Catherine Weir
QUARTERLY UPDATE OCTOBER 2021
THE REAL COST OF BUYING OR SELLING A HOME I
am often asked by clients buying a home how long do they need to stay in their new home before they can sell it and make money. The answer is it really depends. It depends on the market cycle you buy in, the interest rate you purchase at and how much you put down on the house. All these factors will have a bearing on how soon you can sell again and walk away with money in your pocket. Let’s start with the cost of buying a home. The great news is that there are very little additional costs to you as a buyer to buy a new home. All you need is your down payment and preapproval letter from your lender. Your lender will let you know any additional costs such as your closing costs which are generally around 1% of
WHAT ’S INS I DE Eastside Market Updates, pg. 3
the home purchase price. You should also factor in around half of the escrow costs once you are under contract but that is all you need to put into your budget. The real costs are when you choose to sell your home. As a home seller you are responsible for all the Broker/Agent fees which are around 5-6% of your home sale costs. In addition as the seller you have to pay excise tax of around 2% to the government, you are responsible for half the costs of escrow around $1000 and you also have to pay for title insurance for the new buyer which is around $2000-$3000. If you sell within two years of buying you are also looking at paying capital gains tax in WA state as well. Yes, you read that correctly the total costs of selling