When we receive a phone call from a prospective client, one of the questions we get asked a lot is about what costs are involved with buying a home.
So we thought we would try to give you a brief overview and an approximate idea of the costs of buying your new dream home.
- Solicitors fees – This is potentially the big one, Solicitors have different ways of explaining their fees, they will either give you a cost plus stamp duty or a cost plus disbersments. They both amount to the same figure, but one will look a lot less at the outset. Solicitors tend to charge around £500-600 including vat to do the conveyancing, in addition to that, they also have to do various searches (coal mine, bankruptcy, environmental etc) and bank transfers, these searches add up to around £200-250. So in total you are looking at around £700-850 in legal fees. It may be around £100-150 more if the property is leasehold.
- Stamp Duty – This does technically fall under Solicitors fees as it gets paid to them and they pay it on to HMRC, but as it is not always applicable I have listed it seperately. For a Stamp Duty calculator, please click here.
- Survey – This is dependent on the value of the property and the level of valuation you wish to take. There are 3 types of Surveys, a basic valuation, a homebuyers report and a building survey. Based on a purchase price of £150,000 you would be looking at a basic valuation costing around £320 or a homebuyers for around £500. If the purchase price were £200,000 the valuation would be around £350 and a homebuyers £550.
- Brokers fee – Broker fees vary from £0 through to £1500 plus. Our fees vary depending on the complexity of the case. During 2016, the lowest fee we charged was £200 and the maximum was £1,250 with an average of approximately £550. We charge for the time and work invovled in packaging your case. Ultimately, we want you to come back to us again and refer us to your friends and family, so we always try to be fair with our fees.
So whilst it is difficult to give an accurate idea of costs too early in the process, based on a purchase price of £175,000 a ball park idea of costs would be:
- £750 – Legal fees
- £1,000 – Stamp duty
- £320 – Basic Valuation
- £500 – Broker fee.
Making a total of £2,570 in addition to your deposit.
Please note – all figures are based on approximates at the time of writing (19/02/2017). The precise costs may be more or less depending on your personal circumstances.