Tuesday, July 9, 2024

How Much It REALLY Costs to Sell a Home in California


 

Selling a home isn’t cheap.  The good news here is that all these closing costs are paid out of your proceeds at the close of sale, so you won’t have to pay any of this out of pocket unless you owe more on your mortgage than your home is worth.


Let’s quickly look at what all the different closing costs are. Then go into a little more detail on what is involved with each of these costs, and finally show you an example of what this all looks like in dollars and cents.


Here in California, we have six categories of home seller closing costs:


1. Real estate commissions

2. Escrow fees

3. Title insurance

4. County transfer taxes

5. City transfer taxes

6. Miscellaneous items


A good real estate agent should be able to provide you with a single page document called a Seller Settlement Estimate or Net Sheet, that lists these closing costs out in detail for your individual home.


Real estate commissions

o Sales commissions on a home sale are completely negotiable by law but will typically end up costing you between five and six percent of the home’s sale price. Unfortunately, paying less than five or six percent may lead to you sacrificing service, experience, and ultimately a higher sales price for your home. This commission is split between your listing agent and the buyer’s agent. While this can be a substantial sum, it can be helpful to keep in mind that this fee is fully tax deductible, which will offset your capital gain and save you on your tax bill.


Escrow fees

o Not all states use escrow companies, but we do here in California.  Escrow is a neutral third party that works for both the home buyer and seller.  They receive, hold, and disperse all the various money and documents involved in a real estate sales transaction at the appropriate time.  Who pays these fees can vary from county to county, but in San Diego and most of Southern California, the buyer and seller split these 50/50.  In northern California one side typically pays all the escrow fees, but this is also completely negotiable.


Title insurance

o Title insurance protects the home buyer, and their lender if they are financing the home, from clouds on the title to the home.  These clouds could potentially include liens for unpaid seller debts, unrecorded deeds to the property, unpaid property taxes, unrecorded easements, and a whole host of other challenges to the buyers claim to their new property.  There are often two title insurance policies involved in a real estate sales transaction, one covering the buyer and another for the lender.  The buyer should pay for the lender’s policy.  The seller often covers the owner policy, although this is, like everything else...negotiable.


County and City transfer taxes

o Your local governments want a piece of the action whenever real estate changes ownership.  That’s what these county and city transfer taxes are.  Sellers will often be on the hook for both, but not all cities in California charge a transfer tax.


Miscellaneous items

o These miscellaneous fees can include things such as recording fees, notary fees, HOA fees, transaction fees, and reports and inspections that weren’t already paid up front.

most of these closing costs are negotiable to some extent, and I used nice, neat, round numbers for a tidy example because I like to keep things clean and easy to understand.  But as you can see here, your closing costs, as a home seller in California, will run you about seven percent of the home’s sale price.

Contact Me If You Are Looking:

• To Buy or Sell a Home in the Greater San Diego Area
• For Expert Property Management in Escondido California
• To Get Connected to a GREAT Real Estate Agent in Your Area
• To Learn more about information in this video
• To Collaborate on a project together

Erik Braceland 619-947-3560
San Diego Real Estate Broker | San Diego Real Estate Agent | San Diego REALTOR | San Diego Mortgage Broker 
California Licenses: DRE 02059069 NMLS 2064230
Braceland Homes, Inc.
Erik@BracelandHomes.com

1 comment:

  1. Contact Me if You are looking to Buy or Sell a Home in the Greater San Diego Area, Get Connected to a GREAT Real Estate Agent in Your Area, or to Get More Information about today's market: Erik@BracelandHomes.com

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