How Much Will You Walk Away With When You Sell Your Home?
The math, in four steps
Sale price
minus what you still owe
minus the costs of selling
minus anything you agreed to pay for the buyer
equals what hits your account
Everything on this page is one of those middle three lines.
What you owe is not your loan balance
Start here, because this is the first place people are wrong.
Your mortgage statement shows a balance. Your payoff is a different number, and it is higher.
You pay interest for the days you owned the home. Interest accrues daily, so your payoff includes every day from your last payment through the day the title company actually sends the money. Close on the 20th and you are paying twenty days of interest that is not on your statement.
Your lender may charge a payoff or demand fee for preparing the statement and releasing the lien.
And if you have a second loan or a line of credit against the home, that pays off too. A home equity line you have not touched in years still has to be closed and released. People forget these constantly.
Call your lender and request a payoff quote for an estimated closing date. Do not guess from the statement.
The costs of selling
These come out of your proceeds at closing. The fixed ones are reasonably predictable.
| Line item | Typical in El Paso |
|---|---|
| Owner's title policy | About $1,500 |
| Escrow fee | About $500 |
| Survey, if a new one is needed | About $600 |
| Document preparation | About $250 |
| State fee | $2 |
| Fixed costs, roughly | About $2,850 |
Then the variable ones:
Repairs negotiated after the inspection. Commonly a couple thousand dollars, sometimes more, and entirely dependent on the house and the negotiation. What you can do about that is in what to fix before you list.
Cleaning. Around $500 for a proper job before photos.
Staging, if you use it. Roughly 1.5% of the sale price for a full package.
Real estate commission. Negotiable, and it always has been. There is no standard rate. What you pay is whatever you and your agent agree to in writing, and whether the buyer's agent is compensated out of the transaction is a separate negotiation that happens in the offer.
And the one specific to El Paso: prorated property taxes.
Texas property taxes are paid in arrears, meaning the bill that comes due covers the year you already lived there. So at closing you owe taxes for every day of the year you owned the home, and that gets deducted from your proceeds.
In most of the country that is a nuisance line. Here it is real money, because El Paso carries some of the highest combined rates of any major city in Texas. On a $300,000 home at a rate near 2.6%, the full year is about $7,800. Sell in September and roughly three quarters of that, close to $5,800, comes out of your check.
Nobody budgets for that, and it is the single most common surprise at a Texas closing. Look up the actual rate for your address at elpaso.countytaxrates.com/tax so you are working from the real number. Rates vary significantly across this county, as we wrote out in the Horizon and 79928 guide and the West Side guide. If your home sits in a MUD, that rate is part of the proration; see the El Paso taxing districts directory.
If you are in an HOA, add dues proration and a transfer or resale certificate fee.
What the buyer asked you to pay
This is the line sellers forget because it does not feel like a cost. It is.
If you agreed to cover the buyer's closing costs, provide a repair credit, pay for a home warranty, or fund a rate buydown, every dollar of it comes off your proceeds exactly like a price reduction would.
A $305,000 sale with $9,000 in buyer closing costs nets the same as a $296,000 sale with none. More on reading that correctly in how to read an offer beyond the price.
A worked example on a $300,000 sale
Assuming a September closing, a $180,000 loan payoff, light repairs, and no staging.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale price | $300,000 |
| Loan payoff including per diem interest | $180,900 |
| Fixed closing costs | $2,850 |
| Prorated property taxes | $5,800 |
| Repairs from the inspection | $2,500 |
| Cleaning | $500 |
| Commission | Negotiable, per your agreement |
| Buyer concessions | Depends on the offer |
| Before commission and concessions | About $107,450 |
Two things to notice.
The taxes are bigger than the fixed closing costs by a factor of two. That is the El Paso line, and it is the one nobody sees coming.
And your payoff is $900 higher than your statement said, because of the days you owned it in September.
One thing that comes back to you, weeks later
If you had an escrow account with your lender, meaning they collected your taxes and insurance monthly, there is usually money sitting in it when you pay off the loan.
That money is yours. Your lender refunds it, typically within a few weeks of the payoff, by check to your last known address.
Make sure they have your new address, because escrow refund checks go to old addresses and get lost more often than you would think. It is frequently more than a thousand dollars.
The three things that move this number most
Your price, obviously, which is its own decision and covered in home pricing strategy.
What you agree to pay for the buyer, which is negotiable and is where a good agent earns their keep.
When you close, because of the tax proration. Closing in February means you owe about two months of property tax. Closing in November means you owe about ten. On a $300,000 El Paso home that difference is over six thousand dollars.
That is not a reason to time your sale around it. It is a reason to know it before you plan what to do with the proceeds.
FAQ
How do you calculate seller net proceeds?
Sale price, minus your loan payoff including per diem interest, minus closing costs, minus prorated property taxes, minus repairs and anything you agreed to pay for the buyer, minus commission. What is left is your check.
Why is my payoff higher than my mortgage balance?
Because interest accrues daily. Your payoff covers every day from your last payment through the day the funds actually go out, plus any payoff or demand fee your lender charges.
Do I have to pay property taxes when I sell my house in Texas?
Yes, for the portion of the year you owned it. Texas taxes are paid in arrears, so at closing you cover every day from January 1 to your closing date. In El Paso, where rates run near 2.6% in much of the city, that is a significant line.
How much are closing costs for a seller in El Paso?
The fixed items, meaning title policy, escrow, document preparation and the state fee, come to roughly $2,850, plus a survey if one is needed. Prorated taxes, repairs, cleaning and commission are on top of that and vary.
Do I get my escrow account back when I sell?
Yes. Whatever is left in it comes back to you from your lender, usually within a few weeks after payoff, by check. Make sure they have your forwarding address.
Does the time of year I sell affect what I net?
It affects the tax proration meaningfully. Closing early in the year means you owe fewer months of property tax at closing. On a $300,000 El Paso home, a February closing and a November closing differ by thousands.
Every figure on this page is a typical El Paso example and will not match your sale. Your actual proceeds depend on your price, your payoff, your tax rate, your negotiated terms and your closing date. Real estate commissions are negotiable and are not set by law or any association. This is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Get a seller net sheet for your specific property before you make plans around a number.
Want this run for your actual address? Tell us where you are and your agent will send you a real net sheet.
Wondering when that money actually lands? Here is when you get paid after closing.