How Much Does it Cost to Sell a House?

Selling a house can be a confusing business. With so many options and various ways to go about it, you might ask yourself the question how much does it cost to sell a house? This post is here to provide some guidance about the various options you have, taking a look and how much it really costs to sell your home.

Selling on Your Own

Selling your home on your own involves a lot of administration and legwork in order to co-ordinate all the practical, legal and advertising sides of the procedure. It can be very time consuming, but the reward is that you have the ultimate control in how you conduct your house sale.

It may save you money, in that you won’t have to go through an agent, however, you will have to seal the deal and negotiate yourself. You may potentially have to take time off if you work a 9 to 5, in order to conduct viewings and liaise with conveyancers and solicitors within working hours. Unless you use your holiday time or work different hours for example, selling by yourself can become costly. It’s a matter of weighing up your finances.

Selling Through an Agent – The Traditional Route

Traditional high street estate agents work on a fee based commission system that involves taking a percentage of your home sale price. How much does it cost to sell a house through an estate agent?

Most agents take around 1-3% commission as well as VAT depending on their policies. It may not appear a very large sum, but when your London home is worth £530,000 (the average for the capital) you could be looking at a 1% fee of £5300 – a fee that you can easily save by using other methods.

Selling Privately Online

You might be thinking about the difference between selling to an investor and selling on your own – the answer lies in the fact that it will save lots of time going through an online property agent, as well as potentially saving you a lot of money.

Fees are usually charged on a one-off basis unlike the model of the traditional high street estate agent. You’ll have most of the administrative, legal and practical burden taken off you in exchange for this fee. Your property will be marketed online with agency expertise, which usually means for a quicker sale than the traditional route.

Whatever your situation it’s best to weigh up all the options before you commit to one route to sell your home; think about your finances, free time and whether you need a speedy sale.