When people ask me what it costs to sell, they’re usually picturing one number, the commission. That’s the biggest piece for most sellers, but it isn’t the whole story. There are a few other costs that catch people off guard, and I’d rather you see them now than at the closing table.
The honest answer is that the cost to sell a home in Coquitlam depends on your mortgage, your price, and how much prep your place needs. Let me break down each piece so you can build a realistic picture of what lands in your pocket after everything settles.
Commission is negotiable in BC, and it’s typically split between the listing brokerage and the buyer’s brokerage. It’s usually charged as a percentage of the sale price, often structured with a higher rate on the first portion and a lower rate on the balance, plus GST on top. On a home worth a million dollars or more, that’s a meaningful sum, so it’s worth understanding exactly what you’re getting for it.
What that fee should cover is real work, pricing, marketing, photography, negotiation, and managing the deal through to close. I’m happy to walk through my structure in plain terms. What I’d caution against is choosing purely on the lowest rate without asking what marketing and negotiation you actually get, because a weak sale can cost you far more than the commission you saved.
You’ll need a lawyer or notary to handle the conveyancing, the paperwork that transfers title and moves the money. For a sale this usually runs a few hundred to around a thousand dollars plus disbursements, depending on complexity. It’s one of the smaller line items, but you do need it, and I’d get a quote early rather than assume.
This is the one that surprises people. If you have a mortgage, your lender charges a discharge fee to close it out, usually modest. The bigger question is whether you’ll owe a prepayment penalty for breaking your mortgage before the term ends.
On a fixed-rate mortgage, that penalty is often calculated as the greater of three months’ interest or an interest rate differential, and the differential can run into thousands of dollars. On a variable-rate mortgage it’s frequently just three months’ interest. The only way to know your number is to call your lender and ask for the exact payout figure. If you’re buying again, ask whether your mortgage is portable, because moving it to the new home can sometimes avoid the penalty. Confirm the specifics with your lender before you list.
Most homes need something before they hit the market, and this is money you have some control over. It might be a deep clean, some paint, decluttering, minor repairs, or staging. Focus on preparation that improves presentation and buyer perception. Many sellers see stronger results from strategic updates rather than a full renovation.
Staging can range from bringing in a few rental pieces to a full furnished stage, and the cost varies widely. I usually walk a home and tell owners where their dollars will actually move the needle and where they’d be wasting money. Painting a dated room often pays off. Renovating a whole bathroom weeks before selling usually doesn’t.
For most people selling their principal residence in Canada, the gain is exempt from capital gains tax. If the property is a rental, a second home, or one you haven’t lived in as your principal residence the whole time you owned it, tax may apply, and that’s a conversation for your accountant, not something to guess at. If you’re a non-resident of Canada for tax purposes, there are additional withholding and clearance requirements, so get professional advice early.
Smaller costs add up too, moving expenses, any adjustments for property taxes or strata fees at closing, and possibly a few months of overlap if your purchase and sale dates don’t line up. None of these are huge on their own, but together they matter to your bottom line.
A rough way to plan is to add up commission plus GST, legal fees, your mortgage payout including any penalty, and your prep budget, then subtract that from your expected sale price and remaining mortgage balance. That gives you a realistic estimate of net proceeds. The two numbers I’d nail down first are your mortgage payout and any tax exposure, since those vary the most between sellers.
If you’d like, I can put together a personalized net-proceeds estimate for your Coquitlam home so there are no surprises. Reach out and we’ll run the numbers together before you make any decisions.
The overlap between buying and selling deserves a closer look, because the fix for it is bridge financing. If your purchase completes before your sale does, you take possession of the new place a week or two before your buyer takes yours, you need the equity out of the sale before you actually have it in hand. A bridge loan from your lender covers that gap, secured against the home you are selling.
Lenders will usually only offer a bridge once your sale is firm, meaning your buyer has removed their subjects. It carries interest and often a small setup fee, but for a short overlap the cost is modest, and it saves you from having to line up two closing dates perfectly, which is harder than it sounds. If you are buying and selling around the same time, ask your lender about bridge financing early so you know it is available and roughly what it runs.
Selling a condo or townhome comes with a few line items a detached seller never sees. Your strata will charge a fee for the Form B information certificate and the documents the buyer’s side needs to review, usually modest, but it is a real cost, and buyers increasingly expect you to have those ready. Some stratas also charge a move-out fee or ask for a damage deposit to book the elevator and loading bay on possession day.
The bigger one to sort out is any special levy. If your building has approved a levy for a roof, windows or a major repair, who pays which portion can depend on the timing of the vote and your completion date. Do not leave that vague. It can be a meaningful sum, and it is exactly the kind of thing that should be clear in the contract rather than argued about at closing. I flag this for strata sellers before we list, so there are no surprises on either side of the deal.
Knowing the order these costs land in helps you plan the cash flow. A few of them, like prep, staging and any pre-listing painting, you pay up front out of pocket before the home ever hits the market. Most of the big ones, commission, legal fees, your mortgage payout and penalty, and any closing adjustments, come out of the sale proceeds at completion and are handled by your lawyer or notary. You do not write separate cheques for those. They are netted out and you receive what is left.
That is why the net-proceeds number matters more than the sale price. The two costs I tell sellers to confirm in writing before listing are the mortgage payout, including any penalty, and their tax position if the home is not a straightforward principal residence. Those two vary the most between sellers, and they are the two you least want to discover on closing day.
On the sale price of a normal used residential home, no, GST doesn’t apply to the property itself. Where GST does show up is on the services you pay for, most notably the real estate commission, so budget the tax on top of that fee. Brand-new construction is the exception where GST can apply to the price, but that’s the builder’s sale, not a typical resale, so most sellers I work with only deal with GST on commission and other services.
There’s no clean rule of thumb, because the interest rate differential calculation depends on how far you are from renewal and the gap between your rate and current rates. I’ve seen fixed-rate penalties come in at a few thousand dollars and I’ve seen them run well into five figures, especially when someone locked in at a higher rate than today’s. The only honest answer is to call your lender and ask for the exact payout figure before you list, and while you’re at it ask whether the mortgage is portable so you might avoid the penalty entirely.
It depends on the home. An empty or dated-looking place usually shows better with at least some staging, because most buyers struggle to picture furniture and scale in a bare room, and that first impression drives the early showings that matter most. A newer, well-furnished home in good taste often needs very little. I walk the property and tell owners honestly where staging dollars will move the needle and where they’d just be spending to spend.
Most of the big ones settle at completion, not upfront. Commission and legal fees come out of the sale proceeds through your lawyer or notary at closing, and your mortgage payout and any penalty are handled the same way, so you’re not writing separate cheques for them. The costs you pay out of pocket earlier are the prep ones, cleaning, paint, staging, minor repairs, which is why I treat your prep budget as the money you need available before we list.
Start with your expected sale price, subtract commission plus GST, legal fees, your full mortgage payout including any penalty, and your prep budget, then account for smaller items like property tax or strata fee adjustments at closing. What’s left is your rough net proceeds. The two figures I’d nail down first are your exact mortgage payout and any tax exposure, since those swing the most from one seller to the next, and I’m happy to build you a personalized estimate before you commit to anything.
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