According to Zillow, the values of homes in North Carolina have risen by 27.8% year on year, which might have tempted some that it’s the perfect time to sell their home.
But how much does it cost to sell a house? What are the average costs of selling a home?
There are many questions associated with selling a home. A short list of costs involved with most home sales are:
- Real estate agent commission
- Appraiser repairs
- Home repairs
- Seller concessions
- Closing costs
- Capital gains tax
- Moving costs
- Paying the mortgage
In between these expenses are smaller costs that will vary depending on the home’s condition and property type.
Let’s tackle the first question about home selling fees and the cost of a real estate agent.
How Much Is a Real Estate Agent Commission?
This is usually the most significant expense when selling your home. According to the Real Estate Witch, the average commission percentage for North Carolina agents was around 5.60%.
In a state with a median house price of $315,331, your realtor’s fees will be $17,659. Which for most is a lot of money. But they still need to cover several costs, including the fact:
- They might need to split their commission with other agents
- Agents need to pay upfront for marketing costs
- And hopefully finding a client (there’s no guarantee)
Also, it has to be mentioned that realtors are brokers from their company and need to give them a percentage of their commission.
In North Carolina, the home seller must pay the realtor fees. You can, as a seller, negotiate lower prices, but don’t expect them to reduce this percentage below 5%.
Are There Other Options Other Then Hiring a Realtor?
If you cannot pay these commission fees, you must take the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) route. This means you’re effectively selling the home on your own.
Taking the FSBO route will help save you from paying the overall commission fee, but you will need to do all the jobs that your realtor would perform.
When selling a home via the FSBO route, you want to be selling a house for cash, as well as selling a home as-is.
By selling as-is and cash, you circumnavigate the need for complicated paperwork, procedures, and repair bills. FSBO sales tend to be faster because most know their buyer already.
But as a more significant generalization, most don’t succeed in selling their home independently. According to List With Clever, only 11% of sellers succeed at selling via FSBO.
If you’re a determined individual or have real estate experience, taking the FSBO route to save money can be worth it.
The next expense with selling a home is calling in your home appraiser.
How Much Does An Independent Home Appraiser Cost?
When planning on listing your home, it’s always in your best interest to call in your own independent home appraiser. Many prospective buyers will rely on financial support from a third-party institution.
Almost all third-party institutions will require they send in an appraiser to value the property and whether it is habitable. Unless your buyer pays in cash, there’s no way around it.
While the call-out fee for an appraiser won’t break the bank, which is around $230 – $360 for an inspection of a single-family home or condo, it’s what they uncover that could be costly.
What Are Appraisers Looking For?
An appraiser’s job is to inspect the condition of a home and compare the listing price against a comparative market analysis (CMA):
- The state of the residence in regards to cracks, damage, and leaks
- Size of the house and the property lot
- Quality of the landscaping
- Condition of the foundation and roofing
- Number of rooms
- Lighting and plumbing
- Number of fireplaces
- State of swimming pool or sprinkler systems
- Basement
- And finishing details around the home
If there are issues with one or two of these areas, you could be in for a hefty bill. Lighting and plumbing problems can be challenging to find the source of the issue.
According to HomeAdvisor, most electrical job costs range between $153 to $919. While hiring a plumber can range from $177 to $483.
When an appraiser’s report does highlight an issue, you need to address it before any buyer needing financial aid can purchase it.
If you are fortunate to uncover no issues, you might want to conduct repairs around the home to up the asking price.
But how much do these average repair costs?
How Much Do Average Repairs Cost?
When selling your home, you need to prepare it for viewing. And depending on your budget, you could undertake work to attract potential buyers.
Out of all the average costs to sell a home, the one job guaranteed to give a good return on investment is upping curbside appeal. Curbside appeal refers to the general attractiveness of your property from the street.
And when curbside appeal jobs are appropriately done can up the perceived value of your home.
According to ResearchGate’s article, Landscape Plant Material, Size, and Design Sophistication Increase Perceived Home Value when the work is completed well; it can increase the perceived value by 11%.
On average, sellers spend around $145 on just landscaping. While we are in a seller’s market, it’s always worth your time to separate your property from the rest of the crowd.
But when it comes to landscaping, this can quickly balloon.
Should You Invest In Repairs Before Selling?
The short answer is no. Be sure to limit work completed to your home before selling, as sellers rarely recoup their investments.
Remodeling has listed the full cost of the job against the resale value, and the best-recouped cost is replacing your garage door at 93.3%.
If you’re looking to up the appeal of your home you might want to hire a professional cleaning service to do a deep clean around the home. Getting to those hard-to-reach places. Hiring a professional cleaning service can cost between $200 – $400.
