What Are The Costs Involved
When Selling A House?

Common Costs Involved When Selling Your House

Buying a house can be an expensive venture, you have your down payment, closing costs, inspections, but you may be surprised to know the process of selling a house isn’t cheap either. Homeownership is an costly endeavor, and the process for selling one can be equally so.

Whether you’re looking to buy or sell your home in today’s market – don’t worry! We’ve got all of these costs broken down below so that there are no surprises when it comes time sign on those dotted lines at closing day.

Real Estate Commission

Repairs and Cleaning Costs

Home Inspection/Repair Costs

Seller Concessions

Escrow Costs

Moving Costs

Commissions paid to real estate agents are often the greatest cost involved in selling a home. A first-time seller may be surprised to learn that they are usually responsible for paying both their own agent and the buyer’s agent’s commission.

The traditional commission rate has been 6%, split between the seller’s and buyer’s agents. However, if you decide to sell your home yourself and an agent brings you a buyer, the buyer’s agent will most likely negotiate a 3% commission.

Before your first open house or showing, hiring a home stager ($1500+) and a house cleaner ($350) to come in and stage and deep-clean the house is a must if you want to get the highest value for your home.

Maintaining and or sprucing ($250) up the landscape is also important; curb appeal is a big part of first impressions.

Before listing, there are two kinds of home improvements you can make: updates/repairs to switch old systems (roof, furnace, windows, etc.) and upgrades that add features buyers love, (update kitchen and baths) with a goal to boost your sale price. Find out what buyers in your specific area are looking for, and approximately 79% of sellers make home improvements before selling.

Before buyers buy a home, they are given an opportunity to do a home inspection.

The buyer hires a professional home inspector to inspect the interior and exterior of the home, electrical, plumbing, appliances, HVAC systems, etc. to provide an opportunity for a buyer to identify any major issues with a home before closing.

A buyer has what is called the inspection contingency, meaning that the sale is contingent on what happens with the home inspection. The buyers can cancel escrow within the contingency period if the home inspection has too many repairs needed or if the inspection was not favorable.

Most of the time, the buyer will ask the seller to complete the needed repairs, especially if they are health and safety items or something that is a major repair, such as the heater or air condition not working properly.

Research shows that 15% of home deals fall through because the buyer backs out after the inspection report. Before you list your home for sale, you can hire a professional home inspector and you will have the information to select the proper list price and negotiate strategically by paying $250-$700 for an assessment (depending on the size of your home).

In a buyer’s market, it’s common to offer buyers a credit toward their closing costs. There are many buyers who will make an offer that includes a certain percentage of the sales price in the deal.

For example, the contract might state, “Seller to pay up to 3% of the buyer’s closing costs.” It may not appear like much, but on a $400,000 home sale, you have to pay $12,000.

Transfer Tax
You may need to pay a nondeductible transfer tax to complete the sale of your house, depending on where you live. These taxes may be imposed by your state, county, or city based on the value of your property. As the seller, you are generally responsible for paying the tax, which covers the costs of transferring the deed to the new owners.

Title Insurance
It is also normal for sellers to pay for a title insurance policy for buyers, which protects their interest in a home if there are issues with a disputed title or outstanding liens. These costs can range from $1,000 to $4,000, based on the sales price, which can be deducted from your closing profits.

Property Taxes
Up until the day of closing, you are responsible for the property taxes prorated on your house.

HOA Fees
Similar to property taxes, if you reside in a community with a homeowner’s association, you’ll be expected to pay your dues, which will be prorated up to the close date. There are also document preparation and transfer of ownership fees that the seller is subject to. These fees usually average $700 total.

Title Fees
Before you sell your home, the buyer will request a title search to ensure there are no liens, judgments, or bankruptcies against it. The buyer and their lender will also acquire individual title insurance policies for protection against fraud, forgeries, and other unforeseen title issues.
Escrow Fees
These are the fees the escrow company charges for facilitating the home sale transaction.

Capital Gains
If your home is your primary residence and you have lived in it for 2 of the last 5 years, you will not be subject to capital gains as long as your gain was not more than $250,000 if you are single, and $500,000 if you are married. If you had to sell within less than 2 years and or the house is an investment, you may be subject to capital gains. But whichever category you fall into, it is always best to solicit the advice of a professional CPA.

Packing and moving is expensive, can be time-consuming and it should be part of your budget as you consider selling your home. Move.org assesses the cost of a full-service move ranges from $550 – $12,000. But the cost of your relocation will vary based on how many things you have, the distance of your relocation, the time of year, and which types of moving services you opt for.

Below are outlined examples of fees based on listing your home with an agent $300,000 versus selling to a ‘We Buy Houses’ cash buyer.

Selling a home with an agent can be challenging, time consuming, and may need patience. You do have options when you sell. You can sell the traditional way with an agent or sell yourself to a ‘We Buy Houses‘ cash buyer and potentially save yourself time and headaches.

If you are considering selling your home in the Southern California area, specifically the Inland Empire, High Desert or Coachella Valley, We Buy Any House In California is a local family owned ‘We Buy Houses’ cash buyer and we are here to help.

We want to buy your home and therefore, our goal is to offer you the highest and best offer, while providing additional help you may need. We buy houses in any condition, any reason and any situation. Please visit our How It Works page for specific information on how we formulate offers and our About Us page to get to know us better.