How much will you keep when you sell your house?

The honest math of net proceeds: what comes out of your sale price before you see a cent, and how to find your real number.

The short version

The price your home sells for is not the money you keep. Between the sale price and your bank account sit several costs, and on a typical sale they add up to roughly 7% to 10% of the price, before you subtract whatever you still owe on the mortgage. What you walk away with is called your net proceeds, and it is almost always well below the number on the sale sign. The good news: the math is simple once you can see every piece, and you can get an exact figure for your own home before you ever list it.

The one formula that matters

Net proceeds = sale price minus mortgage payoff minus selling costs.

Everything else here is just filling in those three numbers. The sale price is what a buyer pays. The mortgage payoff is what you still owe your lender. Selling costs are the fees, taxes, and credits that come out at closing. Subtract the second and third from the first, and what is left is yours.

The main items that come out, on a $500,000 sale:

Item subtracted	Typical amount on a $500,000 sale
Total agent commission	about 5% to 6%, or $25,000 to $30,000
Seller closing costs	about 1% to 3%, or $5,000 to $15,000
Mortgage payoff	your remaining loan balance
Buyer concessions or repairs	varies, often $0 to $10,000

Where the money goes

Your mortgage payoff. For most sellers this is the largest single number, and it is not just your remaining loan balance. It includes interest up to the closing date and any payoff items, so ask your lender for a written payoff quote good through your expected closing day. Sell for $500,000 while still owing $300,000, and that $300,000 comes off first.

Agent commission. Historically about 5% to 6% of the sale price, split between the two agents; the national average total in 2026 sits near 5.7%. Since the August 2024 industry settlement the rules changed: a seller no longer automatically pays the buyer's agent through the listing service, and every commission is openly negotiable. In practice most sellers in 2026 still offer the buyer's agent something, commonly around 2% to 2.5%, because leaving it off can shrink the pool of buyers who can afford to bring their own agent. Your own listing agent's fee, often around 2.5% to 3%, is separate and also negotiable. On a $500,000 sale, 5.7% is about $28,500.

Seller closing costs. Title insurance, escrow or settlement fees, transfer and recording taxes, and an attorney in states that use one. These vary widely by state but commonly land around 1% to 3% of the price. Some are flat dollar amounts and some are a percentage; your title or escrow company can quote them precisely.

Concessions and prep. Buyers often ask the seller to cover a repair, a closing-cost credit, or a rate buydown, and any of those comes out of your proceeds. So does what you spend getting the home ready: pre-listing repairs, paint, cleaning, staging. These are negotiable and optional, but they are real, and they are easy to forget when you picture only the sale price.

Prorated taxes and HOA. You owe property tax and any homeowners association dues for the part of the year you owned the home, settled at closing. Usually a smaller line, but a line.

Capital gains tax, sometimes. Most sellers owe nothing here. If the home was your primary residence and you owned and lived in it for at least two of the last five years, you can exclude up to $250,000 of profit if you are single, or $500,000 if you are married filing jointly. Only profit above that exclusion may be taxed, and the test is profit, not sale price. This limit still applies in 2026, and while there have been proposals to raise or remove it, none have become law. If your gain might exceed the exclusion, or the home was a rental for part of the time, talk to a tax professional.

A worked example

Say you sell for $500,000 and still owe $300,000 on the mortgage:

Sale price: $500,000
Less mortgage payoff: $300,000
Less agent commission at 5.7%: $28,500
Less seller closing costs at about 1.5%: $7,500
Less a small buyer credit: $3,000
Net proceeds: about $161,000, before any prep you paid for along the way.

Notice that the commission and closing costs together, about $36,000, are what most sellers underestimate, and the mortgage payoff is what most forget to subtract when they picture the sale price.

What sellers get wrong

Three things, again and again. They treat the sale price as the amount they keep, when a tenth of it or more never reaches them. They forget that the mortgage payoff includes interest up to closing, not just last month's statement balance. And they assume the sale price is fixed, when the single biggest lever on every number above is getting the price right in the first place. Price too high and the home sits, then sells for less after a cut. Price it on real local sales and the figure at the top of the formula is one you can trust.

The only number that is really yours

A general guide like this gets you close, but your exact net depends on your price, your loan, your state, and your terms. The document that shows all of it is a seller net sheet, a line-by-line estimate of what you will clear, and any good listing agent or title company will prepare one for your specific home before you list. Ask for it early. It turns a vague worry into a real number, and it starts with pricing the home against what similar homes near you have sold for, not an algorithm's guess.

Frequently asked questions

How much do you keep when you sell a house?

What you keep is your net proceeds: the sale price minus your mortgage payoff and your selling costs. Selling costs alone commonly run 7% to 10% of the price, and the mortgage payoff comes out on top of that, so the figure you walk away with is usually well below the sale price.

What are the typical costs of selling a home?

Agent commission, seller closing costs (title, escrow, transfer and recording taxes, and an attorney in some states), any concessions or credits you give the buyer, what you spend preparing the home, prorated property taxes and HOA dues, and capital gains tax if your profit is large enough to owe it.

How much are real estate agent fees in 2026?

The national average total commission is around 5.7% of the sale price, and it is fully negotiable. Since the August 2024 industry settlement, a seller no longer automatically pays the buyer's agent through the listing service, but most sellers in 2026 still offer the buyer's agent something, commonly around 2% to 2.5%, to keep the pool of buyers wide.

Do I pay tax when I sell my house?

Usually not. If the home was your primary residence and you owned and lived in it for at least two of the last five years, you can exclude up to $250,000 of profit if you are single, or $500,000 if you are married filing jointly. Only profit above that may be taxed, and the test is profit, not sale price. This limit still applies in 2026.

How do I find out my exact net proceeds?

Ask for a seller net sheet from a listing agent or a title or escrow company. It lists every cost line by line against your expected price and your mortgage payoff, so you see the real figure before you ever list.

Can I sell my house if I still owe on the mortgage?

Yes. The remaining balance is paid off from the sale proceeds at closing, and you keep what is left after the payoff and the other selling costs. Ask your lender for a written payoff quote good through your expected closing date, since it includes interest up to that day, not just last month's balance.

Sources: National Association of Realtors and 2026 commission surveys (Clever, Opendoor) on commission rates and the August 2024 settlement; Internal Revenue Service Topic 701 and Publication 523, and U.S. Code Title 26 Section 121, on the home-sale capital gains exclusion. Figures are typical ranges that vary by state, lender, and transaction.

This article is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Your net proceeds depend on your specific price, mortgage, location, and terms; confirm them with your agent, title company, and a tax professional.