What Fees Does the Seller Pay When Selling a House?

What fees does the seller pay when selling a house? That can be a tough question to answer if you’ve never sold a home before or when you don’t have a home selling process. While you certainly know that there are costs attached, figuring out which ones can be tough. Unfortunately, going into the the home selling process without knowing them is a great way to suffer from sticker shock – and an even better way to ensure that you won’t be in a strong financial position when the process is over.

What fees do you pay when selling a house?

If you’re just looking at the basics of selling a home, it’s easy to get confused. You’ll find yourself asking questions like, “What are the escrow fees when selling a house?”,  never really focusing on costs like home repairs or attorney’s fees. If you want to ensure that you’re prepared for the real costs of selling your home, you’ll want to take a look at the list of costs below.

Realtor fees

Yes, your realtor charges a fee when you sell your house. Realtors are incredibly helpful when selling your home, but that doesn’t mean that they work for free. Luckily, the vast majority of them won’t charge you a dime while you are in the process of selling a house – they make their money when your home finally sells. This fee generally comes as a percentage of the home sale, taken off the amount left after you pay off your mortgage. The general fee for most realtors is between three and seven percent, with a few going a bit higher in high-demand areas.

Home preparation fees

Many of the fees when selling a house are paid not at the end of the process, but while you are trying to make a sale. Remember, the fees when selling a house doesn’t just include what you pay to an attorney or to a real estate agent, but also to those who do the work of getting your house ready to sell. In most cases, you’re going to pay these fees as they come – if someone is painting your house, working on the plumbing, or even staging your home, they aren’t going to wait for your house to sell before they get paid. You’ll need to make sure that you have money set aside to make these payments as they become necessary.

It can take thousands of dollars to get a home ready to go on the market, so don’t be too surprised by these bills. There are some companies that might be willing to wait a month or two for you to sell your home in order to get paid, but you should generally be prepared to make payments immediately. Think of these costs as money that you should be able to get back thanks to the higher asking price you’ll be able to get for your home.

Mortgage payoff

What fees does the seller pay when selling a house? The most common fee is the mortgage payment. Because of the way the mortgage loan works, the first party that has to be satisfied when a home is sold is not the seller, but rather the company that holds the mortgage lien on the house. That means that before the seller actually gets to touch any money, the mortgage holder will have to be paid off. In most cases, the mortgage will be paid immediately at the close of the sale. The money that’s left over, if any, is realized as a profit for the seller. There can be other fees associated with paying off a mortgage, but the primary concern is paying off what remains on the initial note.

Property taxes

One of the more difficult fees when selling a house is that surrounding property taxes. In theory, the seller may owe property taxes depending on whether or not the seller has already paid taxes for the year. If there is a due date coming up soon, for example, there’s a good chance that the seller will be expected to make this payment before the house can be sold.

If the seller has already paid taxes for the year, the buyer will generally have to pay a pro-rated amount back to the seller. If the taxes are paid monthly, the seller may have to pay a certain amount of tax money and then receive reimbursement from what’s left in the mortgage account’s escrow. As you might imagine, this is a process with quite a few variables.

Closing costs

Many of the fees when selling a house are bundled together in a group that’s known as the closing costs. Closing costs actually vary quite a bit depending on the route that was taken to sell your house, so it’s not easy to put an average number of them. Almost every seller will end up paying for the buyer’s title insurance as well as recording fees, but only those who have an attorney will pay an attorney’s fee. If the seller has a mortgage, he or she will pay any penalties or prepayment fees at this time. If you’re asking what are the escrow fees when selling a house, you’re also generally going to deal with them here as well. Outside of specific mortgage fees, the average seller will generally pay between one and three percent of the sale’s total in closing fees.

Be prepared

It’s always important to be prepared for the fees you’ll pay when you sell your home. If you want to ensure that the fees you pay won’t be more than the money you’ll make, you should work with a great agent. Our experienced agents can not only help you to sell your home, but help ensure that you get a fair price with our home selling process. When you’re ready to sell, make sure to check out our Home Affordability Calculator to get an idea of what your home is really worth.