Flagship tool
Home Sale Proceeds Calculator
After agent commissions and closing costs, a seller typically walks away with roughly 90–93 cents per dollar of sale price — before paying off the mortgage (GR merged defaults: total cost to sell 7–10%, HomeLight, 2026-09-25). This calculator also projects the same sale if you hold N more years.
How the calculator works
Two panels, one question each. Nothing here recommends a choice — it shows the math with the sources shown, not asserted.
Left — sell today. Sale price minus the commission split (buyer-agent default 2.4%, Redfin Q1 2025-Q1; listing-agent default editable), seller closing costs, your mortgage payoff, and prorated property tax.
Right — hold N years, then sell. The same sale projected forward: appreciation (FHFA-type default), continuing principal paydown on your current loan, minus annual holding costs, minus future selling costs, with the rent counterfactual shown separately — never silently netted.
The sale
Your mortgage (drives both panels)
The hold scenario
Sell today
$115,150
Band $110,650 – $119,650 (±1.0pp on entered costs)
- Selling costs
- $32,850 (7.30%)
- Mortgage payoff
- $300,000
- Prorated tax
- $2,000
- Net proceeds
- $115,15025.6¢ per dollar of sale price
Hold 3 more years, then sell
$23,305
- Projected price
- $503,274 (at 3.8%/yr)
- Future selling costs
- $36,739
- Principal paydown during hold
- +$12,144
- Holding costs
- $77,488 (4.5%/yr + fixed)
- Mortgage interest during hold
- $67,618
- Rent counterfactual (separate line)
- $82,191
Holding 3 more years projects ~$91,845 lower net than selling today, before rent you'd pay elsewhere. Assumes FHFA-type appreciation 3.8%/yr, editable above. Informational only — not a recommendation.
Does selling reset your property taxes?
CONVENTION FALLBACK: in most states without assessment limits, taxable value is re-assessed at market on sale - 'taxes re-assessed at sale' is the general rule when no state row matches. Convention, not statute. Source: state records via the Lincoln Institute taxonomy (retrieved 2026-09-25).
In reset states, holding avoids the assessed-value step-up a sale would trigger — one documented reason the lock-in effect exists (Lincoln Institute).
The Section 121 clock (IRS Pub 523 / Topic 701)
No deadline while you occupy the home — the 2-of-5 use test keeps passing.
Every figure here is formula output from cited defaults (rate, deductions, taxes shown in the assumptions). Planning estimate — not tax or financial advice.
What it costs to sell a house
Commissions changed after the NAR settlement (August 17, 2024): buyer-agent compensation no longer appears on the MLS, buyers sign written agreements before touring, and compensation is fully negotiable. What sellers actually pay, post-settlement:
- Buyer-agent commission: 2.4% average (2025-Q1) per Redfin's research. It dipped to 2.36% in Q3 2024 and stabilized around 2.4%; under-$500k homes average 2.49% and $1M+ homes 2.17%.
- Listing-agent commission: conventionally ~2.9% (the calculator's editable default). Together the two sides produce an observed total of ~5.4–5.7% — an observed range from secondary aggregation, not a rule, and negotiable in both directions.
- Seller closing items: title insurance typically runs 0.5–1.0% of price, with transfer taxes and escrow/settlement fees varying by state. Broader sell-side estimates run 7–10% of sale price in the merged GR defaults (HomeLight-sourced).
Every one of those seller-side lines is itemized — and adjustable — in the Seller closing costs, itemized tool, so you can move from a range to a number for your state.
What holding costs while you decide
Keeping the house while you decide has an annual price. The calculator defaults to a ~3–6% of home value per year composite — a composite of industry conventions, not a single-source statistic — itemized as maintenance 1–2%, property taxes 0.5–2.5%+, insurance 0.4–1.0%, utilities ~$3,000–$5,400/yr, and HOA where applicable.
On top sits the mortgage — where the rate lock-in comes in. The current 30-year fixed average is 7.4% (Freddie Mac PMMS, week ending 2026-10-08). A seller holding a legacy below-market mortgage forfeits that rate on a sale and would replace it near the PMMS average. The calculator never guesses your rate: you enter it, and the model prices both the payoff-now math and the hold scenario's continuing amortization.
Holding also means the loan keeps running its schedule — and it is the one side of this decision you can shorten independently. The mortgage payoff calculator prices what extra monthly payments or a lump sum would do to the loan you'd keep — months and interest saved on the same month-by-month simulation this page's amortization runs.
Sell-vs-stay is the mirror of the buy-vs-rent break-even: the when does buying beat renting guide walks the same crossover logic from the buy side — worth reading if holding means eventually buying again.
