Selling Costs

House-selling fees

Your selling costs are unfortunately not nothing, even with the vast saving you will get by not using an estate agent. For example, the typical fees on a sale of £250,000 are as follows:

Legal: £100-1,000
Please note that these costs will vary considerably according to type of house, geographical location, and type of law firm.

Stamp duty bands (buyer)

Stamp duty is charged by the government on all house purchases. The levels for this have not changed significantly for many years, and certainly have not kept apace with recent house price increases. If you think your house is worth just slightly more than one of these, it is likely that buyers will try and beat you down below the threshold to save on their buying costs.

Stamp Duty bands:
£0 - £125,000 0%
£125,001 - £250,000 1%
(except for first time buyers, who are exempt until March 24, 2012)
£250,001 - £500,000 3%
£500,001 upwards 4%

Renovation costs (buyer)

When selling your property you need to be aware of the costs of actually restoring it to the quality of other houses in the street/area. This can vary massively depending on whether the buyer is intending (for example) to put plastic bath in for £2 off ebay, or a circular copper bath for a mere £6,499.

Here is a list of the estimated costs of some renovations:
Loft conversions: £20,000 - £40,000
Extensions: £900 - £1,400/m2
New bathroom: £6,000 - £12,000
New kitchen: £6,000 - £25,000
House rewire: £3,000 - £5,000
New heating system: £4,000 - £8,000

Be aware of the fact that your house in need of renovation will NOT be worth as much as the one down the road that is in immaculate condition!