10 Costs to Expect When Selling Your Home:

By Edward SeidReal Estate

Selling your home can be a very exciting time in your life.

But do you know how much it costs to sell your home? Most sellers don’t when they decide to sell their home and are surprised when the settlement statement shows how much the selling costs eat into your profits!

Here are 10 costs you should prepare for when selling your home, however, not all may apply.

  1. Closing Costs: Usually this is between 1-3% for the seller. In any given market, both buyers and sellers can pay for the escrow closing costs. Depending on if its a seller’s or buyer’s market, one side may up covering all of it. Property taxes, utilities, and HOA are all pro-rated so both the buyer and seller will pay their “per day” costs at closing depending on which day of the month is the closing date.
  2. The Real Estate Agent Commission: Most sales will be in the 5.5%-6% commission range and this will be the largest expense when selling a home. Buyers and sellers agents will split the commission, each receiving 2.5%-3%. A lot of work goes into a selling a home. For example, the listing agent will need to field calls and emails about the property, schedule open houses, and sometimes show the home to buyers.
  3. Staging: $1500 on average. Some larger agencies will also have their own in-house staging so this cost could be eliminated. Don’t underestimate the power of staging. On average, homes that are staged vs not staged garner about 7-10% more in sales price. Buyers can find it hard to picture themselves living inside an empty home.
  4. Interior Painting: $1000-$1500 on average to have your interior walls painted. Fresh clean walls make a huge difference to a buyers’ mindset. Your home will look well-maintained.
  5. Transfer tax (Excise Tax): 1.78% of final sales price.
  6. Carpet/House Cleaning: $500 for carpet steam cleaning and a DEEP clean of your home. Nobody wants to step on your dirty carpets!
  7. Landscaping: $300 on average depending on how large and well kept your current landscaping is. Having a freshly cut lawn, trimmed trees and bushes can bolster your home’s “curb appeal”. Improving your curb appeal can help sell your home quicker and fetch a higher amount.
  8. Lawyer Fees (Case Dependent): $1000 on average for Power of Attorney. An example is if the seller is mentally incapable, another person must be elected to represent on the behalf of the seller in all business or legal mattes.
  9. Title Insurance for the Buyer: $1000 on average. In case there are any issue’s with the title to the home, title insurance protects the buyer in case there are any liens or other issues.
  10. Inspection Repairs: Most likely the buyer will have a home inspection performed on the property. If the inspector finds any items that need to be repaired, the seller may need to pay to have repairs done prior to closing or give the buyer a credit at closing.

Sellers should expect to pay 10% of the final sales price for fees and costs to sell their homes.