Cheap labor costs
make Orlando one of the least expensive markets for prepping a house to sell, though taxes on sales are almost double the national average, according to a study.
Cheap labor costs make Orlando one of the least expensive markets for prepping a house to sell, although Florida taxes on sales are almost double the national average.
Sellers in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties pay an average $18,399 in real estate commissions, fees and other costs, according to a 2018 Hidden Costs of Selling study released Tuesday by two homeowner-oriented websites, Zillow and Thumbtack.
“Labor costs are driving down the costs of selling while, on the other side, Florida’s transfer taxes are popping it up a little,” said Zillow Senior Economist Skylar Olsen.
As metro homeowners prepare for the peak sales season in late spring and early summer, they will spend an average $3,800 for cleaning, yard work and minor repairs.
Only sellers in the Metro Miami area are likely to spend less.
Nationally, sellers pay an average of about $1,000 more for those tasks than Central Floridians pay.
Even though Orlando-area sellers might get a break with relatively affordable painters, lawn maintenance crews and flooring companies, Floridians in general pay somewhat of a premium in real estate sales taxes — $1,523 on average.
Nationally, sellers pay about $811 in those transfer taxes.
The largest tab is the real estate commission, which was estimated at 6 percent of the sales price, adding about $13,000 in costs for the sale of a Metro Orlando home priced at the midpoint of $217,000, according to Zillow.
That cost is often born by sellers; Olsen said they should be aware that commissions are negotiable.
Studies have shown that markets with the greatest share of real estate agents have the lowest average commissions, as competition drives down commissions.
The Colorado-based group RealTrends reported that agents’ average commission nationally has dropped steadily from 6.1 percent of the sales price in 1991 to just 5.18 percent in 2015.
Near the peak of the market in 2005, when agents were in abundance, the average commission rate was just 5.02 percent. That edged up to 5.4 percent in 2010, when many agents left the decimated housing market.