Cost Of Selling A House

txp_fan | Nov 12, 2010 |

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Everyone wants to know the cost of selling a house. Even if one is not looking to sell or buy a house right now, the expense is something all people want to know for future reference. Eventually, most people will consider buying or selling a home. Many people will do both more than once in their lifetime. So, knowing the cost of selling a house is simply one of those things everyone wants to know for when they need it.

Realtors

One of the most obvious expenses when selling a home is with real estate agents. As a rule of thumb, listing a home with a realtor means providing a six percent commission on the sales price of the home. This breaks down to a three percent commission for the agent who lists the home, the real estate agent who is selling the home (listing agent). Then the other three percent goes to agent who brings the homebuyer. Essentially, the idea is that there is a realtor representing the seller and a realtor representing the buyer.

Closing Costs

There are fees associated with acquiring a home loan mortgage and they add to the cost of selling a house. Often too, a buyer may request or even require items like an appraisal, inspection, or surveying. Then there are fees for the title, deed, and other extraneous legal fees. There are also points that can help discount the interest rate for the mortgage. All this adds up and someone has to pay for them when the house is being sold. Usually, this is one of the points of negotiation, deciding who pays what to make the home sale go through. Ultimately, closing costs will be stated in the purchase agreement, which is an agreement stating the offer for the house and the terms.

Marketing Expenses

Very few homes are ready to be put on the market as is. There are repairs and improvements that could be done to make the house more appealing. Deep cleaning of the house before putting it up for sale is a necessity. Staging the house is a good idea and sometimes that takes a professional to help. All these things will add to the cost of selling a house. Many of the things to get a home ready to show also take professionals or it would help top have professionals. As an example, one may mow one's own lawn, but on this occasion having a landscaper to shape the yard could pay for itself many times over.

Another marketing expense is getting the word out there. The real estate agency will get the house in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is the database where other real estate agents can look for houses for their clients based upon certain criteria like neighborhood, price, bedrooms, age, etc. But it is up to the seller to get the word out there in the Sunday newspaper, real estate advertisements, online listings, and other advertisements. This type of marketing is another marketing cost of selling a house.

The costs of selling a home vary but can range from a low of just the sales commission at six percent of the sales prices to maybe a high like ten percent of sales price if there was a lot that needs to be done to the house. So, a reasonable cost of selling a house is about six to ten percent of the home's sales price.