hampshire REALTORS report for September 2026, current as of October 5, counted 1,310 single-family sales, essentially flat on a year earlier. The median price rose 6.5% to $569,900, and homes took 32 days on market, up from 27.

Townhouse and condo prices rose 2.1% to a $415,000 median in September, according to the same report.

What does a transaction coordinator cost in New Hampshire?

National TC companies publish New Hampshire pages at $450 flat, charged only on a closed file, and from $500 a side. Our tally of 20 one-side prices on public rate cards, taken on 19 October 2026, ran $300 to $550, and $400 was the median. Most of those firms drop the fee if the contract falls apart. The TC cost calculator compares a per-file fee with in-house staff at your volume.

How do you hire a transaction coordinator in New Hampshire?

Check what they will do against the Commission's list, and ask who signs off on anything that looks like negotiation. Ask whether they have handled waterfront septic evaluations and whether they know the transfer tax falls on both sides. Ask about their fee on a dead deal, and set their process beside our TC checklist.

Freelance TC, TC company or DeedSpring: which fits a New Hampshire agent?

The table sets the usual options side by side. A good freelance TC is worth every dollar on a messy file. What most agents are really paying for, though, is someone who never misses a date and always chases the lender. Software does that on every file at once.

To see what the gap means across a year of files, put your numbers into the TC fee per file calculator.

Compare plans on the DeedSpring pricing page.