When sellers sit down with me for the first time, one of the most common questions I get is some version of this: if my home sells for a certain number, how much of that actually lands in my bank account? It is a fair question, and the honest answer surprises a lot of people.
The price on the listing is not the number you walk away with. Your sale price is the top of the waterfall. By the time the money moves through commission, taxes, your loan payoff, and closing costs, what is left over is your net proceeds. That is the figure that actually matters, because it tells you what you have to work with for your next move.
Knowing it ahead of time changes how you price, how you negotiate, and how you plan. So let me walk you through how to estimate it, step by step.
Start With Your Sale Price, Then Subtract Reality
Your sale price is the starting line, not the finish. This summer the Seattle median sits near 785,000 after a modest pullback from the late 2025 peak, with more inventory on the market than buyers have seen in years. Whatever your home sells for, treat that number as the gross, not the take-home.
From there, a handful of predictable costs come out before the wire hits your account. None of them are mysteries. Once you see them laid out, you can estimate your net with real confidence.
The Costs That Come Out of Your Proceeds
Agent commission
This is usually the largest single line. Commission is negotiable, and since the 2024 settlement changed how buyer-agent pay is handled, nothing is assumed anymore. You and your listing agent agree on your side, and what you offer a buyer's agent (if anything) is a separate conversation. For planning purposes, budget a few percent of the sale price and refine it once you have a strategy in place.
Washington excise tax
Washington charges a real estate excise tax, and in our state the seller pays it. It is graduated: 1.1 percent on the portion of the price up to 525,000, then 1.28 percent on the portion from there up to 1.525 million. On top of the state rate, Seattle adds a local excise tax of about 0.5 percent of the full price. For most Seattle homes that lands the combined excise tax somewhere around 1.6 to 1.7 percent of your sale price.
Your mortgage payoff
Whatever you still owe on your loan gets paid off at closing, plus any prorated interest through the closing date. Pull your most recent statement, but call your lender for an actual payoff quote, because the day-to-day interest makes the real number a little higher than the balance you see online.
Title, escrow, and closing costs
These are the smaller line items that add up: the owner's title insurance policy, escrow fees, recording fees, and your share of prorated property taxes through closing. If you are in a condo or a community with dues, expect prorated HOA fees and possibly a resale certificate cost. Altogether this group usually runs about 1 percent of the price.
Concessions and repairs
In today's more balanced Seattle market, buyers have room to ask, and many do. A repair credit after inspection or a closing-cost concession comes straight out of your proceeds. You will not know these until you are under contract, but it is smart to leave a cushion in your estimate for them.
A Real Seattle Example
Let me put numbers to it. Say your home sells at the 785,000 median. Here is roughly how the waterfall flows:
- Sale price: about 785,000
- Agent commission (using 5 percent for the example): about 39,000
- Washington and Seattle excise tax: about 13,000
- Title, escrow, and prorated closing costs: about 7,500
That leaves around 725,000 before you pay off your loan. If you still owe 300,000 on your mortgage, your net proceeds come to roughly 425,000. If you owe more, you keep less. If you own free and clear, you keep nearly the whole 725,000.
These numbers are illustrative, and your commission, payoff, and credits will move them. But the shape of it holds: on a typical Seattle sale, plan on something in the range of 7 to 9 percent of your price going to the costs of selling, before your loan payoff.
Get a Net Sheet, Not a Guess
The good news is you do not have to do this math on a napkin. Any good listing agent will prepare what we call a seller net sheet, an itemized estimate of your proceeds at a few different price points. A title or escrow company can produce one too. It walks through every cost above using your actual loan balance and your specific situation, so you get a real range instead of a rough guess.
I run these for sellers early, often before we even decide on a list price, because it grounds the whole conversation. When you can see your likely net, decisions about pricing, timing, and which offer to take get a lot clearer.
One last thing worth a conversation with your tax professional: most homeowners who have lived in their home for two of the last five years can exclude a large chunk of their gain from capital gains tax, up to 250,000 single or 500,000 married. That is a separate question from your closing costs, but it belongs in your planning.
Selling is one of the biggest financial moves most people make, and you deserve to walk into it knowing your real number, not a hopeful one. If you are thinking about selling and want to see what you would actually walk away with, reach out. I would be glad to put together a net sheet for your home and talk it through with you. No pressure, just clear numbers. That is the kind of work my team at Emerald Group does best.
Ready to sell in Seattle? Brennen Clouse at Emerald Group is here to help. Call or text 206-899-9101 or visit emeraldgroupre.com.
