What It Really Costs to Sell a House (With Real Dollar Examples)

How much does it cost to sell a house?

Most estimates put selling costs at 6 to 10 percent of the sale price, not counting your mortgage payoff. Agent commissions are the largest piece. Closing costs, buyer credits, repairs and the months of payments while the house is listed make up the rest. In our two worked examples below, the total came to just under 10 percent.

The published ranges disagree. Opendoor says 6 to 10 percent. NerdWallet says plan for at least 10. Zillow's calculator defaults to about 10.65 percent. One California guide says 12.55 percent.

They disagree because they count different things. Some leave out the months of mortgage payments while you wait. Some leave out repairs. Some include moving. None of them is wrong, exactly. They're just answering slightly different questions.

The only number that matters is yours. So skip the percentages and work it out line by line, the way the next two sections do.

If I sell my house for $300,000, how much do I actually get?

On a $300,000 house in California with $150,000 left on the mortgage, a typical listed sale leaves about $120,000 in your pocket. About $29,600 goes to selling costs, mostly commission, and $150,000 pays off the loan. Your numbers will differ, and the structure won't.

Here's the example, line by line. It assumes a house in decent shape, listed with an agent, sold in about three months.

Two notes on this table.

The holding costs count only money that's gone: mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, utilities and upkeep. The principal part of your payment isn't a cost, because it lowers what you owe at payoff.

And the buyer credit is a judgment call. Some buyers ask for nothing. Some ask for more, especially after an inspection.

How much does it cost to sell a $400,000 house?

On a $400,000 house in Texas with $200,000 left on the mortgage, a typical listed sale costs about $38,750, just under 10 percent, and leaves about $161,250 after the payoff. Texas has no transfer tax, and its higher property taxes push the holding costs up.

Run your own house through the same lines. The two that move the most are commission and how long the house sits.

Who pays the agents now, after the 2024 commission settlement?

You pay your listing agent. Since August 17, 2024, who pays the buyer's agent is negotiated in each deal. Buyers now sign a written agreement with their agent that states the fee, and they can ask you to cover some or all of it in their offer. You can say yes, no or meet in the middle.

This came out of the National Association of Realtors settlement. Two rules changed:

1. Listings on the MLS (the shared database agents use) can't advertise how much the seller will pay the buyer's agent.
2. A buyer has to sign a written agreement with their agent, with the fee spelled out, before touring homes with them.

What it means for you: commission is a line you negotiate twice. Once with your own agent when you list. Again when an offer comes in asking you to pay the buyer's agent.

Many sellers still offer to pay part of the buyer's agent fee, because it brings in more buyers. That's a pricing decision, the same as the list price. Ask your agent how many recent sales near you included it.

What are seller closing costs, line by line?

Seller closing costs are the fees paid at closing, apart from agent commissions: the title and escrow fees, the owner's title insurance policy in many places, any transfer tax, recording fees, prorated property taxes, HOA fees and any credits you agreed to give the buyer. Together they often run 1 to 3 percent of the price.

Almost every line here is a custom, not a law. Customs can be negotiated, and the title or escrow company can tell you what's normal in your county.

What does it cost to keep the house while it's for sale?

Every month the house is for sale, you keep paying mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, utilities and upkeep. On our two example houses that came to about $1,600 and $2,250 a month. A listed sale often takes about two and a half months from listing to closing, and longer if the price is high or the house needs work.

This is the cost that every top-ranking page we read skips or barely mentions. Here's how to work out yours.

Multiply by the months you expect the house to take, from now to closing. Redfin's market data puts a typical listed sale at about 73 days from listing to closing, and the prep before listing adds more.

If you're also paying rent or a second mortgage somewhere else, add that too. Two housing payments at once is where selling gets expensive fast.

What do repairs, staging and getting the house ready cost?

It depends almost entirely on your house. A house in good shape may need only paint, cleaning and a few fixes, a few thousand dollars. A house with an old roof or foundation problems can need tens of thousands before a buyer's lender will approve it. Fix what a lender or inspector will flag, and skip the remodel.

