Expense #1 — Lawyer fees and closing adjustments
If you're planning on selling your house in Ontario, be prepared to cover a number of legal fees throughout the process. In Ontario, both parties (the home buyer and the home seller) need to retain real estate lawyers, so there's no getting around this expense.
Your real estate lawyer will help you with a variety of legal tasks ranging from discharging the title for the property to delivering the closing package. Your real estate lawyer will also prepare your Statement of Adjustments.
Although hiring a lawyer may seem unnecessary, taking care of these tasks by yourself is incredibly difficult, especially if you need to deal with other aspects of the home-selling process at the same time.
Expense #2 — Real estate agent commission
Are you planning on using a real estate agent to help you sell your current property? If so, you'll need to factor their commission into your costs when selling a house in Ontario.
Most real estate agents charge 3% to 7% commission for homes in Ontario. So if you're planning on selling your property for $1 million, you can expect to pay $30 thousand to $70 thousand in real estate commissions. This is something that you need to consider while setting up your budget (if you're planning on buying a new home after you sell your current property).
Expense #3 — Repairs and modifications to the home
If you want to make your home stand out from the local competition, you need to take some time to spruce up your property. Some common examples include repainting the walls, installing new flooring and replacing old components of the home. However, if you're in a sellers' market, you may be able to get away with making minimal changes or upgrades to your home.
That being said, it's not uncommon for buyers to request modifications/repairs while making their initial offer, during their counteroffer, or after performing a home inspection.
Bonus tip — Speaking of home inspections, check out our post on condo inspections.
As the seller, you don't have to accept their requests, but should you choose to, you can end up spending anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars on repairs and modifications.
For instance, if the seller requests that you repair or replace the current HVAC system, you can end up spending anywhere from $150 to $1,200 (or more spending on the extent of the project). But, if your roof is in dire need of repair, you can expect to pay $15,000 (or more) for the necessary repairs.
Expense #4 — Professional staging expenses
When all is said and done, selling a house costs a fair bit of money. However, if you want to make your home look attractive, you'll want to spend a bit on some aesthetic improvements.
This is where staging comes into play; professional staging services are a fantastic option for home sellers that want to give their home a bit of additional flare while it's on the market.
Unfortunately, staging can be quite expensive! Professional staging services in Ontario charge anywhere from $300 to $600 (per room) per month of staging. Be sure to keep this in mind if you want to calculate the costs to sell a house in Ontario.
Expense #5 — Moving expenses
We can't write a list of house selling fees without mentioning moving expenses. Your moving expenses will depend on a number of unique factors, including:
- Are you moving by yourself, or are you hiring a moving service?
- Do you need to rent a van or truck?
- How far away is the home you're moving to?
- How many trips do you need to make?
- Do you need to purchase a storage unit to temporarily store your belongings?
The choices you make will have a huge impact on the overall price of the moving process. For instance, renting a moving van only costs a few hundred dollars, whereas hiring a moving service can cost anywhere from $750 (for a one-bedroom home) to over $3,500 (for a 2,500 to 4,000-square-foot home).
Don't forget to invest in quality home insurance
Although this isn't one of the costs associated with selling a house, you'll need to let your home insurance company know that you're moving to a new address. Moving to a new home has a massive impact on your home insurance rates, so your insurance company needs to know about any significant changes that you make.
If you're moving to a new province, you may or may not be able to use your current home insurance provider. If you can't use your current provider, you should consider reaching out to a reputable online insurance brokerage, like our team at Surex.
Teaming up with an online insurance brokerage makes it considerably easier for policyholders to compare competitive home insurance quotes from the top-rated home insurance companies in Canada.
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