The True Cost of Staying Versus Moving

A move looks different once you see the full cost of selling. In Massachusetts, the total cost to sell a home commonly lands around 9 to 11 percent of the sale price once everything is counted. Real estate commission typically runs 5 to 6 percent of the sale price, and it is negotiable. The state deed excise tax adds $4.56 per $1,000 of sale price, a real estate attorney is required at every Massachusetts closing, and staging and pre-sale preparation add more on top.

Then comes the move itself. A typical local move averages around $714, a number that covers the mover but rarely the whole transition. And if you are buying as well as selling, plan on the other side of the deal too: a buyer generally pays 2 to 5 percent of the purchase price in closing costs, often including lender fees, an appraisal, title work, and more.

Add it all up, and leaving the current house is rarely as cheap as it first looks. But the money spent to leave is only half the picture, because staying carries its own price tag, and that one is much quieter.

Staying avoids all of the selling expenses, and that is exactly why it feels like the cheaper choice. But staying has its own costs, and much of them never arrive as a bill with your name on it. The long-standing rule of thumb is to budget 1 to 3 percent of a home's value every year for maintenance and repairs, before utilities, insurance, and property taxes, all of which trend upward over time. On a sizable North Shore home, that range is real money every single year.

There is also the invisible cost of a paid-off home. Equity sitting in the walls is earning nothing, while the same money conservatively invested could be generating real income each year, often tens of thousands of dollars annually on a sizable home. That is not a reason to move on its own, but it belongs in the comparison, because it quietly changes which side of the math wins.

Here is where the easy assumptions fall apart: downsizing does not automatically mean lower monthly costs. A new, smaller mortgage at today's rates can carry a higher payment than an old low-rate loan on the larger house. Plenty of owners with a low-rate mortgage on a paid-down home would be surprised at how much the monthly payment rises for a smaller property at a higher rate.

Many condo and community moves also bring HOA fees along with the smaller footprint, commonly $300 to $600 a month, before you factor in shared insurance or a special assessment that can appear. Sometimes staying is the genuinely cheaper choice, and sometimes leaving is. That is why the answer comes from working through the full comparison rather than assuming which way it goes.

The true cost comparison is exactly the kind of analysis I bring to my listing appointments and buyer consultations on the North Shore. We start with what the current home can net after the real costs of selling, then we build the other side: what the next chapter really costs, month by month and year by year, from the new payment to the HOA to the maintenance that comes with a different kind of home.

I have been licensed since 2003, I know how the North Shore towns and their markets actually work, and I will tell you what I really think, even when it is not the answer you expected. Whether you end up staying or moving, you will make the decision with the full picture in hand.

If you have been asking yourself whether staying is really the cheaper choice, that is a question worth a conversation. Reach out through the Meet with Kathleen page, or book a time that works for you, and we will look at your options together.

The honest answer lives in the full comparison, not in the assumption. You do not have to figure this out alone, and my job is to protect your interests either way. Wherever the math lands, the goal is a next chapter you feel good about long after the closing, and I would be glad to help you see it clearly.