A few honest rules of thumb:

• Fix what blocks the loan.Roofs, electrical hazards, active leaks and broken heating can stop a buyer's lender from approving the loan. Those are worth fixing, or pricing in.
• Skip the big remodel. A new kitchen right before you sell rarely pays you back in full.
• Paint and clean are cheap and visible.They're usually the best dollars you'll spend.
• Staging is optional. It helps most for empty houses and higher prices.

We go through the repair math month by month in fix it up first or sell as-is, including when skipping repairs nets more.

What comes out of your check at closing?

Your mortgage payoff, any second loan or home equity line, interest up to the payoff date, any liens or judgments, unpaid property taxes, HOA balances and, in California, a tax withholding on some sales. The title company sends you a payoff estimate before closing, and you should check every line.

Your payoff is higher than your statement balance.Mortgage interest is paid after the fact, so the payoff includes interest from your last payment up to the day the lender gets paid. On a $150,000 balance at 6.5 percent, that's about $27 a day.

Prepayment penalties are rare now. Most home loans made in recent years have none, and federal rules limit them on most others. Check your loan papers anyway.

California may hold back tax. In California, escrow withholds 3 1/3 percent of the sale price for state income tax unless an exemption applies, such as selling your main home. On a rental or second home, that can be $10,000 on a $300,000 sale, credited back when you file your taxes.

Liens come out first. Unpaid contractor bills, judgments and tax liens recorded against the house get paid from your proceeds before you see anything.

Do I pay taxes when I sell my house?

Usually not, if it's your main home. Federal law lets you exclude up to $250,000 of profit, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, if you owned the home and lived in it for at least two of the last five years. Profit above that, or on a rental or second home, is taxed as a capital gain.

How to figure your profit.Start with the sale price and subtract your selling costs. Then subtract what you paid for the house plus the cost of improvements you made, like a new roof or an addition. What's left is your gain.

Example: you bought for $200,000, put in a $30,000 roof and kitchen and sell for $400,000 with $38,750 in selling costs. Your gain is $400,000 − $38,750 − $230,000 = $131,250. That's well under the $250,000 exclusion, so you'd owe no federal tax on it if you meet the two-year test.

There's no special break for seniors anymore. The old one-time exclusion for people over 55 ended in 1997. Everyone uses the same $250,000 or $500,000 exclusion now.

Rentals, second homes and inherited houses follow different rules. A tax professional is worth the fee on any of those. IRS Publication 523 has the full rules.

What does it cost to sell a house in California?

California adds a county transfer tax of $1.10 per $1,000 of the price, and some cities add their own on top. In much of Southern California the seller pays the owner's title policy and splits escrow. Escrow may also withhold 3 1/3 percent for state tax unless your sale is exempt, as most main-home sales are.

• County transfer tax: $1.10 per $1,000 in every county. On a $500,000 house, $550.
• City transfer taxes: some cities add more. The City of Los Angeles adds $4.50 per $1,000, for $5.60 combined. Los Angeles also charges a much larger tax, Measure ULA, on sales above about $5.4 million.
• Who pays title and escrow:customs differ between Northern and Southern California and even county to county. Ask the escrow company what's normal where you are.
• State tax withholding: 3 1/3 percent of the price unless an exemption applies.

California's prices are high, so the percentages hit harder in dollars. On a $750,000 house, every 1 percent is $7,500. More on selling here in our California seller's guide.

What does it cost to sell a house in Arizona?

Arizona has no real estate transfer tax, which its constitution bars. Sellers file an affidavit of property value with the deed, for a small fee. If you're in an HOA, the HOA can charge you up to $400 for the resale disclosure packet, plus rush and update fees.

• Transfer tax: none (Arizona Constitution, article 9, section 24).
• Affidavit of property value: filed with every deed, for a fee commonly cited at $2.
• HOA resale packet: up to $400, plus up to $100 for a rush and $50 for an update (A.R.S. 33-1806).
• Closings:run by escrow companies, usually a title company's escrow officer. No attorney is required.

Arizona is one of the cheaper states to close in. Commission and holding costs are still the big numbers.

What does it cost to sell a house in Texas?

