Moving home is perhaps the most expensive thing you will do throughout your life (next to your wedding of course). If you are considering moving home to Richmond upon Thames, but am unsure if you can afford too, then make sure you take into account all of the costs that are going to be involved, these include nut are not limited to:

Deposit: you will need to be able to put down a deposit on any property that you want to buy. This deposit will need to be money that you already have available in the bank, not the money from your mortgage provider to pay for the property itself. You will need to save thousands of pounds in order to be able to pay for a deposit, if you use as a general rule of thumb the idea that you will need as a deposit approximately 10% of the price you are going to be paying for the house, for example, if you are buying a house for £100,000 you will need in the region of £10,000 saved.

Mortgage costs and fees: you will need to make monthly repayments to the mortgage provider in order to pay back the amount you have borrowed to buy the house. On top of this there is interest charged monthly on the balance outstanding and some additional fees that may be charged, these include:

• Higher lending charges: if you are a higher risk buyer or you need a bigger loan to value mortgage (i.e. you need to borrow £90,0000 which is 90% of the property costs) then you may be subjected to a higher lending charge. This is to cover the risk the mortgage provider has taken by giving you a loan.

• Stamp duty: this is a charge that you may or may not have to pay, and will depend greatly on the value of your property, the location and the size. This fee is usually charged as a percentage of the total property value, a good example is, a property worth £250,000 could have a stamp duty of somewhere between 1 and 3% charged on it.

• Exit fees: this is something that you may have to pay to end your mortgage agreement, it will cover things like the administration costs involved for the mortgage provider, as well as fees to release the deeds to the house. If you need to pay this is will be laid out in your terms and conditions, so always read these before signing your mortgage contract.

• Early repayment charges: if you are lucky enough to be able to pay off some or all of your mortgage early, then you may be subjected to pay early repayment fees. This is to cover some of the loss that the mortgage provider will have now that you are no longer having to pay the interest charges to them. This too will be specified in the terms and conditions of the motgage.

Solicitors Fees: you absolutely cannot sell or buy property without the use of a solicitor, they will need to take care all of the legal work for you, unless you are law graduate of course. Fees vary depending upon which solicitor you use and so it is a good idea to call around a few for quotes and to get a better understanding of their experience.

Surveyor charges: at the very least you will need to have your new property surveyed once, usually this is a prerequisite of being granted a mortgage.
Removal costs: depending on how much you are willing to do yourself, the charges for a removal company will vary, if you require help packing et. Too then the costs involved in this will be higher.

Re-direction of your post: you may need to pay royal mail for them to re-direct your post to your new property.