Fees and Costs Associated When Selling a House

When planning on selling a house, the costs associated with selling are an important factor and people call me all the time wondering what it costs to sell their home. 

Depending on where you live this is a list of expenses your can expect to pay when selling a house.

1. 

   Obtain legal counsel to prepare and negotiate the purchase and sales agreement after we accept an offer on your home. Your attorney will also advise on problems/issues that arise between the signing of the agreement and closing. Legal counsel may attend closing and review, interpret and explain documentation and will draft the deed and power of attorney if needed.  This will cost you approximately $1000-$1500 depending on who your hire.

2. Provide attorney with your current mortgage information (bank’s name, address, telephone number and account number). Recording fee for discharging the outstanding mortgage(s) will be collected at closing. There may be additional fee for obtaining discharge(s) collected at the closing.

3. Sellers need to pay the Massachusetts excise tax stamps which are collected at the time of closing. This is a tax to the sellers by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the sale of property based upon current rate of $4.56/1,000.00 sale price of the property.

4. There will be adjustments for unpaid taxes, fuel, water, and sewer if applicable and rents, if applicable at closing that will be calculated based on the date of the closing.

5. Sellers in MA need to obtain a certificate of compliance for smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors from local Fire Department and Light Lien Letter from any municipal light department, if applicable. Fees vary per town.  It is usually $25-$50.

6. Obtain wood stove permit from local Fire Department if needed.

7. Provide Title V certification prior to closing if property has private septic system/cesspool.  Call your septic company to schedule.  You may need to pump it at the time of inspection if it has not been done recently.  But it should not be done right before so talk to your septic company about the inspection first.

8. Read oil or propane tank, supply last bill for price per gallon to attorney, the adjustment for a fuel credit will be made at closing.  You get credit for the fuel remaining in the tank.

9. Pay final water bill and electric bill. Obtain municipal lien release for electric and “paid” bill for water.  If your electricity is not municipal, you just need to call to cancel.

10. Real Estate fee will also be calculated and deducted at closing from the sale of the house.  There are some changes to how the real estate fees work after the NAR settlement last year so make sure to review these with your agent when meeting for a pre listing appointment to understand how the fees and changes affect your sale.

If you have any questions on these fees when listing your home, feel free to email me at kpackardrealtor@gmail.com