Moving House

In recent times I have sold the house that I was sharing the purchase of with my brother. We sold it privately, only using a realestate agent to handle advertising and contacts. We listed it on November 19th (2009) and had it sold, for cash, on December 18th (2009). It was advertised for $395,000 and we sold for $385,000 which is basically what we wanted and considering there is no $7,000 - $10,000 commission we did very well.

Here are our costs for selling the house:

• Agent Assist Fee: $495/3mths.
• Conveyancing Cost: $660
• Mortgage Closure: $200 (+$800 for early closure but that was waved)
• Professional House Cleaning (inc carpets): $755
• Removal Fees (Self moving): $40 fuel, $270.09 materials, $132/mth storage

Total: $2420.09 + $132/mth

Since then I have a contract on a 2 bedroom unit for $224,000 which was advertised for $229,000. $1000 deposit paid on acceptance. The costs for purchase are as follows:

• Conveyancing Cost: $605 Solictor + $750 Searches + $2,240 Stamp Duty
• Building Inspection: $240
• Pest Inspection: $200
• Bank Fees: $5,657.84
• Removal Fees: $40 fuel

Total: $11962.84

Therefore my changing of properties has cost $14382.93. Mind you that parts of this amount of lumped onto the mortgage and other parts have been shared with my brother so the actual cash amount will be less.

Throwing these figures down has made me relise how much it actually costs for a change of scenery. During the change over you continue on paying this bill and that without looking at the whole picture - it's enlightening and somewhat scary when you do see the totals.

For the next month I will stay with my parents with the cat saving as much as I can while I'm free of a mortgage to pay for the inevitable maintenance fees. The rates and body corporate fees total $4,000pa so that's $80 a week plus bills of about $50 a week. Mortgage repayments will be something like $300 a week. Yet to do up a accurate budget because I'll need to see how much I consume first.