Buying and selling a house costs

[Fairylightsarego]

Hello,

Please explain to me like I am 5 years old.

I am wanting to sell a house worth approx £330,000 and downsize to a house approx £260,000 which I hope will leave me mortgage free.

Please can you advise me or point me in the direction of finding out the fees for buying and selling.

Many thanks

Estate agents fees - vary but we found average was 1% of sale price + VAT.

Solicitors - approx. £1.5k for sale and same for purchase. I think these are often different for different house bands too. Price includes things like searches.

Removal company unless you can do it all yourself.

Survey - depends of level of survey you want. Can be from a couple of hundred to £1k.

Stamp duty - check the government calculator to see how much you would pay for a house you could buy.

I think that's it. It all mounts up quite quickly. It's expensive to move.

Plus the big cost of negative effect on your mental health due to how stressful moving can be

And it can also be exceptionally positive, rewarding and beneficial for your mental health.

Bloody hell! I just used the government stamp duty calculator and it’s £16k!! I had no idea!!

That doesn't sound right unless you have another home? Looking at the calculator for moving home it is 3k

SDLT on a £260k house is £3k if it’s your main place of residence

It’s £16k if it’s an additional property

Yes sorry I think I answered incorrectly on one of the questions 🙈🙈

I defo do not own another property.

thank you, my heart can get back in my chest now

I'd say 10-12k all in on properties of that value. How long will it take you to pay down your current mortgage if you throw that 12k at that instead?

Thank you. There is about £95k on the mortgage due to end December 2037.
We would like a smaller house for less maintenance and smaller energy bills etc as well as smaller mortgage.

@Fairylightsarego i’d just point out that at £260k you are just tipping into the next SDLT threshold so paying 5% on any amount over £250k -great if you are trying to buy a house genuinely work £300k+ for £260k, not great if the house is worth £250k - you’re giving £500 to the govt and not really gaining anything. You pay zero SDLT on the first £125k, 2% on the next £125k then 5% on anything above £250k. Just bear that in mind if you are trying to keep your costs as low as possible.

In the meantime, get busy prepping your house for sale. Declutter, then take a photo of each room /space when you consider it to be at its tidiest, then look objectively at the photo as if you were a buyer - what leaps out at you? Then fix that thing. Do any repairs that need doing / freshen anything that looks old/unkempt, get the windows cleaned etc and then get ready for a spring sale. Get all of the paperwork ready for your house - FENSA certs; gas/electrical certs etc

Good luck!