The Real Cost Of Selling Your House

By Author: Elizabeth Lynch
Total Articles: 3
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The idea of selling your house and moving to a new property - whether it is bigger, smaller, newer or simply located in a different area altogether - can be an exciting one. However it also brings with it a wide range of costs to foot. Indeed, selling your house can be a lot more expensive than you think.

Here we have focused on the main areas you need to be aware of in terms of cost. Being aware of them means you can prepare for them in advance, instead of being surprised by a cost you hadn't even considered.

Estate agents fees

These fees are usually charged as a percentage of the sale price of your home. They are usually around two to three per cent. So if your home sells for ￡150,000 and your estate agent charges 2%, you can expect to pay them ￡3,000. However if you sell for ￡250,000 and your estate agent charges 3%, this fee would go up to ￡7,500. Find out what fees you will be charged and work out a ballpark figure accordingly, based on the asking price for your home.

Solicitors' fees

Every house sale incurs legal fees. The good news is these fees are generally ...
... lower than they would be if you were buying a house (although of course if you are moving you will incur these on your new property too). However they can still amount to a few hundred pounds, so you should make sure you allocate some funds to cover these too.

Removal costs

These can vary depending on the distance they will have to travel to get from your old home to your new one, as well as the amount of furniture and boxes that need to be moved. Different firms will also charge different amounts so you should shop around to get some quotes. Be prepared to spend anything from several hundred pounds to well over a thousand depending on the criteria mentioned above.

Time off work

You will need to take a day off work to actually move home. You may take this as holiday or you may be able to take it as unpaid leave. If you have to go for the latter this will obviously cost you money. If you are self employed you will certainly go unpaid for the time you are not working, so this needs to be factored into the costs for your move. In some cases you will need to take more than one day off, depending on what needs to be done and how far you are moving.

House preparation costs

What do we mean by preparation costs? Not all properties are in an ideal condition to be easily sold. If your house could do with some TLC, you may wish to invest some money in bringing it up to a reasonable standard before putting it on the market. This is optional, but if you don't invest some money in doing this you will be far less likely to get the selling price you desire. Furthermore it may take a lot longer to sell your home than it would if it was in better condition.

As you can see there are many costs involved in selling your home. You will have additional costs incurred with buying a new home too, so it makes sense to jot everything down to get a rough figure so nothing comes as a surprise. You may not have much control over the fees and costs incurred with selling your home, but you can at least prepare for them in advance.

Tom Craven Property offer a convenient and alternative solution to selling your house by making you an offer to buy your house fast for cash. Visit us: http://www.tomcraven.co.uk/ .