Whether you are moving for work, downsizing or simply want a change of lifestyle, whatever your reason for moving, there are some essential costs which need to be factored in when selling your home or investment property.

These costs include:

• Preparing your house for sale – $variable

Preparing your house for sale can be as cheap or as expensive as you want. At minimum you will need to declutter, tidy and clean, and apart from time and energy, this won’t rack up the dollars. Painting and decorating to freshen the place up are also relatively low cost.

It’s not until you’re considering a major renovation that the ‘preparing your house for sale’ costs start to mount up. When considering a renovation, think whether it will add value to the house, and if so, will the value more than cover the cost of the renovation?

• Marketing – starts at $2000

It’s imperative your property not only gets in front of the right potential buyers, but once it’s there, the potential buyers are enticed to come to an open inspection or auction.

Marketing costs to budget for include: professional photography, floor plans, advertising copy, a signboard, and premium online advertising packages.

While marketing costs will vary depending on the type of property and how much marketing you want to do, our marketing packages starts at $2000. What’s more, we currently have a special offer to include platinum photography, video and virtual tour for FREE!

• Presenting your house for sale

Some circles do not recognise the value of using the services of a professional home stylist. However, if you spend around $2000 to ensure your house properly suggests the ideal lifestyle for marketing photos and open inspections, if this adds up to $10,000 to the offer, then it’s definitely worth the initial cost.

• The legal stuff – starts at $1500

Conveyancing services to prepare the contract, deal with any legalities which may arise, and settlement of the property, start at around $1500.

Depending on your mortgage provider, you may also have to pay the lender a discharge fee.

• Selling the property – $variable

How you sell your property will determine associated costs. Agency fees generally are around 1 – 2 % of the sale, and if you think you’ll get a better price by selling at auction, you may have to factor in the auctioneer’s fee of about $1000 if, unlike us, they don’t have an in-house auctioneer.

Furthermore, depending on your property, you may well have to factor in capital gains tax after the sale.

Associated costs with selling a property can and do add up, but the positive is, your property may well be worth more than you originally thought. According to housing analysts CoreLogic housing values were rising across every capital city and state region, and a synchronised growth phase like this had not been seen in Australia for more than a decade.

If you want to know more about what you need to consider when selling a property, preparing your house for sale, or would like a free, no obligation quote, drop into the Cardiff office or give us a call on 02 4954 8833. Or send us an email to: mail@apnewcastle.com.au – we’d love to hear from you.

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page for handy tips on selling your property or what to look for when buying a property