How Much Does It Cost to Sell a Home?

You May Pay Commissions, Closing Costs, Taxes, and More

The cost to sell a home varies depending on many factors, including whether you need repairs, whether you sell the house yourself or pay a real estate agent, and what transfer fees are in your area.

While costs can vary widely, many sellers pay between 10% and 15% of the purchase price for all expenses they incur.

You can review a breakdown of common sales expenses below to get an idea of the cost of selling a house, so you're prepared when you list your property for sale.

Common Costs of Selling a Home

Although home-selling costs vary, there are certain fees for selling a house that most people pay. These fees can include things like required transfer taxes, real estate commissions, and marketing expenses.

Real Estate Commissions

If you work with a real estate agent to sell your home, you'll usually have to pay commission to the seller's agent. You may also want to offer commission to a buyer's agent if they bring you a buyer.

Traditionally, the total amount of real estate commission you'd pay as a seller was between 5% and 6% of the home's purchase price. This is split between your agent and the buyer's agent. A 2024 settlement arising from a lawsuit related to buyer agent commissions also means you no longer must offer commission to a buyer's agent. While a buyer may ask you to cover those commission costs as part of the negotiations during the purchase process, you can decide if you are willing to agree to that request. You’ll still have to pay your seller’s agent though.

If you want to save money, you can sell your home without a real estate agent. However, you do need to be confident in your ability to complete the required steps in the sales process.

Closing Costs

When a property changes hands, there are some common fees that usually arise as part of the transaction.

A buyer pays some of those fees, while seller pays others. The fees that a seller pays are called seller closing costs, such as:

• Prorated property taxes. You are typically required to pay property taxes prorated for the portion of the year you owned the home.
• Prorated HOA fees. You may also be required to pay HOA fees prorated for the portion of the year you owned the home if you are part of a homeowner’s association.
• Title transfer fee. This fee covers the costs of your local municipality transferring the title to the buyer.
• Title insurance. This insurance protects the buyer from problems with the title after the sale closes.
• Escrow fees. You may need to pay a fee to the company that manages the disbursement of funds during closing.
• Attorney fees. Many states require that you have an attorney representing you at closing.

Depending on the terms of your agreement with the buyer, you may also be required to pay for some of their closing costs. Sellers may agree to pay closing costs to persuade buyers to purchase their homes.

Current Mortgage Payoff

If you have a mortgage on your home, you will need to pay off the remaining mortgage balance with the money you get from selling the home. In some cases, if your mortgage lender charges a prepayment penalty, you may owe extra fees if you sell too soon after borrowing.

It's important to include the payoff amount and any fees that may be required when estimating how much money you will get from selling your home. These costs must be paid first before you get to keep any of the proceeds of the sale.

Moving Costs

When you sell your home, you’re probably moving out of it, and that comes at a cost.

You'll either have to pay professional movers or the cost of renting a truck, packaging supplies, and, if needed, putting your items into temporary storage before you have a new house to move into.

According to HomeAdvisor, the average cost to hire professional movers is $1,709, while Move.org reports that the average cost to rent a moving truck is around $200 for a local two-bedroom move or $3,000 for a long-distance move of a five-bedroom home. You should get quotes from movers to find out how much your relocation will affect the cost of selling a home. You can check out our moving tips checklist or homeseller toolkit to learn more about the moving process.

Optional Costs of Selling a Home

While many of the above house-selling costs are not optional, there are also some additional expenses you could incur but that you don't necessarily have to agree to pay. Here are some of the optional costs to sell a home that you may decide are worth covering:

Home Improvements and Repairs

Improving your home can sometimes help you get a better price for the property. For example, if your home is painted an unusual color, repainting it to a more neutral hue could help you attract more buyers and potentially get a better price.

You may also need to pay for improvements or repairs if a buyer makes their purchase offer contingent on a home inspection, and the inspection turns up issues. Common problems that might arise include outdated electrical panels, leaky plumbing fixtures, and HVAC issues. It's up to you whether you want to agree to a buyer's demand that you repair defects or provide a price reduction. Consider the overall details of the buyer's offer, including how much profit you will make if you agree to the repairs, to decide.

Home Inspections

As mentioned above, buyers often make an offer contingent on a home inspection. You don't have to just wait for the buyer's inspector to come through and find problems, though. Some sellers choose to do a pre-listing inspection so they can learn up front about any issues.

While this comes at a cost, it's often worth paying for a pre-listing inspection to avoid surprises that could prevent your sale from closing.

Unfortunately, if you do find issues, this could trigger additional costs like pest control services. Despite this, it's better to find out about problems up front than to be surprised when there’s already an offer on the table. It gives you more time to deal with the problem on your own terms instead of in response to buyer demands.

Curb Appeal and Staging

You want your home to look its best, so you or your agent may decide that it's appropriate to improve its appearance.

This could be done in several ways, including fully staging your home with new furniture and layouts that show off the home's best features. It could be as simple as putting away clutter. It depends on what's normal in your market and the current state of your home.

Professional stagers charge for their services, with the costs for the initial consultation and staging having a median price tag of $1,500 according to a 2025 report. If that’s out of your budget, you can see if your agent has staging experience. The median price for an agent helping out is only $500.

While staging requires you to pay more out-of-pocket costs during the sales process, it may help drum up more interest in your home and thus more potential offers and hopefully better offers.

Marketing and Advertising Costs

Marketing your home usually starts with having professional pictures taken. If you use a real estate agent, they will get this done for you. If you sell your home yourself, you can expect to spend several hundred dollars for a picture package.

You will also have to pay to list your home on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) if you don't have a real estate agent.

It's up to you if you want to do any other marketing and advertising, such as listing the home in local magazines, but the more you market your home, the more likely you are to reach many potential buyers.

Home Warranty

Some sellers offer a home warranty as an incentive to buyers to convince them to make a purchase.

Home warranties usually cover major systems of the home, such as appliances, air conditioning, heating, or plumbing. Costs can vary, but an annual premium is likely to cost several hundred dollars.

Reducing Home-Selling Costs

If you are concerned about home-selling costs, there are a few ways you can try to reduce the expenses associated with selling your home, such as:

• Negotiating commission rates with real estate agents
• Shopping around for providers, including movers and stagers
• DIYing home repairs, cleaning, or moving
• Selling your home yourself

The more you can reduce your costs, the more you can walk away with to help you on your journey to your next home. Once you know what you’re ending up with, you can use our home affordability calculator to see how far your money will go if you want to buy a new home after the sale.

Final Thoughts: Cost to Sell a Home

It can be expensive to sell a home, but that's just part of the process of owning real estate. Most people financially benefit from becoming homeowners, so it is worth the transaction costs as long as you're making smart buying, selling, and borrowing decisions.

If you are ready to sell and move into a new home, reach out to Freedom Mortgage today to speak with a loan professional to find out the costs associated with a new home loan so you can be well-prepared for both the expenses associated with selling and with getting your new place.