The short answer
The sale price is not what you take home. Between the price in the contract and the wire that lands in your account sit two deductions: the cost of selling, which typically runs 6% to 10% of the price, and the payoff of every loan secured by the house. On a $450,000 sale with a $240,000 mortgage, a seller paying typical costs keeps roughly $165,000 to $183,000, not $210,000.
The gap matters most when you are deciding what to do next. A down payment on the next house, a bridge loan, or a decision to rent for a year all depend on the real number. The calculator above produces it line by line, in the same order a settlement statement does.
How the calculator works
The math is subtraction in three groups.
- Costs that scale with the price. Commissions, title and escrow fees, and transfer tax are entered as percentages and multiplied by the sale price.
- Fixed costs. Concessions, repairs, staging, prorated taxes and dues, and moving are entered in dollars.
- Payoffs. Your mortgage and any other liens are paid from the sale before you receive anything.
The formula is: net proceeds = sale price − selling costs − loan payoffs. The break-even price answers the reverse question. It is the sale price at which proceeds equal zero, calculated as (payoffs + fixed costs) ÷ (1 − total percentage costs). If the market value of your home is below that figure, you would need to bring money to closing or negotiate a short sale with your lender.
A worked example
Here is a $450,000 sale with the calculator's starting values.
| Line | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $450,000 | |
| Listing agent commission | 2.75% | −$12,375 |
| Buyer agent commission | 2.5% | −$11,250 |
| Title, escrow, attorney fees | 1% | −$4,500 |
| Repairs and pre-sale prep | Fixed | −$3,000 |
| Staging and photography | Fixed | −$1,500 |
| Prorated taxes and HOA dues | Fixed | −$1,500 |
| Moving | Fixed | −$3,000 |
| Mortgage payoff | Payoff quote | −$240,000 |
| Net proceeds | $172,875 |
Selling costs total $37,125, or 8.3% of the price. The starting percentages are placeholders, not averages for your market. Replace each one with the figure from your listing agreement and your title company's estimate.
Agent commissions
Commission is usually the largest selling cost, and every part of it is negotiable. Two fees may be involved: what you pay the agent who lists your home, and what, if anything, you contribute toward the agent who represents the buyer.
The second fee changed in August 2024. Under a nationwide settlement involving the National Association of Realtors, offers of compensation to buyer agents can no longer be advertised on most multiple listing services, and a buyer must sign a written agreement with an agent, stating the fee, before touring homes. A seller is not required to pay that fee. In practice many buyers ask for it in their offer, either as a direct payment to their agent or as a credit, and sellers weigh it like any other term. The calculator keeps the two commissions separate so you can model an offer that asks for one and an offer that does not.
If you are comparing listing options, change only the listing commission. A flat-fee or discount brokerage, or a sale by owner, lowers that line, though it may also change how much preparation and negotiation fall to you.
Title, escrow, and attorney fees
Someone has to verify that you can deliver clear title, collect the buyer's funds, pay off your lender, record the deed, and send you the remainder. Depending on your state, that work is done by a title company, an escrow company, a closing attorney, or a combination. Sellers commonly pay for:
- An owner's title insurance policy for the buyer, in states where the seller customarily provides it.
- All or half of the escrow or settlement fee.
- Attorney fees in states where attorneys conduct closings.
- Recording fees to release your mortgage, plus courier and wire fees.
Together these often come to about 1% of the price, more on lower-priced homes because several of the fees are flat. Ask a local title or escrow company for a seller's net sheet early; most will prepare one at no charge.
Transfer tax
Many states, counties, and cities charge a tax when real estate changes hands, called a transfer tax, deed tax, documentary stamp tax, or excise tax. It varies more than any other selling cost. Some states charge nothing. Others charge a fraction of a percent, and a few jurisdictions charge well over 1%, sometimes with higher rates above a price threshold. Custom and local law decide whether the seller, the buyer, or both pay it. The calculator starts at zero, so enter the seller's share for your location. Your county recorder's website or your title company can give you the exact rate.
Concessions and repair credits
A concession is money you give back to the buyer at closing, usually to cover part of their closing costs or to settle items found in the inspection. It reduces your proceeds dollar for dollar, exactly like a lower price, but it is easy to overlook because it is agreed after the headline price is set. When comparing two offers, compare the net. An offer of $455,000 with a $10,000 credit is worth less to you than a clean offer of $450,000.
Loan programs cap how much a seller may contribute, with limits that depend on the loan type and the size of the buyer's down payment. The buyer's lender will flag a credit that is too large.
Repairs, preparation, and staging
Money spent before listing does not appear on the settlement statement, but it comes out of the same pocket. Typical items are paint, flooring touch-ups, landscaping, deep cleaning, a pre-listing inspection, professional photographs, and staging. Not every project earns its cost back. The renovation ROI calculator compares what common projects cost with what they tend to add to the sale price, and our guide to preparing your home for sale lists what to do in what order.
Prorated property taxes and HOA dues
You owe property tax and association dues for the days you own the home, up to the closing date. How that appears depends on how your area bills. Where taxes are paid in arrears, you give the buyer a credit for the months you lived there that have not been billed yet. Where they are paid in advance, the buyer reimburses you for the period you already paid. If your lender holds an escrow account for taxes and insurance, the balance is refunded to you by the servicer a few weeks after payoff. That refund is separate from the closing and is not in the calculator.
Your mortgage payoff
Use a payoff quote, not the balance on your last statement. The payoff includes interest that accrues each day from your last payment to the day the lender receives the funds, so it is always somewhat higher. Request a written payoff statement from your servicer once you have a closing date. The title company will order its own, but asking early catches surprises such as deferred balances from a past forbearance or a prepayment penalty on an older loan.
Every other debt secured by the house is paid at closing too: a home equity loan or line of credit, a solar-equipment loan that filed a lien, unpaid property taxes, and any contractor or judgment liens. Enter them together in the second field.
What about taxes on the sale?
Net proceeds and taxable gain are different numbers. Proceeds depend on what you owe the bank. Gain depends on what you paid for the house and what you have put into it. A seller with a large mortgage can have small proceeds and a large gain, and the reverse is also possible.
Most sellers of a primary residence owe no federal tax, because the first $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 on a joint return, is excluded if you owned and lived in the home for two of the last five years. If your gain could exceed that, or you have not lived there long enough, run the capital gains on home sale calculator next. Selling expenses from this page reduce your gain there, and so does every documented improvement.
Ways to keep more of the price
- Negotiate the commission before you sign the listing agreement. A quarter of a percentage point on a $450,000 sale is $1,125.
- Fix known problems before the inspection. Buyers tend to ask for credits larger than the cost of the repair, because they are pricing in uncertainty.
- Hand over documentation. Permits, invoices, warranties, and a maintenance history answer the questions that otherwise turn into credits. See our worked example of how home records help a sale.
- Compare offers on net, not price. Run each offer through the calculator with its own concessions and buyer agent fee.
- Time the closing. Closing a few days after your mortgage payment posts, rather than just before the next one is due, does not change what you owe, but it avoids a duplicate payment that takes weeks to be refunded.
What the estimate leaves out
The calculator does not include income tax on the gain, the refund of your mortgage escrow account, the cost of carrying two homes during a move, or a rent-back arrangement with the buyer. It treats percentage costs as flat rates, so tiered transfer taxes need to be entered as an effective rate. The settlement statement prepared by your title or escrow company a few days before closing is the final word.