How Much Will I Make Selling My House?

The basic formula

The walk-away amount is straightforward:

Net proceeds = Sale price − Selling costs − Mortgage payoff

Selling costs themselves are the sum of:

• Real-estate commission (listing-side, plus any buyer-side compensation)
• State, county, and local transfer or excise taxes
• Title insurance and settlement/escrow fees (your state's portion)
• Recording and document fees, plus attorney fees where required
• HOA estoppel and transfer fees, prorated dues
• Property tax proration (the days you owned during the tax cycle)
• Seller concessions, repair credits, and any home warranty you paid

Add commission and all of the above and you typically get 6% to 10% of the sale price — sometimes more in high-transfer-tax jurisdictions like New York City or coastal California, sometimes less in low-cost states with low or no transfer tax.

Three worked examples

$300,000 sale, $200,000 mortgage payoff, moderate-cost state

• Sale price: $300,000
• Commission (5.5%): -$16,500
• Transfer tax (~0.4%): -$1,200
• Title, escrow, recording: -$1,500
• Misc (HOA, prorations): -$800
• Subtotal closing costs: -$20,000 (about 6.7%)
• Mortgage payoff: -$200,000
• Net proceeds: $80,000

$600,000 sale, $300,000 mortgage payoff, low-transfer-tax state

• Sale price: $600,000
• Commission (5.0%): -$30,000
• Transfer tax: $0
• Title, escrow, recording (buyer-paid owner's policy): -$1,500
• Misc: -$1,500
• Subtotal closing costs: -$33,000 (about 5.5%)
• Mortgage payoff: -$300,000
• Net proceeds: $267,000

$1,200,000 sale, $400,000 mortgage payoff, high-cost coastal market

• Sale price: $1,200,000
• Commission (5.0%): -$60,000
• Transfer tax (state + city, ~1.4%): -$16,800
• Title, escrow, recording: -$3,500
• City-specific fees, HOA, prorations: -$3,000
• Subtotal closing costs: -$83,300 (about 6.9%)
• Mortgage payoff: -$400,000
• Net proceeds: $716,700

The four levers that move your number the most

• Sale price. Obvious, but the only lever that works in both directions and the only one with real upside. Pricing strategy, presentation, and timing matter more than any single cost.
• Commission. Always negotiable. A half-point difference on a $500,000 sale is $2,500. A full point is $5,000. Recent industry settlement changes also mean buyer-side compensation is now an explicit decision, not an automatic number.
• Mortgage payoff. Not really a lever after the fact — it is what it is — but the gap between "estimated payoff" and "actual payoff" can surprise sellers. Always order an official payoff statement and check the per-diem interest figure.
• Concessions. Anything you agree to credit the buyer for is dollar-for-dollar out of your proceeds. In a balanced market, push back on inspection requests that feel like re-negotiation rather than safety issues.

Things people forget to subtract

Pre-sale spending isn't on the closing statement, but it absolutely affects what you net overall: staging, painting, pre-listing inspections, photography, minor repairs, and storage. Budget a realistic figure here — for most homes a few hundred to a few thousand dollars — and treat it as a cost of the sale.

Capital gains tax is a different beast and shows up the year after the sale, not at closing. Most homeowners selling a primary residence won't owe federal capital gains thanks to the Section 121 exclusion, but if you're well above it (or it's not your primary residence), set aside an estimate from your proceeds. Our companion guide on capital gains tax when you sell your home walks through the math.

The fastest way to find your number

Plug your specifics into our home seller net proceeds calculator. It starts from state-customary defaults — for transfer tax, title custom, and typical closing costs — and lets you adjust commission, payoff, and concessions to see exactly how each input changes the bottom line. Try the Florida calculator, the New York calculator, or pick your own state from the homepage.

A reasonable rule of thumb

Before you do any math, a quick rule that's right within a few percentage points for most sales: assume you'll keep about 91% of the sale price after all selling costs, then subtract your mortgage payoff. In a low-cost state with negotiated commission you might keep 94%. In a high-transfer-tax city with a full 6% commission you might keep 88%. Your actual number lives in that band — the calculator pins it down.