When sellers talk about their home sale, the number they fixate on is the sale price. The big one on the contract. The number they tell their friends. The number that ends up in the closing email. But that is not the number that matters. The number that matters is what you actually walk away with after every line item is paid. That number, your real net proceeds, is often tens of thousands of dollars lower than the sale price, and the gap between the two surprises sellers all the time. Let's close that gap right now so you know exactly what to expect when you sell.

Here is what comes out of the top before you see any money. The first and biggest line item is usually agent commissions. Commissions are negotiable and the structure has been shifting in the last couple of years, but a typical total range falls somewhere between four and six percent of the sale price, split between the listing side and the buyer's side. On a $1.2 million sale, that is roughly $48,000 to $72,000 right off the top. The next chunk is closing costs on the seller side, which includes title insurance, escrow fees, document fees, recording fees, and HOA transfer fees if you are in a community with an HOA. These typically land somewhere around one to two percent of the sale price. Then comes your remaining mortgage payoff. Whatever you still owe on the home goes straight to the lender at closing, and this is often the largest single deduction depending on where you are in your loan. Transfer taxes come out next. California state transfer tax is small, about $1.10 per thousand dollars of value, but many Bay Area cities pile on their own local transfer taxes, and in places like Oakland or Berkeley those can be significant. Prorated property taxes are the line item sellers forget about most often. Property taxes are paid in installments, and depending on when your home closes, you may owe the buyer a credit for the portion of the tax year you still occupied the home. Finally, there are seller concessions. These are credits you agree to give the buyer during negotiation, often to cover repairs flagged during inspection or to help with their closing costs. Concessions can range from zero to several thousand dollars, depending on how the deal comes together.

The tool that pulls all of this into one clear picture is called a seller net sheet. A net sheet is a line-by-line estimate of what you will actually take home at a given sale price. Your agent or escrow officer puts it together, and it shows you the sale price at the top, every deduction in order, and the net proceeds at the bottom. It is the most useful document a seller can have, and most sellers never see one until they are already in contract. We strongly recommend getting a net sheet before you list, not after, because it changes the whole conversation. Instead of focusing on a list price in the abstract, you get to focus on what that list price actually puts in your pocket. That removes the surprises at closing and lets you plan your next move with real information instead of a guess.

To make this tangible, picture a home that could realistically sell anywhere in a range. Say the seller still owes $400,000 on the mortgage. At a sale price of $1.15 million, after roughly $57,500 in commissions, about $17,000 in closing costs, the $400,000 mortgage payoff, around $4,000 in transfer taxes and prorations, and a $5,000 concession to the buyer, the seller walks with about $666,500. Now bump that same home to $1.2 million. Commissions rise to about $60,000, closing costs adjust slightly, but the mortgage payoff is exactly the same. Net proceeds come in around $711,000. At $1.25 million, the net climbs to about $751,000. The point here is that small changes in sale price flow through to noticeable changes in your net, but not on a one-to-one basis, because some costs scale with price and others stay fixed. This is also why overpricing a home and then dropping later does not just feel bad. It quietly costs you tens of thousands of dollars in actual proceeds compared to a clean sale at the right price out of the gate.

Now here is where the real number becomes truly useful. If you are buying again after this sale, your net proceeds is what funds your next chapter. It is your down payment, your moving budget, your repair fund, and your safety cushion all at once. Knowing your net proceeds before you list lets you start house hunting with a real budget. You can talk to a lender with confidence, knowing what you will actually bring to the table. You can shop in the right price range from day one, instead of stretching for something based on a sale price that does not match what you actually take home. Even if you are not buying again right away, the net number drives every plan that follows, whether you are renting for a while, downsizing, relocating, helping a family member, or rebuilding savings. It is the foundation everything else gets built on, and getting it wrong by even ten or fifteen percent can throw the whole plan off balance before you even start.

If you have been thinking about selling, the first thing worth doing is getting a real net sheet built for your home at a realistic price range. We put these together for sellers all the time, with current commission structures, accurate closing cost estimates for your specific area, your exact mortgage payoff, and the transfer taxes that apply where you live. The result is a clear, line-by-line picture of what you would actually walk away with, no surprises and no guessing. There is no obligation attached to it. It is simply the information every seller should have before making any decisions. Reach out when you would like one built for your home, and let's start the conversation with the number that actually matters.