Selling Costs and Marketing: Comparison Planner

Property Guides · Selling

Knowing the costs early makes it easier to plan your sale. This guide helps you budget for commission, marketing, preparation and moving, and compare what’s included in different proposals. Bring it to your appraisal meeting and talk through the figures with your agent.

Start with an itemised proposal

Ask for the commission calculation and GST treatment in writing, alongside marketing, preparation, legal and moving expenses. Confirm when each payment is due and which costs remain payable if the property does not sell. Your lawyer can explain the agency agreement; your lender and tax adviser can confirm costs specific to your circumstances.

Independent background: Settled’s selling finances guide and agency agreement guide.

Your selling-cost worksheet

Copy these headings into your own notes. For every line, record the written quote, whether GST is included, payment date, person responsible and any assumptions. Use the same proposed sale price when comparing commission examples.

• Agency: commission formula, minimum or fixed charges, included services and any agreed discount.
• Campaign: photography, floor plan, video, online listings, print, signage and auction costs if proposed.
• Preparation: agreed maintenance, cleaning, garden work, staging and storage.
• Documents and advice: legal work, council records and any reports you choose to commission.
• Finance and settlement: lender-confirmed repayment costs and lawyer-confirmed adjustments.
• Moving: transport, storage, service connections and temporary accommodation if needed.
• Contingency: an allowance you choose for items that have not yet been quoted.

Mark each entry “quoted”, “estimated” or “not applicable”. A total built from estimates is a planning figure, not a guaranteed net return. Ask your advisers to check the final settlement calculation.

Choosing your marketing

For every proposed activity, ask: who is this intended to reach, what will they see, what action can they take and how will we know whether it is helping? Request an itemised written marketing plan before agreeing to additional spend. Confirm what is included in the agency service and who can use the photography afterwards. See Settled’s marketing guidance.

Questions for a Mangawhai campaign

• Does the photography explain the home’s relationship to outdoor living, parking and its surroundings?
• For a lifestyle block, will buyers understand access, usable land, outbuildings and the documents available?
• For a section, how will the campaign distinguish verified property facts from a buyer’s possible building plans?
• What information can an out-of-area buyer review before arranging a visit?
• Who follows up enquiries, who reports to me and how do buyers obtain the property information?

Keep in touch during the campaign

Write down a review date and the questions the review must answer. Compare meaningful enquiries, inspections, requests for documents, repeat visits and offers. Ask what buyers are saying about the property, presentation and price expectations. Website views alone do not explain why somebody has or has not progressed.

Ask your agent to explain buyer feedback and any changes they recommend. Agree on the cost and timing before changing the campaign.

Helping buyers take the next step

Good marketing helps people discover your property, understand its features and decide to view it. Discuss which advertising and information will help the buyers most likely to be interested in your home or land.

Local buyers

Ask how the campaign will reach people already looking in Mangawhai and surrounding areas, how inspection times will be presented and how enquiries will be followed up. Agree who records feedback and when you will discuss it.

Buyers coming from outside the area

Discuss which photographs, floor plans, video or other information would help a buyer decide whether to travel for a viewing. Confirm the audience and placement of any paid promotion. Ask how that promotion fits the buyers you’re trying to reach.

Lifestyle and section buyers

Match the presentation to the questions buyers need answered: access, land use, services, outbuildings and available property documents. Our lifestyle and section checklist gives buyers a starting point; property-specific facts still need verification.

Compare two proposals using the same assumptions

1. Ask each agent to calculate the total agency fee including GST at the same two hypothetical sale prices. These are comparison scenarios, not price forecasts.
2. List the included services and optional marketing separately, with payment dates and any costs payable if the property does not sell.
3. Record the audience, duration and enquiry route for each proposed promotion.
4. Compare the person responsible for buyer follow-up and the agreed reporting arrangements.
5. Check how a campaign change is approved and costed before additional spending.

If a SuperGold benefit applies, ask for the written total after the discount and confirm which fee it applies to. Do not compare an inclusive figure with a quote that excludes GST or marketing. See our SuperGold offer and bring both sets of questions to your appraisal conversation.

Make a few notes

Print this page or copy the headings into your notes app to keep track of your plans.

Discuss your proposal with us

Tell us the property address, likely timing and which parts of the selling process you would like explained. Request a written proposal tailored to your property through the form below, or request an appraisal. Eligible cardholders can also ask about our SuperGold benefit.

By Kaye McElwain, Licensee Agent, Ray White Mangawhai. Updated 5 October 2026. General information; your advisers can help with your circumstances.