Texas has no state or county transfer tax, and title insurance rates are set by the state, so every title company charges the same premium. By custom the seller usually pays the owner's title policy. Texas property taxes are among the higher ones in the country, which raises your monthly cost while the house is listed.

• Transfer tax: none.
• Title insurance: premiums are set by the Texas Department of Insurance. Shopping title companies changes the service, not the premium.
• Who pays:the seller usually pays the owner's title policy. Confirm it in your contract.
• Holding costs: higher property taxes mean higher monthly costs while you wait. Run the holding-cost table above with your real tax bill.
• Disclosures:Texas sellers of a single-family home must give the buyer a seller's disclosure notice.

Listing vs selling by owner vs iBuyer vs cash buyer: what does each cost?

Listing with a Realtor usually nets the most money and takes the longest. An iBuyer charges a service fee plus repair deductions in exchange for speed. A cash investor pays less and closes fastest, with no repairs or showings. Selling by owner saves the listing fee on paper, and we strongly recommend against it, because most by-owner sellers give back more in price than they save.

Here's the same $400,000 Texas house four ways. The cash numbers are an example, not a quote. Every house prices differently.

The listing nets about $42,000 more than the cash example. That's a lot of money, and for most sellers with a house in decent shape and a few months to spare, listing with a Realtor is the right call.

Why we tell people not to sell by owner. On paper, selling by owner wins. Look at what it takes to win, though. In this example, the by-owner seller comes out ahead only if they sell for no less than $390,500. Take $9,500 less than a Realtor would have gotten, about 2.4 percent, and the savings are gone.

That's a thin margin, because you're doing the Realtor's whole job yourself: pricing, marketing, showings, screening buyers, negotiating, the inspection back-and-forth and the paperwork. Every family we know who sold their own house ended up with less than a Realtor would have gotten them, even after paying the commission.

The national numbers point the same way. In the National Association of Realtors' 2025 survey, only 5 percent of sellers sold by owner, an all-time low, and by-owner homes sold for a median of $360,000, against $425,000 for agent-assisted sales. That gap isn't a perfect comparison, because many by-owner sales go to friends or family and the group surveying them represents agents. It still lines up with what we've seen.

What we recommend instead: list with a Realtor, and have a real estate attorney review the contract before you sign. If you sell by owner anyway, hire a real estate attorney to handle the contract and the closing. The paperwork is where by-owner sales most often go wrong.

Realtor, not just any agent. A Realtor is a licensed real estate agent who is also a member of the National Association of Realtors and has agreed to follow its Code of Ethics. Not every licensed agent is one. You can ask, or look for the Realtor name on their license or business card.

For an iBuyer, ask for the written offer and the fee, then subtract the repair deduction they'll take after inspection. Compare that net, not the headline offer.

The cash column fits the seller who can't wait three months, can't fund repairs or has a house a buyer's lender won't approve. If that's you, read what a real estate wholesaler is before you sign with any cash buyer, and see the full listing-versus-cash comparison on one house.

Which selling costs can you negotiate?

Almost all of them. Agent commissions, whether you pay the buyer's agent, buyer credits, repair requests after inspection, who pays escrow and title in many areas and your closing date can all be negotiated. Taxes, recording fees and your mortgage payoff can't.

How do I lower the cost of selling my house?

Negotiate the commission, price the house right so it sells fast, fix only what a lender or inspector will flag, get title and escrow quotes where rates aren't set by law and plan the move-out so you aren't paying two housing costs. Each month you shave off the sale saves a full month of holding costs.

• Interview two or three Realtorsand ask each for their fee and the buyer's agent fee they'd recommend.
• Have a real estate attorney review the contract before you sign. It costs far less than a contract mistake.
• Price it to sell. An overpriced house sits, and every month costs you. A new listing gets its most attention in its first few weeks.
• Fix the deal-breakers, skip the upgrades.
• Ask the escrow or title company for a fee sheet before you pick one. (In Texas, title premiums are the same everywhere.)
• Line up your next homeso you aren't carrying two payments for months.
• Keep your receiptsfor improvements. They lower your taxable gain if you're over the exclusion.

Questions sellers ask us