If I sell my home, what will I actually keep?

A sale price and a usable proceeds estimate answer different questions. The price tells you what a buyer might pay. Proceeds are what remain after the payoff and the costs you enter. That amount may shape your next purchase, moving budget, or timing.

Use this guide to organize the numbers before a seller strategy review. Enter your individually agreed listing fee when you know it. An empty fee produces a subtotal explicitly excluding that fee.

The questions this tool answers

• How much remains at the sale price I am considering?
• What changes if the buyer requests a credit?
• Which costs still need a written estimate?

How to use it well

1. Enter a possible sale price and a mortgage payoff estimate appropriate to the anticipated closing date. A statement balance may not include every payoff charge.
2. Enter other selling expenses and buyer credits separately. Include applicable escrow/title charges, transfer charges, preparation and other agreed costs. Avoid counting the same expense twice.
3. Enter your agreed listing fee when available. Test a lower sale price and a larger credit separately. Keep the assumptions with each saved result.

A worked example

Change one input: a lower sale price

Load the example, then change only the sale price to $925,000. Keep the $520,000 payoff, $12,000 other expenses and $15,000 credit unchanged, with the listing fee still blank. The subtotal falls to $378,000 before that fee. A $25,000 price reduction reduces this subtotal by the same $25,000 because this version holds the other entries constant.

Compare that smaller subtotal with the amount you need for your next step. If it no longer covers your plan, the useful question is which assumption needs better evidence or which part of the move budget can change. Do not solve the gap by treating an unknown cost as zero.

How to read the result

A useful estimate is one you can explain. Identify unknown expenses instead of calling them confirmed zero. This tool excludes income taxes and the costs of your next home. A negative result is a prompt to examine the transaction.

Start with a written list of costs rather than a single unexplained allowance. Separate the listing representation fee from any seller-paid buyer-broker compensation, and record each item once. Enter compensation you have agreed to pay, not an assumed industry percentage. Your Fair Fixed Fee is individually negotiated and agreed in writing for the property.

Connor reviews selling costs as if paying them personally: questioning line items, requesting explanations and asking about available reductions. A quote is a starting point for review. Count a discount only when confirmed, and keep the original and revised estimates so you can see what actually changed. Some charges may remain unchanged.

Your plan may also include money directed into another purchase, moving expenses or a reserve after closing. Keep those uses of proceeds separate from the cost of selling. A transfer to your next escrow changes where your money goes; it is not another selling fee.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using a mortgage balance as the payoff. Ask for a payoff amount tied to the intended date; it may include interest and other charges beyond the balance on a monthly statement.
• Treating every expense as still due at closing. A cost already paid belongs in your overall selling budget, but subtracting it again understates the cash remaining at closing. Choose which total you are building and label it.
• Double-counting compensation or a buyer credit. Keep a simple itemized worksheet behind the expense total. If an amount is already in other expenses, do not enter it again as a credit or listing fee.

What to gather before a seller review

• A sale-price assumption, with the property evidence or offer supporting it.
• A dated payoff estimate for each relevant loan; keep the combined payoff separate from selling expenses.
• Written escrow, title, HOA and other cost estimates, identifying amounts already paid.
• The agreed listing fee and any separately agreed seller-paid buyer-broker compensation.
• Requested buyer credits, your move budget and the amount you want to retain afterward.

Common questions

Useful references

• CFPB: payoff amount versus current balance: Why a dated payoff amount matters.
• California DFPI: escrow fee questions: Request a fee schedule to understand independent escrow charges.