What does it cost to sell a house in Auckland?

The agency fee

The largest single cost is usually the agency fee, agreed with the agency and written into the agency agreement before the campaign starts. Agencies structure fees in different ways: a percentage of the sale price, sometimes tiered so different bands of the price carry different rates, and sometimes a flat amount instead of a percentage.

Some agencies also charge a fixed administration or transaction charge on top of the fee. Ask whether yours does. GST is charged on the fee. Check whether the figure you have been quoted is inclusive or exclusive of GST, because the two are materially different.

Nothing about a fee is settled until it is written into the agency agreement. Under section 126 of the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 an agency has no entitlement to commission or expenses at all unless there is a written agency agreement signed by both you and the agent.

Marketing

Marketing is charged separately from the fee. It covers photography, floor plans, the listing on the property websites, signage, print and anything else the campaign uses.

What it comes to depends on the property and the method of sale. A campaign with a fixed end date, such as an auction or a deadline, normally carries a heavier spend than a listing sitting at a price. The spend should be agreed in writing before anything is booked, and whether you pay it up front, on invoice through the campaign, or at settlement is a term to settle at the same time.

Getting the house ready, and the costs outside the agency

Preparation is the cost that varies most between two houses on the same street. Repairs, a builder or a plumber, gardening, cleaning, rubbish removal and hire furniture for staging are optional in theory and all come out of your pocket.

Then there are costs that have nothing to do with an agency. Your lawyer charges for the conveyancing. If you are repaying a fixed rate mortgage early your bank may charge a break cost, and it is worth asking the bank for that figure before you list rather than after you sell. Moving, storage and any gap between settling here and moving into the next place sit on top again.

The only reliable total is the one you write out for your own property, with the fee and the marketing schedule in writing from the agency and the break cost confirmed by your bank.