How much does it cost to move house?

[sandyballs]

I'm weighing up the pros and cons between extending ours or buying another.

If we sold ours we would get almost £300,000 for it, and would buy another at £380,000 ish. So does anyone know roughly the costs involved with this kind of move?

[cassell]

I'd say the approx figures are:

Sale:
Estate Agents fees, c1-2% so £3-6,000
HIP: c£250
Lawyers fees, c£500

Purchase:
Stamp duty: 3% so on £380k: £11,400
Lawyers fees, c£500 + search fees, land registry fees etc so allow £1k
Survey - allow £1k

So total prob between £15k-£20k not taking into account any removal costs etc.

[Bibithree]

OMG! I am never moving if it costs that much! One of the children will have to make themselves a den in the garden

Really?!

[cassell]

Afraid so, obv you can negotiate fees etc but the tax is a real killer! The damm government (but that's another thread )

[Rebeccaj]

And that's if all goes well :-) We've just spent 18 months trying to sell and buy, including several aborted attempts at both, so have spent about £3k on (our fabulous) solicitor!

[Northernlurker]

It is horribly expensive. Both times we've moved we've had enough cash for just one shot at the whole survey/searches/fees thing so it's been very, very nerve wracking!! The stamp duty is an absolute bugger.

[Dawnybabe]

You don't actually have to find that cash out of your own pocket, so to speak, it comes out of the sale of your house. You have to negotiate it a bit depending if you are remortgaging or whatever. Don't panic!

[sandyballs]

Blimey, thanks for replies, that is a bit of an eye opener. I don't actually want to move, it's more DH's idea than mine. I'm quite hapy to live in a smaller house and not remortgage ourselves up to the eyeballs again, paticularly now we are in our 40's.

Maybe this thread will convince him!

Our neighbours have done a wonderful extension for about 40,000.

Also, all of our neighbours are so so lovely, the road is full of kids who all go the same school and we walk down together, we visit each others house for coffee/drinkies/bbqs. I think Dh really under-estimates the importance of all this. He just thinks it will happen again elsewhere. I think we would be very lucky to get that again.

And, another thing, we back on to a park and my girls (aged 8) are just starting to go out there on their bikes on their own with neighbours' kids, and it's right on our doorstep!

Can you tell i'm not keen to move .

[HeadFairy]

I wouldn't move if you don't have to, I really really resent handing over huge wodges of cash to the treasury for having the temerity to buy a house - and I'm a raving leftie!

We sold for £380k and bought for the same price, so our total house move, not including moving costs will be just over the £20k mark.

[fatjac]

The costs involved in moving was a major factor in us deciding to stay and extend.

£20K for all the official legal work. Added to that the cost of the removal company. Then dont forget you would probably need money for some new fixtures and fittings.

There is bound to be a couple of dodgy carpets/toilet seats you would want to replace. New curtains/blinds to buy. Even if the house is in good order it will probably require a freshen up with some paint. Dont forget things like Sky and broadband connection if the new property doesn't have what you require.

[sandyballs]

Very scary isn't it, it's a wonder anyone actually moves. Plus the trauma of getting into a chain, having surveys etc done and then it all falling through.

I'm definitely showing this to DH. It's looking more favourable on my side now