Net
proceeds.
The honest version of the question every seller asks: after commissions, costs, the mortgage payoff, and the IRS, how much actually lands in the seller's account?
The applicable federal bucket depends on the filer’s taxable income for the year. Bracket boundaries shift with inflation; the labels here illustrate roughly which bucket most filers fall into.
After commissions, closing costs, and mortgage payoff, no taxable gain at this exclusion.
Pre-tax net: $411,615 · Cap gains tax: $0 (15.0% on $0 taxable gain)
Illustrative. The capital-gains figure depends on taxable income, state treatment, depreciation recapture, AMT interactions, and bracket-edge effects this estimate doesn’t model. A CPA or licensed tax professional should review before any transaction. More on this →
- Sale price$700,000
- Less: selling costs($38,385)
- Less: adjusted basis($520,000)
- Realized gain (or loss)$141,615
- Less: § 121 exclusion applied($141,615)
- Taxable gain$0
- × effective rate (15.0%)$0
- Listing agent commission$19,2502.75% of sale price; negotiable
- Buyer agent commission$17,5002.5% of sale price; post-NAR-settlement, may be paid by buyer or seller
- Transfer tax (seller share)$385Base $1.10 per $1,000 statewide; cities and counties add. Los Angeles city imposes up to 5.5% on transactions above $5M (Measure ULA).
- Recording fees (mortgage satisfaction)$100Typical $50 – $150
- Closing/settlement fee$550Typical $300 – $800
- HOA transfer/preparation (if applicable)$600Typical $200 – $1,000Building-specific; $0 if not in an HOA
Total selling costs: $38,385. Mortgage payoff of $250,000 is a balance-sheet item, not a cost of selling, so it’s subtracted from net proceeds but does not reduce the realized gain for capital-gains purposes.
Pre-tax net proceeds = sale price − total selling costs − mortgage payoff − property-tax proration. Selling costs include commissions (both sides), transfer/excise tax, attorney (in attorney states), title insurance (in seller-pays-title states), recording fees, and a closing/settlement fee. Concessions to buyer are added as a line item.
Adjusted basis = original purchase price + capital improvements. Improvements that add to basis include additions, kitchen and bath remodels, new roofs, HVAC, and other capital expenditures. Repairs and routine maintenance do not. The IRS distinction is real and consequential, a CPA helps with the line.
Realized gain = sale price − selling costs − adjusted basis. Selling costs reduce the realized gain because (per IRS Pub 523) they reduce the amount realized on the sale.
§ 121 exclusion: a single filer can exclude up to $250,000 of gain on the sale of a primary residence; married-filing-jointly up to $500,000. The ownership/use test requires owning AND using the home as primary residence for at least 2 of the 5 years before sale. Sub-2-year sales typically don’t qualify (with narrow exceptions).
Federal LTCG rate applies to taxable gain (after exclusion) and depends on the filer’s ordinary taxable income for the year, 0%, 15%, or 20% buckets per the IRS schedule. NIIT adds 3.8% for filers with MAGI over $200k (single) / $250k (MFJ). The state overlay is whatever the state imposes on cap gains, varies from 0% (FL, TX, WA, NV, TN, NH, SD, WY, AK) to 13%+ (CA at top marginal).
Property-tax proration: a positive value here represents a credit owed to the buyer (most common, in pay-in-arrears jurisdictions like CA, IL, NY) and reduces seller proceeds. A negative value represents a credit owed to the seller (in advance-pay states like PA, NJ) and increases proceeds. The exact amount depends on the closing date and local custom; the closing professional produces the figure.
What this calculator does not model: depreciation recapture (if the property was ever rented out), AMT interactions, state-by-state pass-through entity tax (PTET) elections, installment sales, 1031 like-kind exchanges, and the dozens of bracket-edge and phase-out interactions that show up at higher incomes. Each of those is a CPA conversation.