Getting a professional cleaning service can help with saving you time, but also when the buyer sees the home without furnishings they don’t find new issues. Rather clean those unseen issues before the buyer adds it to their concessions list.
There’s no easy way to conduct repairs around the home, but unless the buyer is keen to take the home as-is, it is a necessary cost.
But if you’ve found a buyer, well done. This being said, your expensive home selling journey isn’t over yet.
What Are Average Seller Concession Costs?
As mentioned finding a buyer is a huge deal, but they might require certain concessions to be met from you.
These concessions can vary, from specific work needing to be completed around the home to covering additional costs.
Additional costs can include paying for another appraiser to inspect the home. Also, these concession costs could be to do with sweetening the deal. Namely, getting title insurance.
What’s Title Insurance?
Title insurance is a policy that protects you from financial loss due to claims against your title. Finding out at a later stage that the title has debt attached to it is a nuisance.
Buyer concession cost values are limited by their loan type. Most conventional mortgages allow for concessions between 3% to 9% of the home’s value and depend on their down payment.
While the Department of Veterans Affairs caps concessions on VA loans at 4%, the Federal Housing Administration caps this number on FHA loans at 6%.
That said, you’re not obligated to assist with these concessions.
According to Opendoor data, seller concessions typically cost around 1.5% – 2% of the home selling price.
Any Other Running Costs?
You could still be liable for the home’s utility costs during this stage. This includes expenses like:
- Water
- Electricity
- Landscaping
- Home Owner Association
And if you’ve had to move out before selling, you will want someone to professionally stage your home, which can be expensive. Or according to Fixr, the average cost nationally to hire a professional stager can range between $2,300 to $3,200.
But, when these concessions costs are addressed, you can officially start closing the deal. That said, you still need to address the closing costs.
How Much Are The Average Closing Costs?
It might come as a surprise, but you will need to address the closing costs of the contract.
As the seller, you may have to pay for the transfer and prorated property taxes. Also, in certain states, you will need to pay for a title search to assure the buyer there are no hidden issues.
Other expenses are escrow, brokerage, or courier, depending on the lender you’re dealing with in terms of a purchase agreement.
If you have a real estate attorney on your side, they will assist with taking care of these contractual obligations. But once this is completed, you will need to pay them for their time.
While in most scenarios, you will avoid paying capital gains tax. But make sure to research just in case you are liable for this additional cost.
That said, if you have lived in your property for a short time, are selling a vacation home or rental, or now residing in a property that’s value has increased more than $250,000 ($500,000 if married and jointly owned), you will need to pay capital gains tax.
But once this is all done, you can focus on yourself.
How Much Is It To Physically Move?
When it comes to home selling fees, moving costs are frequently forgotten. Depending on the distance you’re planning on moving, this can become an actual intense expense to cover.
If you are moving your belongings and packing them into a rented truck you’re driving, you can save a little. But for those with a bad back or no time, you will need to hire a moving company.
On average, a moving company transporting goods locally will charge around $2,300, while for distances beyond 100 miles, you’re looking at $4,300.
These are just estimated costs as, again, these can vary depending on your household size. If you have access to the capital to assist with moving, it always helps reduce stress.
But before you splash out on movers, how much did you make from selling your house that you paid for through a mortgage?
How Much Have You Made From the Sale of Your Home?
Most people have to resort to using a mortgage to purchase a home. And if you’ve been unable to pay the entire mortgage off, you still owe that financial institution money.
While this may seem as easy as paying it off upfront, you may be required to pay a fine for concluding the mortgage early – or a prepayment penalty.
In the worst-case scenario, you may also have a shortfall in paying off the old loan because it now includes prorated interest. You’ll have to write them a check to settle the difference.
This is an extensive list of expenses, but depending on your location, home state, market trends, and more, you could incur more costs.
When you add up all the costs involved and additional expenses that have surprised you, it might come as a shock with how little you take home.
But you can avoid all this by simply selling your home as-is for cash.
Why would anyone want to sell for cash?
Why You’d Want to Sell Your Home in North Carolina for Cash?
The benefits of selling your home for cash are simple to understand, as it is just a transaction without terms and conditions.
When selling for cash, it is:
- A guaranteed sale
- No home showing required
- Little to no waiting period
- No commissions to pay
- No contingencies to deal with
With a cash offer, the buyer takes the property as it stands.
Now that you know all the expenses of selling an average home, is it worth it?
How Much Does it Cost to Sell a House – A Lot! Sell For Cash
When researching how much does it cost to sell a house, you might have expected to jump over fewer hurdles, but not this many.
That’s why taking a cash offer is so tempting, as it is the simplest method of selling a home.
If you’re ready to have an instant cash offer for your home, feel free to contact us.
We’ll make you an offer that is fair, fast, transparent, and upfront.