4 Forgotten Costs of Selling a House

Ready to put your house on the market for this summer's house buying season?

Odds are your home has probably appreciated since you purchased it and you stand to make a profit on your home's sale, unless you're planning on trading up.

When it comes to selling a house, most sellers focus on how much they stand to make on the transaction and forget about the fact that selling a house also has hidden expenses associated with it.

Here is a breakdown of where your money might end up going on hidden seller's costs many people forget to budget for when selling their home.

PreSale Home Repairs

You'll want to make sure your home is in tip-top shape before you put it on the market.  Window leaks, sticky door handles or dated cabinetry can have a huge impact the final asking price of your house.  

Before you put it on the market take a hard look around and identify all the things that might cause a potential homebuyer to lower their asking price. Then secure a contractor to come in and make the repairs.  

You could possibly do some of the work yourself to save money, but remember the important thing is to get work done right.

Creating Curb Appeal

You wouldn't want to meet someone for the first time in tattered clothes or with messy hair.  You shouldn't expect your house to do that either!  Curb appeal is the first impression your home makes on perspective buyers.

Help make sure your house doesn't have to deal with a bad first impression by giving it a quick make-over.  Weed the flower beds, trim the bushes, plant a few annuals for a pop of color, replace broken bed stones, and add new mulch to your flower beds.

These low cost updates could be what helps your future home buyer make an immediate connection with your home and gets them from the car through your front door.

Staging to Sell

Perspective homebuyers need to be able to visualize what it will be like living in your home. This is why staging is so important.  You want to remove as much of "you and your family" from the home and give homebuyers a blank canvas upon which to envision their lives for years to come.

Simple additions like a bowel of fresh fruit, new bath and hand towels, and  neutral smelling candles are easy additions you can handle yourself.  Consider bringing in a professional stagger to help guide you with other staging aspects.  It's definitely an added expense, but one that could make the difference in how quickly your home sells.

Closing Costs

Most home sellers know about closing costs, and expect them; however, what most don't realize how much they should actually budget for.  You should expect to spend roughly 2 percent of your home's sale price on closing costs.

Keep in mind that the buyer will typically choose the closing company and that company will be the one to establish the fees that will be included. Your Realtor will be able to provide you with an estimate of what those costs will be before closing, but since you can't guarantee who your homebuyer will be until close to closing, there is no way to know for sure until it's almost time for the official close.