The Cost of Selling Your Home

The following are some of the usual closing costs when you sell your home:

Legal Fees

Fees will range from firm to firm. Expect to pay, for selling a house under $1M about $600 to $1000. The lowest price is often not the best way to go. Pay attention to the time it takes for a lawyer to respond to your inquiry. If they are slow to respond when you want to give them work, imagine how long it may take if there is an issue important to you. Kahane Law Office includes usual disbursements in our quoted fees (not estoppels or RPRs) but many firms do not. Ensure you ask in advance what is and is not included. Listed below you will find other disbursements.

Land Titles Registration Fees (Provincial)

A disbursement to the land titles office. This fee (the cost of transferring the property into the buyer’s name) is paid for by the purchaser.)

Compliance Letter (Municipal)

The fee is $93 (subject to change) in Calgary. It is a stamp or letter that the Municipality confirms that the improvements on the property comply with local land bylaws and that everything on the property actually site on the property. If things do not comply or sit off the property, then you may need to get an encroachment agreement or a relaxation permit.

Tax Certificate (Municipal)

Municipalities charge this disbursement. It proves that your taxes are paid up to date or if there are arrears, whether you pay annually or monthly or if there are any levies.($10-$45)

Real Property Report (RPR)

Expect to pay $500 to $700 for a RPR in a major center. Rural properties may cost more due to travel costs and larger properties. Apartment style condos do not require a RPR. bare land condos do. If you purchased a property using the standard real estate purchase contract that real estate agents use, then there should have been an RPR given to you by your lawyer when you bought the property. If there are any structures on the property that are not shown on the RPR, then you need to get an updated one. Calling the surveyor who did an existing RPR for an update is less expensive than ordering a new one.

Property Tax Adjustments (Municipal)

If you pay your taxes once a year (June 30th) and you are selling your home between January 1st and June 30th, there will be an adjustment for the taxes to the benefit of the purchaser. You do not pay anything for this item, however you will receive less from your sale proceeds. (ranges form nothing to one half the annual tax levy)

Estoppel Certificate and Certificate of Insurance

This disbursement is for Condos only. They show that condo fees are paid up, that there is insurance on the building and that there are no special assessments not paid. ($100-$300)

Copy of Title

A copy of title has to be pulled showing the registrations on title. These include caveats, mortgages, liens, restrictive covenants, etc. (about $7)

Should You Sell Your Home?

Millions of homes are sold every year. Even though each transaction is different, all sellers want the same result – the best price in the least amount of time with the fewest problems.
Selling Calgary Real Estate is more difficult than it used to be. As a seller you need to be aware of a range of issues and deal with many complex forms. You also need to know that buyer agents represent buyers and each of them are giving their fiduciary responsibility to their clients.

Successfully selling a property requires the Realtor to have experience and training in areas like marketing, financing, negotiation and closing deals – this is the very expertise that Real Estate Agent offer.

It is Important to Know Why You Want to Sell Your Home.

1. You should have a clear idea why you want to sell your home.  Selling a home is an important matter and there should be a good reason to sell, such as moving to a new community, needing more space, retiring to a smaller home or moving closer to family. Your reason for selling can impact the negotiating process so it’s important to discuss your needs and wants in private with the Real Estate Agent who lists your home.

   To get an idea of whether it’s a seller’s market or a buyer’s market, many people start by looking at online or printed real estate guides to research the current market and the price of comparable properties.

2. Is Your Home Ready to Be Sold?
   The home-selling process typically starts several months before a property is made available for sale. For best results when selling your home, you need to look at your home through the eyes of a prospective buyer and determine what needs to be cleaned, painted, repaired and thrown out.

   Ask yourself: “If I were buying this house, what would I want to see?” The goal is to show a home which looks good, maximizes space and attracts as many buyers – and as much demand – as possible.

When setting a list price for your home, you should know the current market conditions. Consider the following pricing factors:

• If you set the price too high, your house won’t be picked for viewing, even though it may be much nicer than other homes on the street. You may have told your Real Estate Agent to just bring an offer, but compared to other houses for sale, your home looks way too expensive to be considered.

• If you price too low, you’ll short-change yourself. Your house will sell promptly, yes, but you may make less on the sale than if you had set a higher price and waited for a buyer who was willing to pay it.

Why You Shouldn’t Sell Your Home Without A Real Estate Agent?

Think twice before you decide to ‘save money’ and sell your own home. It just may backfire.

Research indicates that you’ll get roughly one tenth the exposure of a well-run brokerage if you decide to sell on your own. This means it will take on the order of ten times as long to sell your home. This impacts your selling price, because buyers view houses that have been long on the market as problematic. They might avoid it altogether because of this, or, at best, offer you very little.

Buyers of real estate consider how long a property has been on the market when determining their offers. Imagine that in your ninth or tenth month, after reducing your asking price several times, you can end up misreading the nature of the local housing market and price yourself too cheaply. So you lose.

Ask yourself if you possess the market savvy and requisite skill set to deal with seasoned brokers and veteran real estate lawyers and bring a deal successfully to close? And to get the best price in the bargain?

There’s a lot that can go wrong on your way to saving a little on commission.

Finally, the risk of a botched contract or mismanaged closing could expose you to expensive legal proceedings that far outweigh the pittance you initially hoped to save on commissions.

Please think twice before trying to sell on your own, especially in this market that we are in right now.