Home Sale Proceeds & Closing Cost Calculator

Enter the sale price, mortgage payoff, agent commissions and state to see what you walk away with after every selling cost — or switch to Buyer to itemise closing costs on a purchase. Transfer taxes are filled in from a state table you can edit.

Seller mode subtracts everything that comes off the top at closing — both agents’ commissions, the transfer or deed tax your state charges the seller, title and escrow or attorney fees, the property tax you owe up to the closing date, repairs and concessions you agreed to, and your mortgage payoff — and shows the cheque you leave with. Buyer mode itemises a purchase: lender fees, title insurance, appraisal and inspection, the prepaid tax, insurance and interest the lender collects up front, and the buyer’s share of transfer tax, then adds the down payment for the cash to close. Picking a state fills in its typical transfer tax and the median property-tax bill; every figure stays editable.

How much does it cost to sell a house?

Selling a house costs about 7–9% of the price once you add agent commissions (now typically 2.5–3% for your own agent plus whatever you agree to pay the buyer’s agent), transfer tax (0–2% depending on the state), title and escrow or attorney fees (around 0.5%), the property tax owed up to closing, and repairs or concessions. On a $300,000 sale that is roughly $22,735 with a 5.25% total commission and a typical 0.5% transfer tax; on $500,000 it is about $36,235. Net proceeds are what is left after those costs and the mortgage payoff: sell at $300k with $180k owing and you clear roughly $97,266.

The spread between states is almost entirely transfer tax. The same $300k sale costs about $21,806 in Texas (no transfer tax) and $26,616 in Delaware, where the seller’s customary 2% share of a 4% tax is bigger than the title bill. Commission is the lever you control; the capital gains calculator takes the net figure from here and works out the tax on the gain.

Seller closing costs on a $300k, $500k and $750k house

The table applies the calculator’s defaults — 2.75% listing commission, 2.5% buyer-agent fee, 0.5% transfer tax, 0.5% title and escrow, six months of property tax at the U.S. median bill, repairs of 0.5% and $1,000 of staging — to three prices. Everything scales with the price except the fixed items, which is why the percentage barely moves.

What to do with the number: ask your agent for a net sheet before you sign the listing agreement and compare it line by line with this table. The two lines that should match a contract rather than a convention are the commissions; everything else is a fee you can shop (title, attorney) or a figure set by the county (transfer tax, proration).

Transfer tax by state: who pays and how much

Transfer, deed, documentary-stamp or conveyance taxes are charged when a deed is recorded. Thirteen states charge nothing; most charge the seller 0.1–1%; Delaware, Pennsylvania, Washington, Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia run between 1% and 4%. Custom decides who pays — the seller in most states, the buyer in a few, a 50/50 split in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine and (usually) Maryland — but it is negotiable in the contract everywhere.

Two things the table does not capture. First, mansion taxes: New York (1%+ at $1M, paid by the buyer), New Jersey (1–3.5% over $1M, now on the seller), Los Angeles and San Francisco (tiered city taxes), and Connecticut’s 2.25% tier above $2.5M. Second, mortgage taxes paid by borrowers in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, New York, Maryland and a few others, which the calculator folds into the buyer-side figure for FL and GA. State pages under home values carry each state’s median value and tax bill for the proration line.

Realtor commission after the NAR settlement

Until 2024 the seller typically paid a single 5–6% commission that the listing broker split with the buyer’s broker, and the buyer-side share was advertised in the MLS. The National Association of Realtors settlement, in effect since August 2024, ended that: listings can no longer advertise buyer-broker compensation on the MLS, and buyers must sign a written agreement with their agent that states the fee before touring homes. The buyer-agent fee is now negotiated separately. In practice:

• Listing commissions are quoted on their own, commonly 2–3% of the price; flat-fee and discount brokerages charge $3,000–$10,000 or 1–1.5%.
• Buyer-agent fees are often still 2–3%, but the buyer can ask the seller to cover them as a concession in the offer — which is why the calculator keeps the field, defaulting to 2.5%, and lets you set it to 0.
• A seller who declines to pay the buyer’s agent widens the pool of offers less than one who agrees to consider it; most listings in 2025–26 still end up with the seller paying some or all of it through the contract.

On a $300k sale, the difference between the old 6% norm ($18,000) and a 2.75% listing fee with the buyer paying their own agent ($8,250) is $9,750 — the biggest single saving available to a seller. Get the fee in writing, and ask what it buys: photography, staging advice, open houses, and the negotiation when the inspection report comes back.

Buyer closing costs: line items and typical ranges

Buyers typically pay 2–5% of the purchase price in closing costs, on top of the down payment. The money goes to three places: the lender (origination, underwriting, appraisal), the title company or attorney (title search, insurance, settlement), and the escrow account the lender opens (prepaid property tax, a year of homeowners insurance, interest to the end of the closing month). The example column runs a $400,000 purchase with a $320,000 loan at 6.25% in a state with a modest 0.2% buyer-side tax.

The number that matters is cash to close: down payment plus closing costs minus any seller credit and your earnest-money deposit. On the example, 20% down ($80,000) plus $11,083 of costs is $91,083. If that is more than you have, ask for a seller credit — conventional loans allow 3% of the price with under 10% down, 6% with 10–25% down; FHA allows 6% — or take a slightly higher rate in exchange for a lender credit. The monthly payment by home price page shows how that rate trade affects the payment.

How to cut closing costs as a seller or a buyer

Sellers

• Negotiate the listing fee and interview three agents; ask each for a net sheet at the same price so the comparison is only the fee and the marketing plan.
• Decide the buyer-agent fee strategically: offering to consider it in the contract keeps buyers coming without committing to a number up front.
• Shop title and attorney fees where the seller pays them (owner’s policy in many western states); quotes differ by hundreds of dollars.
• Fix the cheap things before listing — a $400 repair becomes a $2,000 concession once it is on an inspection report.
• Check the proration: in states that bill tax in arrears you owe the buyer for the months you occupied the house; in states that bill ahead, the buyer may owe you.

Buyers

• Get three Loan Estimates on the same day and compare Section A (origination) and the rate together — a lower rate with higher fees can be the worse deal over five years.
• Ask about a lender credit for a slightly higher rate if cash is tight, or discount points if you plan to stay 7+ years.
• Close at the end of the month to minimise prepaid interest.
• Shop the owner’s title policy where you pay it; the lender’s policy is required but the provider is your choice.
• Ask for seller concessions in a slow market; they are easier to get than a price cut of the same size because they do not change the appraised value.

After the sale: payoff, proceeds and the capital gains question

The closing agent requests a payoff statement from your lender a few days before closing; it includes interest to the payoff date, any prepayment penalty (rare on loans made after 2014) and recording fees for the release. Your proceeds are wired after the deed records, usually the same or the next business day. If you have a HELOC or second mortgage, it is paid off too and must be closed, not just zeroed.

Then the tax. Up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 for a married couple) is excluded from federal tax if the house was your main home for two of the last five years; gain is the sale price minus selling costs minus what you paid plus improvements — the selling costs from this calculator reduce it. Above the exclusion, the 2026 long-term rates are 0%, 15% or 20% depending on your income, plus 3.8% NIIT for higher earners. The home sale capital gains calculator runs those numbers; the home appreciation calculator shows how the gain built up, and the home equity calculator tracks it before you sell. Not tax advice — a tax professional should confirm anything near the exclusion limit or involving rental use.