The typical costs involved in selling a house or flat?
Every home sale will naturally be different and the circumstances dependent on your particular property, but there are typically some costs that occur before you put your home on the market and then some expenses that you’ll have to pay once you have a buyer.Some of the fees can be for improvements you make to the home to make it more attractive to a potential purchaser, such as giving it a fresh coat of paint or doing other necessary repairs.
Other expenses you might have to pay are those you’ll be liable for later in the process as you get closer to exchanging, or at completion when receiving payment. These can include the fees that you’ll have to pay to an auctioneer or an estate agent if you have decided to sell your property through one of those two options.
The guide below outlines some of the most common costs homeowners have to pay throughout the sale process, as well as a few tips about how to reduce your overall expenses.
Saving on costs you have to pay before selling
Some of the most typical expenses that homeowners might incur before they get an offer to buy typically involve steps that they might take to make their property more attractive.
Home improvements
If your house has broken window frames, peeling paint, an overgrown garden, dirty windows, or other unsightly features you run the risk of deterring potential buyers. By investing in some basic but affordable home improvement supplies like paint or gardening tools you can dramatically improve your property’s appearance and make it far more attractive to potential buyers who come to view it.
How to save money: you could shop around for less-expensive products that you use for your home repairs, or factor the cost of the products into your home’s sale price.
Energy performance certificates
Before selling your home you will need to get an energy performance certificate, typically referred to as an EPC. These certificates give information on your home’s energy usage in addition to suggestions for lowering that usage. It’s mandatory to have an EPC before selling and if you need to get one the cost starts at £35 but can be much more for larger buildings.
How to save money: ask around accredited Domestic Energy Assessors, who can provide you with an EPC, to see if you can find the cheapest possible option.
Saving on costs you have to pay once you’ve got a buyer
If you’ve already secured a prospective buyer for your house or flat, you might still have some major fees and other costs to pay as you get close to completing the sale.
Estate agent fees
If you’re selling your home through an estate agent then you have the benefit of the agent taking care of all the hard work including listing the property, getting buyers interested and holding viewings. But you’ll have to pay for all this work, and the estate agent will charge you fees once the sale is complete. The actual charge is usually incurred at the point of exchange, however payment is often delayed until completion.
How to save money: don’t sign up with the first estate agent you talk to, and see if there are other agents who can sell your house with lower fees.
Auctioneer fees
Similarly if you sell your house or flat at auction you will have less stress because the auctioneer will handle most of the sale process from listing through to auctioning it. But they will charge fees for their time and effort, which can be significant in some cases.
How to save money: many homeowners who sell at auction pass on the auctioneer fee costs to the buyer, so ask your auctioneer if this is something you can do.
Conveyancing fees
A necessary part of the home sale process is hiring a conveyancer, who is a licensed professional that handles all of the complex legal and other paperwork involved in selling your property – including any necessary work with government departments like HM Land Registry. You can expect to pay at least £500 for these fees.
How to save money: asking around is your best way to compare price quotes from various conveyancing companies and find the lowest possible rate.
Removal costs
When moving home some people organise their own removal, but most people pay for companies to remove their furniture and take it to their next property. The larger your home and the more items you have to move, the more expensive the removal costs.
How to save money: look for removal companies that are advertising discounts on their services and spend some time searching for the cheapest option.
Deciding whether to spend funds to fix a “problem” property before selling
Home improvements, like replacing a broken window, can be a small cost you have to pay when selling your flat or house, as highlighted earlier in this guide. But what happens when you are trying to find a buyer for a so-called problem property that has a major flaw?
There is no hard and fast definition for this type of home but it can include a number of negative factors such as structural damage like dry rot, damp or subsidence; the presence of asbestos in *the building, high radon levels or similar issues, and other things affecting the property’s integrity – and many of these drawbacks can make a potential buyer lose interest entirely.
Trying to sell a home “as is” without fixing such significant problems can also create a situation where a buyer is still interested in your home but assesses the flaws and realises how much it will cost them to fix the situation as the next owner, and then they will reduce their offer heavily to account for this additional expense that they will face should they purchase the property.
That’s why you should take time to think about whether you want to invest the funds, effort and time in resolving structural problems with your home before selling it. This would eliminate the scenarios both of buyers losing interest completing, or reducing their offers by a large amount.
