Home selling: How to calculate net proceeds from your sale

Written by: Brad Hanson
• Updated •2 min read
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If you’re thinking about selling your home, one of the factors you’re probably considering is how much money you could make on the sale.

To calculate that, you’ll need to understand what your home could be worth, along with the costs of selling a house, like real estate commissions, closing costs and taxes.

An example in the table that follows gives you a quick snapshot of how to calculate possible profits from selling a home. We’ll also dig in a little deeper below.

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How to calculate net proceeds from a home sale

Net proceeds are the profits a home seller keeps after all fees, commissions and closing costs have been paid. Besides real estate agent commissions, some other common closing costs for sellers include transfer taxes, seller credits and attorney fees. Keep in mind that you’ll have to pay off the remainder of your mortgage to your lender as well.

Here’s a quick way to do the math.

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Learn more about the costs of selling a house.

How much is my home worth?

If you want to get a ballpark figure of how much your home is worth, you can look at comparable homes recently sold in your neighborhood or consult a real estate agent to get their opinion.

Here are some other options to consider.

ResourceWhere to find itHow it can help
Credit Karma Home PulseTrack your home’s estimated value on Credit KarmaThis data takes into account thousands of pieces of information, such as recent sales prices, square footage, lot size and number of bedrooms and bathrooms to provide an estimated value of your home.
Real estate dataReputable sites onlineReputable sites can provide an estimate of what your home could be worth (typically based on public records, including data like the square footage, sales prices in your area and local housing market trends).
AppraisalLocal credentialed appraiserTo provide a written home appraisal, the appraiser may look inside your home or simply complete the appraisal by examining the outside while considering the features of the home, the square footage, and recent sales of comparable homes in the area.
About the author: Brad Hanson is a senior editor at Credit Karma. His 30 years of experience in print and digital media includes work for the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service, Trucks.com and Polyvore. Most recently before… Read more.