Real estate transactions entail more than just the real estate agent commission fee and selling price. In Texas, selling a property involves numerous expenses that sellers may not know about.
Average Cost To Sell A House In Texas
You may be wondering: how much will it cost to sell my home? Is it worth it? If you are planning to sell your Texas house, you should be mindful that the process won’t be entirely painless and that there are fees for selling a house to consider. Typically, the cost of selling a house in Texas might add up to as much as 11 percent of the final sale price of the sold home.
A single-family house’s current typical sale price in Texas is $302,730. As a result, selling home costs might vary anywhere from $17,150 to $34,365.
We have included a breakdown of some of the costs of selling a house below to provide a clearer picture of where all of your money is going. Use the information in this article to understand how much money you should budget for the various costs of selling a house in Texas.
Costs To Prepare Your Home For Sale
Cleaning
With the right marketing plan and spotless property, you can draw in many potential buyers. Cleaning and staging a house costs between $514 to $1915.
Landscaping
Preparing your home for sale isn’t limited to the inside. It also entails making sure it looks good on the outside. You only have one opportunity to make a great first impression when you sell a house.
So mow the yard, eliminate weeds, plant flowers, and care for your garden. If you need professional landscaping services, you’ll spend about $3,372 to $3,500.
Repairs
Despite how well-maintained your home has been over the years, wear and tear are inevitable, and you’ll need to repair or fix something eventually. It’s okay to put these things off when you still live in the house, but not so much when you’re hoping someone else will be interested in purchasing your home.
A pre-inspection report can help you discover all areas that need repairs. It will also reveal water, mold, or termite damage in your home, which may be costly to reverse. Home repairs should cost roughly one to two percent of your total sales price, or about $5,250.
Upgrades
Fixing what’s damaged is essential, but you may also wish to make some home improvements before listing to increase your home’s worth. In a competitive property market, you must do everything you can to make your house stand out. A minor remodel average cost is about $4,000, while a major remodel can set you back a cool $50,000.
Real Estate Commission In Texas
Using a real estate agent or realtor to sell a home entitles them to a commission in Texas. The average realtor commission in Texas is five to six percent of the total transaction price.
Real estate broker fees in Texas are between $15,000 and $18,000 if your property sells for $300,000. They’ll divide that fee with the buyer’s agent in return for handling all of the effort involved in the transaction, such as setting up showings and preparing documents. The amount is considerable, even if the selling price of your house is somewhat lower.
You’d still have to pay a buyer’s agent commission if you decide to sell your own property, usually 50 percent of the total realtor commissions. Of course, you may negotiate the commission rate with the buyer’s agent but decreasing the buyer’s agent percentage might hurt your home’s marketability.
You deduct any real estate agent commission from your final profits as part of the seller’s closing costs in Texas. Before you sign any agreements with a real estate broker, thoroughly go over the realtor fees with them.
Buyer Incentives
Concessions
A seller’s concession involves covering specific buyer’s fees. Sellers make concessions when a buyer doesn’t have enough cash for the down payment and closing costs in Texas. Seller concessions average 1.5% to 2% of the transaction price.
You may offset this upfront investment by negotiating a higher selling price.
Home Warranty
Some sellers offer to give a home warranty to their buyers as a closing gift, but it’s not necessary.
A seller might offer a home warranty if some parts of the house, like the water heater, air conditioner, or fans, need to be fixed. The home warranty will help buyers if a part of the house breaks down in the future. In Houston, the average cost of a home warranty is $823.
Seller Closing Costs
Title Insurance
Sellers are responsible for paying the buyer’s title insurance premium. Title insurance protects the lender and buyer against title issues after closing.
Title insurance protects the buyer against title difficulties such as undiscovered liens in the title search. The state of Texas sets the rates. However, they depend on property prices. Depending on discussions, the buyer or seller can pay the premium.
Title insurance is 0.5% of the transaction price in Texas. Buying title insurance for a $302,730 home will cost $1,513.65.
Title Service Fees
Usually, a title company or escrow business charges closing costs for its services. The buyer and seller divide this fee. Title closing costs in Texas are between $442 to $783.
Recording Fees
Also known as the reconveyance recording fees, these are transfer taxes that your state or local government charges you to transfer the title of your home to the new owner.
Reconveyance recording fees cover the cost of registering the sale and transfer of your property. After the transfer deed is recorded, it will be a public record.
You have to pay to record the transfer at the county office in your area. Costs can be different from one county to the next. For example, Dallas County charges $26 for the first page and $4 for each page after that. On the other hand, Harris County charges $18 for the first page and $4 for each page after that.
Outstanding Bills
Unpaid HOA fees and utility bills are only two of the home-selling costs that a seller is responsible for.
Taxes
Property taxes are part of closing costs for a seller in Texas. Suppose a house’s annual taxes are $1,200. If you resided in the home from January to June but sold it in July, you’d owe $600 in property taxes.
The seller must give the buyers credit for January property taxes.
Fees
State laws determine the closing costs in Texas. Insurance, appraisal, property survey, credit report, transfer taxes, and title costs are constant costs to sell a home among local governments and states. Loan payoff charges, mortgage prepayment penalties, and home warranty fees may also be due before closing.
How Much Will I Make On The Sale Of My Home?
The formula is subtracting the remaining mortgage, repair costs, and other fees from your sale price.
Let’s take the average value of a home in Texas ($302,730) as an example:
$302,730 sale price
-$186,696 remaining mortgage
-$10,500 repair costs
-$18,200 closing costs
= $87,334 estimated profit
How To Avoid These Fees
Because selling a home in Texas may be challenging at times, it is customary for sellers to work with a real estate agent. However, due to the substantial agent commissions, more and more sellers are gravitating away from this conventional route.
Homeowners also choose to use the “For Sale By Owner” or “FSBO” method. Although it does save a lot of bucks, it also reduces the sellers’ exposure and multiplies their to-do list many times over. Therefore, selling to a real estate investor or cash home buyer may be the best option for Texan sellers.