But many homeowners will not be able to pursue such corrective work, whether that’s because it could take many months and they want to sell on a faster timeline, or they lack the necessary money, or any other reason. If this applies to your home sale, do not worry that you will never find a buyer because there are still options available, such as contacting LDN Properties.
As a quick buyer, we’re used to making competitive and speedy offers to buy practically any type of leasehold or freehold home, regardless of any structural problems that it might have and no matter the property’s age, condition, location, shape, size or category.
Not only will you enjoy a straightforward, stress-free and no-hassle way to sell your home, but you’ll also benefit from a speedy process that should only take a handful of weeks from start to finish, and you would also get the advantage of not having to pay any commission. The next section of this guide elaborates more on what to expect from this and other selling options.
Choosing how to best cut costs when selecting your property selling strategy
One of the most important final decisions that you will have to make when selling your home is which method to use for finding a buyer. In addition to the issue of costs highlighted throughout this guide, there are other elements of selling to consider when making this choice.
For example, certain approaches to selling can be much faster than others, like being able to sell your home within a handful of weeks when contacting LDN Properties or another quick buyer. That compares well to selling using the services of an estate agent or selling without any assistance, as these are two options that might take over a year to secure a buyer.
That’s why you should browse the full details of each selling method below to identify the one that best suits your needs. To do this, compare the specifics of the four choices with your main aims with selling, such as your preferred timeline, whether you are willing to pay any commission or other expenses, and the ideal price that you would like to get for your home.
Selling with an estate agent
You might not have to put much effort in when trying to sell your home with an estate agent, as they will be responsible for almost all of the steps involved with attracting a buyer. That can be attractive to certain homeowners who want a light workload when trying to sell.
The work begins with the estate agent creating a listing that describes the key features of your property and includes photographs of the interior and exterior, which they will then advertise in their office, in local newspapers and online. Next, they’ll schedule viewings to give interested people a tour of your home, and finally they will hear offers, ideally taking one to the exchange of contracts – but overall, this is a slow process that can take more than a year when selling.
Be aware that when selling this way, someone can make an offer to purchase your property but then change their mind and cancel the offer, which would cause the sale to fall apart. They can do this and not be subject to any penalties, so long as contracts have not yet been exchanged. And it will require you to start again with searching a buyer, which would delay a sale even further.
For costs, this can be quite an expensive way to sell your home because the estate agent will charge you commission if they succeed in finding a buyer for the property. Usually this is charged as a fee in the range of 1.15 percent to 1.40 percent of your home’s final sale price, and this will increase your overall expenses because it is taken out of the sale proceeds. The actual fee might be higher or lower, so always check for individual estate agent’s rates.
Certain estate agents are also known for giving sellers an attractively high quote for the price at which their house or flat may sell, even if they know privately that it will only get offers at a much-reduced value. They use this trick to get you to sell using their services, as they will benefit from the commission that they will be able to charge you later if they sell your home.
You can sidestep this routine fairly easily, starting by asking many estate agents to give you a free, zero-obligation quote of the price at which they think your home could sell. Then look up homes like yours in the same area as your property and write down the current and past sale prices of a few. Finally, work out the average of all these prices and this should help you in getting a much better rough estimate of the value at which your home could sell.
Selling at a property auction
Another way to sell your home is at an auction, where people can place bids of always increasing value on the property, with the highest bid at the end of the auction being deemed the winner and therefore the person purchasing the flat or house.
There is plenty of uncertainty involved with selling this way, as you may get no bids on the property and this means it does not sell and you will have to start again with seeking a buyer, adding much more time to the process compared to some other options.
Or you may get just one bid at the reserve price – this is the lowest value at which you agree your property can sell, and a bid at this value is considered to be a legally binding deal that you will sell your home. If you try to walk away from the sale after the auction because you think the reserve price is too low, the buyer/bidder can sue you in order to force the sale.
For this reason, you must decide on a reserve price that should generate some profit from the sale even after you have paid commission to the auctioneer. If you don’t, then you may end up selling at a loss or just breaking even by selling close to what you paid for the home.
A typical auctioneer will charge commission at 2.5 percent of your property’s sale price, and this is taken out of the sale proceeds immediately, adding to your expenses.
