Advertising

In most cases, real estate salespeople will ask you to help cover the cost of advertising your property. With more supply coming onto the market, this can be a good idea to help your property stand out: the more people see your home, the more likely you are to find the person who really wants to buy it. 

Minor fixes

It can be a good idea to sort out anything that might trip a potential buyer up. Not quite sure where to start? When you’ve lived in a place for a while, you sometimes become a little blind to some of the imperfections. So, it can be really useful to have a friend or family member walk through the house with you, to look at it with fresh eyes. 

Are there any broken hinges on cupboards or paint chips on doorways that need to be fixed? It could be that there’s more extensive work that needs to be done on things that you’ve been overlooking – like rotting boards in your deck or other building work to finish off. And if it’s not something that you can DIY, it could be worth allocating space in your budget for a day of your local builder or handyman’s time.

Home staging

If you’re moving out before the property goes on the market, or it was an investment property and the tenants have left, you might want to think about having the house staged. This is usually done for a set period of time and stagers can work with different budgets to find a solution that works. 

Staging can be especially helpful in houses where it’s not easy to imagine where furniture could fit, as it often helps buyers realise how big a home really is and how it could be used, as Sojo Design notes.

Lawyers’ fees

This is one that you probably can’t avoid. When you sell, you’ll have to pay a fee to the conveyancer or solicitor who handles the paperwork to move the money. Fees vary a lot, but you should be able to get an estimate ahead of time.

Cleaning

You’ll naturally want to leave the property in reasonable conditions for the new owners. But when you’ve spent all day moving your belongings to your new property, the last thing you might feel like doing is hanging around to clean the house. Hiring professional cleaners can be a real help.

Auctioneer

If you’ve decided to sell your home under the hammer, you may need to budget some money to pay the auctioneer, as the Real Estate Authority notes on its site, Settled. Sometimes this is built into the cost of an advertising package from the real estate agency.

Lawn mowing

It’ll be important to maintain the property while it’s on the market. Having someone come in every other week to mow the lawn and tidy up a bit can really help boost a buyer’s first impressions – and it frees you up to spend your time getting ready for your move.

Rates and insurance

Lastly, you’ll need to keep up your rates and insurance payments until the new owners have settled on the property. If you’ve overpaid rates, your lawyer will square this up with the new buyers.

Like to talk?

We are experts at mortgage finance and can help you get your financial ducks in a row to make the move to your new property as stress-free as possible. Give us a call today.

Disclaimer: Please note that the content provided in this article is intended as an overview and as general information only. While care is taken to ensure accuracy and reliability, the information provided is subject to continuous change and may not reflect current developments or address your situation. Before making any decisions based on the information provided in this article, please use your discretion and seek independent guidance.

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