Saving on costs when selling your home

Why it costs money to sell your home

Although selling your home will hopefully make you some profit, there are costs involved covering various aspects of the sale process including listing the property and the legal fees. This means that your budget planning for selling your home needs to include every possible cost, which you’ll have to deduct from the final sale price you receive.

Estate agents will charge fees

If you decide to sell your home through an estate agent, you get the benefit of them taking care of listing, marketing, and organising viewings for your property, so this can help you avoid a lot of stress in trying to make a sale. But estate agents will also charge fees for doing this work and securing a buyer, and you can expect to have to pay them between one and three percent of the final home sale price, which can be a significant amount if your house is very expensive.

A simple way to address this cost is to negotiate with your estate agent on the total fees and commission they propose to charge. You might be able to get them to agree to a lower amount that is better for your budget, reducing your overall costs involved with selling.

Be sure that your estate agent is a member of The Property Ombudsman (TPO), an independent organisation that provides an alternative dispute resolution for homeowners and estate agents. Members of the TPO have to comply with certain rules and standards about selling, so you want to find an estate agent who is a registered member as it means they will likely be in compliance with the TPO standards.

Negotiate with auctioneers to reduce costs

Alternatively, you might be contemplating selling your house at auction. This can be an enticing option because of the potential that you might be able to make a lot of money if many people are interested in your home and launch into competitive bids, driving up the final sale price. But be cautious that whatever price your home sells for at auction, the final amount you receive will be after subtracting the fees that the auctioneer will charge. They do all the work of listing and selling the home, and expect to be reimbursed for it after the property has sold.

Much like negotiating with an estate agent, you can discuss the fees with your auctioneer before agreeing to have them sell your home. Ask for their fees and then talk with them to see if they can lower their charges. If you can manage to have them agree to a lower commission, you have the possibility of cutting costs incurred when selling your property.

Legal fees are a necessary expense

You’ll likely need to hire a solicitor or conveyancer to handle the extensive legal paperwork involved with selling your home, and many of them can charge high fees.

A simple way to reduce these costs is to ask around several different solicitors to find out how much they charge. You can also talk directly with solicitors to negotiate a lower fee than whatever they tell you as an opening estimated price.

Removal charges can be a last-minute expense

One expense that homeowners often don’t think about until the last minute is the cost of paying removal companies to transport their furniture and other belongings to their next home. If you have a large home with a lot of items to move, the removal company will charge you more. Fees for removals can range from a few hundred to several thousand pounds.

If it’s possible for you to move yourself – perhaps because you have a small home or have friends willing to help for free – this can be a simple way to avoid paying for a removal company.

But if you need to use the services of a removal company, the best way to cut costs is simply to ask around a number of companies and compare prices. Don’t automatically take the first offer a company makes, because a competing removal firm might offer you a much cheaper price.