The fee covers the auctioneer’s work in selling your home, which includes putting together a listing, advertising it, hosting the auction and overseeing a successful sale’s completion. Bear in mind that some auctioneers may charge even more than 2.5 percent in fees, whereas others may be open to a lower rate of having the buyer pay a share of your expenses owed.
Selling without a third party
Or you may decide to sell your home without the help of an estate agent or an auctioneer, but this would be a lot of work on your behalf as you will have to produce a listing, advertise it, organise viewings, hear offers from potential buyers and guide one through to completion.
This can easily become a very long and stressful process and it could take over a year before you are able to sell. That’s why you may only want to pursue this method of selling if you have previously managed to sell homes like yours, or you have a friend or family member that is suitably qualified and is willing to help you with the sale of your property at no cost.
The only clear advantage of selling on your own is that you will cut your costs by not having to pay any commission to an auctioneer or estate agent once you sell. But this saving might be eliminated by the funds that you end up spending on steps like advertising your lists.
As an alternative, you could sell your home to a zero-fee quick home buyer like LDN Properties and get the same result of avoiding paying any commission, along with the added benefit of getting a much speedier sale. Usually, LDN Properties will take just a handful of weeks to complete all of the steps to buy your home, including the exchange of contracts.
Selling to a quick home buyer
Quick buyers are increasingly popular with a wide range of homeowners because of how fast the process of selling can be, as a recent article in The News Portsmouth notes.
These companies, like LDN Properties, can often finalise all the steps of buying a home within a few short weeks, and this includes the important final stages of exchanging contracts and paying the seller the full proceeds. This is much swifter than selling through an estate agent, an auctioneer or on your own, because all three of those choices can take many months.
In terms of costs, this is often the best choice for those sellers who want to reduce their expenses because you will not have to pay LDN Properties any commission when we buy your home. Compare that to selling via an auctioneer or an estate agent, which are two options that would charge you commission that is deducted from the eventual sale proceeds.
For your extra assurance when selling this way, ask a quick buyer if they can prove they are registered with an independent organisation known as The Property Ombudsman (TPO). TPO issues regulations to protect sellers from fraud in the quick buying sector, and all genuine TPO members – like LDN Properties – must follow these policies, protecting the sale of your home. Never sell your house or flat to a non-TPO member because it could possibly be a scam.
And it is fast, free and easy to check on the TPO membership status of a quick buyer. Start by visiting TPO’s website and clicking on the “Find a Member” tap on the left side of the welcome page, and then type in the name of a specific quick home buying company. If they are truly registered with TPO then you will be shown their full membership details. If you do not get any results then this means that quick buyer is not registered with the organisation.
Selling your home but worried about costs? We have some answers
Are you looking to sell your house or flat but have concerns about the costs you might have to pay? Below are some frequently asked questions that might assist you.
No. If you work with a property buying company that has a trustworthy reputation, they can buy your home from you – typically for a cash sum that doesn’t include any fees, so you’ll get the total amount you’re quoted.
For most typical house or flat sales the biggest expense is likely to be the fees that you might pay to an auctioneer or an estate agent if you choose to sell this way, followed by fees for conveyancing, removal, and other charges.
If your house or flat has a significant structural flaw, which can include subsidence, storm damage and more, then you will have to assess whether you have the time, money and energy to resolve the issue before trying to find a buyer. Just remember that you can still get a fair and fast offer for your home “as is” without fixing the problem, by contacting a quick home buyer.
You can usually choose from selling with the services of an estate agent, selling at a property auction, selling without the help of either of these third parties, or selling to a quick home buying company like LDN Properties. But research each of the four methods because they vary in several important factors, including how much they will cost an individual seller.
Getting in touch with LDN Properties or another quick home buyer is typically the most rapid way to sell almost any house, flat or other residential property because from beginning to end it should only take a few short weeks. But if you choose to instead sell through an auctioneer, with an estate agent or without any help then the timeline will be at least several months on average.
If you’re interested in selling your house or flat to LDN Properties or another quick buyer, always ask if the company is a member of The Property Ombudsman (TPO), an independent entity that writes rules to protect homeowners against fraud in the industry. As a genuine TPO member, LDN Properties follows those rules, which should give you peace of mind when selling.
Shopping around is your best strategy when it comes to most aspects of selling your home. Never go with the first figure you’re quoted, and see if you can get a cheaper rate for hiring a professional to do the conveyancing work elsewhere.
