How Much Will I Make Selling My Home?

One of the trickiest parts of my job is to help a seller understand how much money they’ll make at the closing. We call this the Seller’s Net Sheet. It’s tricky to come up with because I’m not a closing attorney, and it’s difficult to nail down all those pesky fees ahead of time. However, this tool is very helpful in comparing various offers and helping the seller get a grip on how the monies were disbursed. Let’s take a closer look…

In putting together a Seller’s Net Sheet we start with the Purchase Price. This is sometimes called the “Gross” Sales Price. Next we subtract all the items that the Seller has to pay for at closing. Here are some of the more common ones:

Commissions- The Realtor's commissions are negotiated at the time of listing and is usually a percentage of the Gross Sales Price. Part of the amount, usually half, goes to the listing agent and the rest is paid to the buyer’s agent.

Title Search/Policy- For each transaction, a title search is performed to ensure that the title if free of defects. If the title search is satisfactory, a title policy is issued to protect the buyer against future issues that may arise with the title to the property. The cost of this is based on the purchase price. For a $150,000 property, the title insurance will cost around $800. This varies so when I’m doing a net sheet I just call the title company to get the amount from them.

Buyer’s Closing Costs- It is quite common these days for the Buyer’s to ask for the sellers to pay some of their closing costs. It may be a set amount or a percentage of the price. Most loan programs limit this to 3% of the purchase price.

Down Payment Assistance- Through down payment assistance programs, charities like Nehemiah and Ameridream may pay a portion of the buyer’s down payment. For this to happen, the seller is asked to contribute to these charities. We have to subtract this amount from the sales price as well, not forgetting any ‘processing’ that the charities charge, usually an extra $500. (Note: These programs are set to disappear soon with the latest housing legislation that congress has passed.)

Closing Attorney’s Fees/ Doc Prep Fees- These vary depending on your closing agency, but is usually around $250-300. You might also encounter some smaller $20 fees for overnighting paperwork or wiring monies for your loan payoff, as well as courier fees to get the documents to the Buyer’s closing attorney.

Property Taxes- In Nashville, these taxes are paid in arrears, meaning that they are due at the end of the period. Therefore, at the closing, the sellers will pay their portion of the property taxes to the buyer, who will pay all the taxes for the year at a later date. In effect, each party pays their share of taxes for the time they own the property. For sellers who aren’t expecting this, it can be an unexpected surprise at closing.

Mortgage Payoff- It’s good to have an estimate of your mortgage payoff, which is usually found on your monthly mortgage statement. If you need a more accurate amount, you can call your lender, however, remember that interest is charged daily, so the amount will change every day. Don’t forget to include any second mortgage’s that you may have on the home.

Other Fees- There can be many other items negotiated as part of an offer. Items like termite inspections and home warranties are the most common.

After subtracting all of these items from the Purchase Price, we should have a good estimate of the “Seller’s Proceeds”. This is the amount of the check that the Seller should get from the closing attorney after the transaction closes.

It’s a learned skill to do a net sheet. I’m proud to say I had a closing last week that was within $100 of the estimate I gave to the Sellers. Even still, I get nervous every time I’m doing a net sheet because if my numbers are off, you can bet that the sellers will let me have an earful about it!

-Peter
www.NashvilleCityHomes.com