Your taxes reset when you sell
In several states, selling restarts the property-tax clock. Assessment-limit systems hold a long-time owner's assessed value below market; a sale can re-base it. The Lincoln Institute's Significant Features of the Property Tax is the umbrella source for this taxonomy (retrieved 2026-09-25):
| State | Rule | On sale |
|---|---|---|
| California | Prop 13: base-year value + max 2%/yr cap; ~1% basic rate (+voter debt ≈ 1.1–1.25% effective) | Resets to purchase price (new base-year value); prorated supplemental bill; Prop 19 portability (55+/disaster, 3 uses) + $1M parent-child exclusion |
| Florida | Save Our Homes: homestead assessed value capped at 3% or CPI (lower) | Resets to full Just Value on Jan 1 after sale; seller can port the SOH benefit (up to $500k) within 3 tax years (Form DR-501/DR-501T by March 1) |
| Michigan | Proposal A: Taxable Value capped at CPI or 5% (lower); SEV ≈ 50% of market | Uncaps to SEV on Jan 1 of the year after transfer (MCL 211.27a; buyer files Form L-4260 within 45 days); family/agricultural/trust transfers exempt |
| Oregon | Measure 50: MAV capped at 3%/yr | No reset on sale — buyer inherits the capped value; MAV rises only on exception events |
| Washington | I-747 caps district levy growth (1%/yr), not individual assessments; 100% annual revaluation | No reset on sale — annual revaluation regardless of ownership |
The split matters to the hold math: a California, Florida, or Michigan seller loses an accrued assessment benefit by selling (the Lincoln Institute documents this as the lock-in effect); an Oregon or Washington seller does not. One honesty note: California's statutory cites were not fetched directly during research — verify the BOE cites before relying on that row.
The Section 121 clock
The federal exclusion on primary-residence gain is the clock most sellers never check. Under IRS Section 121 (Pub 523 / Topic 701, retrieved 2026-09-25):
- Exclusion amounts: $250,000 of gain for single/MFS/HoH filers; $500,000 for married-filing-jointly.
- The tests: owned the home 2 of the last 5 years and used it as your primary residence 2 of the last 5 years (24 months need not be consecutive). For the $500k joint exclusion, one spouse must meet the ownership test, both must meet the use test, and neither may have claimed the exclusion on another home in the prior 2 years.
- The sell-by date: because the lookback is 5 years, the window closes deterministically — move out and rent the place, and each year of renting consumes the window.
- Gain math: taxable gain = amount realized − adjusted basis; only gain above the exclusion is taxed.
- The recapture trap: depreciation claimed after May 6, 1997 cannot be excluded — unrecaptured §1250 gain, taxed at up to 25% — which matters most when a former rental is sold.
FAQ
How much do sellers pay in commission now?
The buyer-agent side averaged 2.40% in Q1 2025 (Redfin research), down from pre-settlement norms and stable since Q3 2024 (2.36%). With the listing side, the observed total is ~5.4–5.7% — an observed range, not a rule; compensation is negotiable and no longer set on the MLS.
Do my property taxes go up when I buy or sell?
Depends on the state. In assessment-limit states (California Prop 13, Florida Save Our Homes, Michigan Proposal A) a sale resets the assessed value toward market. In others (Oregon Measure 50, Washington I-747) there is no reset — Oregon buyers inherit the capped value and Washington revalues annually regardless of ownership (Lincoln Institute; state sources in the table above).
What is the Section 121 exclusion?
The federal rule that excludes primary-residence gain from tax: $250,000 for single filers, $500,000 for married-filing-jointly, provided you owned the home 2 of the last 5 years and lived in it as your primary residence 2 of the last 5 years (IRS Pub 523 / Topic 701).
When does selling lose my mortgage rate?
At closing. Paying off a 3.x% legacy mortgage ends it; a new purchase loan prices near the current 30-year average — 7.03% the week of September 24, 2026 (Freddie Mac PMMS). The rate lock-in and the tax lock-in (in assessment-limit states) are the two forfeiture effects the calculator prices side by side.
What does it cost to hold the house instead of selling?
The calculator's composite default is ~3–6% of home value per year — maintenance 1–2% (up to ~4% for older homes), property tax 0.5–2.5%+, insurance 0.4–1.0%, utilities ~$3,000–$5,400, plus HOA if applicable. It is a composite of conventions, not a single-source statistic, and every component is editable.
What happens if I rent the house out instead of selling?
Renting keeps the ownership test alive only while you occupy the home; every year it is a rental consumes the 5-year lookback window for the Section 121 exclusion, and gain above the exclusion becomes taxable. Depreciation claimed while renting cannot be excluded at all — it is recaptured at up to 25% on sale.
What closing items show up on the seller's side?
Title insurance (typically 0.5–1.0% of price), transfer taxes and escrow/settlement fees (state-varying), and the commission split (buyer-agent 2.40% average per Redfin Q1 2025). Broader sell-side estimates including prep and concessions run 7–10% of sale price in GR's merged defaults.
What does the hold scenario assume?
Appreciation at 3.8%/yr (FHFA HPI 30-year average, editable), your actual mortgage rate and continuing principal paydown, the ~3–6%/yr holding-cost composite, rent you would pay (or forgo collecting) elsewhere at a BLS-CPI-based 3.73%/yr growth default, your state's reassessment rule, and future selling costs. All editable; all sourced in the assumptions line.
Sources
Every figure on this page carries its source and retrieval date (all retrieved 2026-09-25): IRS Topic 701 & Publication 523 (Section 121); Lincoln Institute, Significant Features of the Property Tax (reassessment taxonomy); state sources for CA/FL/MI/OR/WA rules; Redfin commissions research (May 2025); Freddie Mac PMMS archive + FRED MORTGAGE30US (rate anchor); GR merged defaults (cost-to-sell conventions, holding-cost composite — flagged as a composite of conventions, not a single-source statistic). Full URLs in the calculator's assumptions blocks.