How Much Does It Cost To Sell a Home Today?

When you decided to sell, you did some math. Sale price, minus what you owe, minus the commission. That’s your number.

That number is wrong. Not because the commission is wrong. Because it’s the only cost you counted.

Almost every seller runs the same calculation. Price minus payoff minus commission equals what they walk away with. Then, closing comes, they look at the settlement statement, and there are lines on it that nobody warned them about.

Here’s how common this is. Realtor.com surveyed people planning to sell this year. 83% expect to get their asking price or more. They’re confident. But only 39% expect to make any concessions at all.

Then look at what actually happened. Redfin tracked closed sales this May: 46.2% of sellers gave the buyer a concession. Highest May on record.

So sellers are underestimating that one line item by about seven points, and it’s one of the biggest checks most of them write.

The commission is the one you already know about. It’s real, it’s the largest single line, and it’s negotiable. It always has been. Whatever we agree to is what goes on the listing agreement, and we’ll walk you through exactly what it covers and why before you sign anything. But you already budgeted for this one. You’ve known about it since before you called us. It’s not what’s going to surprise you. Everything after this is.

Concessions are now closer to the rule than the exception. This is the one sellers get wrong most often, and the gap is measurable. 39% expected to make one. 46.2% of sellers who actually closed in May made one, up from 43.1% a year ago.

A concession isn’t a price cut. It’s you covering something on the buyer’s side to get the deal done. Closing costs. A repair credit. Money toward buying their rate down. It comes out of your proceeds, and it shows up on the settlement statement as a credit from you.

And it’s not always instead of a price cut. 15.7% of May sellers did both. They cut the price and gave a concession. One in seven.

Now, whether this hits you depends enormously on where you are. In Nashville, 75.5% of sellers gave concessions. Charlotte, 71.4%. Atlanta, 68.7%. But in New York, it was 2.9%. San Jose, 5.9%. Same country, same month, completely different transaction.

The reason it’s climbing nationally is simple. There are 47% more sellers than buyers right now. When buyers have options, they ask. And more of them are getting a yes.

Then there’s the stack, and it depends entirely on your state. Everything else lands in a pile most sellers have never itemized. Title. Escrow or settlement fees. Transfer tax. Recording fees. Prorated property taxes. Your mortgage payoff, including interest through the closing date. In some states, you’re also paying an attorney, because they’re legally required at closing.

We’re not going to give you a national average, and here’s why. There isn’t an honest one.

Some states have no transfer tax at all. Others charge a meaningful one. Title insurance is state-regulated in some places and open market in others. Even who pays for what changes at the border, so the same line item can be yours, split, or the buyer’s, depending on where you’re standing. Anyone quoting you one percentage for the whole country is guessing. What matters is your state, your county, and sometimes your city.

That’s not a dodge. That’s the actual answer, and it’s why this conversation has to be local.

So here’s what we’d tell you to do before you list anything. Don’t ask what it costs to sell. Ask what you walk away with. Those are different questions, and only one of them matters. The costs are just line items. Net proceeds is the number you actually live on.

We’ll build that for you before you ever sign a listing agreement. Every line, your state, your county, your payoff, a realistic concession estimate for your specific market. Not a national average. Your number.

Call or text us at (480) 382-8093, email us at admin@thegoodmantaylorteam.com, or visit thegoodmantaylorteam.com. Bring us your address, and we’ll show you exactly what the check looks like. Better to see it now than at the closing table.