The shocking cost of moving...

[DeeplyMovingExperience]

Something that has been a real head-scratcher in the decision to move is the massive cost of moving. EA fees, legal fees, professional fees like surveys etc, bank mortgage fees (which they call "booking fees" to secure one of their deals). Then removals, potentially storage, legal fees on the new home, stamp duty and so on.

We estimate that the cost of moving for us is going to be around £50,000. That's a huge dent in our finances, all of which is unavoidable if and when we move. Money lost in the ether. It's gutting when you think how long we work to save that kind of money.

I've decided to block it out of my mind, otherwise it's too upsetting. Stamp duty is a total bastard unless you're a first time buyer.

yep, no escape - but then the country has to be funded somehow. Banks etc don't work for free.

legal fees are smaller than you think if you shop around. EA fees are big, you could chance the purplebricks types but they have a reputation for a reason and can actually put off buyers.

don't do storage - you either need stuff or you don't. See a move as an opportunity for a massive clearout.

£50k does imply rather big houses though, or London. I'm afraid it goes with the territory!

Well yes, it’s a total bastard. But if your house is so sizeable that you are racking up £50k inc stamp duty you should think yourself lucky that you can afford a house of that size.

FWIW ours was more than that as we also have a rental flat and second home stamp duty is even higher, we just tried to think how fortunate we are to be able to do it even though the cash is eye wateribh

It’s always been expensive to move house. That’s why people extend instead.

Yes, moving is so expensive. And that’s before you factor in the endless trips to B&Q, new curtains, etc which come with a new home.

This is why we ended up really stretching ourselves financially to buy a home we wouldn’t need to move from. If life goes smoothly it will turn out to be a great plan but if one of us loses our job, we are scuppered.

Depending on your property you might find a local estate agent who is willing to take a lower percentage of the house value because they don't have overheads etc. As long as they use rightmove I think most people will go for the house not the EA. We went for one which sold lots in our local area and we thought were friendly and knew the area. It helped that we weren't desperate to move and the house wasn't one which would be suitable for pushing to a wider audience in other cities.

We used storage but only because I had sold and couldn't get into new house for a few months.

Usually you wouldn't need storage unless there's a gap between selling and buying.

If you're including stamp duty then yes. I hate stamp duty and the purchasing system in general, I think it's designed for maximum stress and failure but that aside... It really comes down to whether you can afford the extras or not unfortunately