What Does It Really Cost to Sell a House in Seattle? (2026 Net Proceeds Breakdown)

Christian: [0:00] If your neighbor tells you their house sold for a million dollars, your first thought is probably, "Cool, they just made a million dollars." That's almost never what actually happened, though. I had three listings come up in roughly the last three months. Two sellers took my prep advice, one didn't. Only one of those houses is still sitting on the market, and I'll tell you why. Welcome back to the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is your host, Christian Nossum, of the Nossum & Nossum Group at Wilson Realty Exchange, Inc, and today I have my lovely, amazing, awesome co-host- … Ms. Joanna Beecher.

Joanna: [0:31] It's me. Hi.

Christian: [0:32] We are gonna be breaking down what it actually costs to sell a house in Washington, where it's worth spending money on before you come on the market, and the numbers you should really be paying attention to, which isn't necessarily your sales price. Quick note on the scope that we're gonna be going over today. We are not covering capital gains, 1031 exchanges, or the mechanics of paying off your mortgage today. Those are gonna be their own episode if we haven't already covered them. Today is about the costs of the sale itself and what you actually walk away with.

Joanna: [1:04] Oh, yes, so sales price versus net proceeds. Mm. Okay, let's start with the number that actually matters.

Christian: [1:11] Yeah.

Joanna: [1:12] Your net proceeds.

Christian: [1:13] Mm-hmm.

Joanna: [1:14] Net proceeds are what's left after the sale closes and all the expenses tied to selling the property have been paid.

Christian: [1:21] Yes.

Joanna: [1:22] You start with your sales price. Then you subtract your remaining mortgage balance, real estate commissions, Washington's real estate excise tax, title and escrow costs, and anything else your, that you've agreed to pay as your part of the transaction. Depending on the offer, that can also include seller paid buydown- Mm-hmm … or buyer closing costs. Mm-hmm. Uh, repairs, staging, and preparation, right? So when we sit down with a seller, we don't just say, "We think your house is worth a million dollars."

Christian: [1:55] We always say it in that voice, though.

Joanna: [1:56] But always in the voi- Yeah whatever we say, it's in that voice. We say, "If it sells…" No, "If it sells for a million dollars, here's approximately what you're walking away with." That is the useful number.

Christian: [2:09] Yeah. So let me make this a concrete number, because net proceeds is one of those phrases that sounds obvious until you actually write down the number. So let's pretend that we list a house for a million dollars and it actually sells for a million dollars. Rough example, real numbers are gonna vary and every transaction is different, but this is a direction that, or this is essentially what a seller in our mar- market often will see at the end of the day. So we'll start with that million dollar sale price. Subtract the mortgage payoff. Obviously, your mortgage payoff is gonna be different, but let's just say that the seller owes 400,000. That leaves $600,000 profit. Now we gotta add in the costs of selling. Real estate commissions are negotiable and depend on how the transaction's structured, but for the sake- sake of this example, let's just assume total commissions come to around 50 to $60,000. Remember, these are generally split between the buyer's agent and your listing agent, usually evenly, but it just depends. Everything's negotiable. Mm-hmm. Washington's real estate excise tax on a million dollar sale in King County would be $16,855. I can be specific on that because it's a specific number. It's a, a percentage, but the percentage differs based on the sale price. So, um, State of Washington actually uses a graduated excise tax amount. The state portion is 1.1% on the first $525,000. So it's from zero to $525,000, it's 1.1%. Then it goes to 1.28% between 525 and 1.525 million, then it jumps to 2.75% on the sales price between 1.525- and three million twenty five thousand and then it's three million, or then it's 3% on anything that sells over three million twenty five thousand dollars So it's kinda confusing but that's how that works just in general On top of that King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties they add another half a percent on top of it just for their own good So the state gets their portion, the county gets their portion, um, on a million dollar sale Again for the state that's eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty-five thousand, then King County adds on a local component of another half percent, so that's another five grand Add those together, you get $16,855. That's just for excise tax. Then title and escrow costs for the seller typically run a few thousand dollars. It all depends on the sales price, the title, the escrow company, all that stuff, but generally a few thousand dollars. Then you got the costs that don't necessarily show up on your settlement statement. That's prepping the house for listing it, cleaning, minor repairs, staging, things like that that you have to do upfront, that you're gonna pay for upfront. Maybe it's a pre-inspection where you hire an inspector to come in. All those things can easily be another 5,000 to 15,000 or more, depending on how much work you need to do to prep.

Joanna: [5:14] Right. Well, so-

Christian: [5:16] Mm-hmm … Joanna: on a million dollar sale with a $400,000 mortgage payoff, roughly 50,000 to $60,000 in commissions, $16,855 in- Excise tax … Joanna: real e- REET. Yeah.

Joanna: [5:33] Uh, a few thou- a few thousand in title and escrow, and 5,000 to $15,000 in prep. This seller is walking away with somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 to $525,000 in net proceeds. That's a big spread- Mm-hmm … from my house is worth a million dollars, um, to, you know, uh, like, what you're actually getting in the end. Mm-hmm. And it's the, it's why the first question shouldn't be, "What will it sell for?" It should be, "What am I actually going to net?"

Christian: [6:06] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I wanna be clear, these are all illustrative numbers. These aren't a quote. Your mortgage balance, your commission structure, your excise tax bracket, and your prep budget are all gonna be specific to you, but you get the point. This is just kind of an example to give you a rough idea. Setting

Joanna: [6:22] expectations.

Christian: [6:23] Exactly. Mm-hmm. Let's go over where these costs come from. So the main expense categories. The biggest is usually the real estate commission. Commissions are negotiable, so there's no mandatory number that every seller pays. Depending on how your transaction's structured, there may be a compensation from the listing brokerage and separate compensation associated with the buyer's representation. Next is the real estate excise tax, or REET. Like I said, Washington charges a graduated amount. We just went over those numbers. I don't really need to go over those again. So the state has their graduated amount, then the county adds another half percent on top of that. Then you have those title and escrow costs. Generally, in Washington, sellers commonly pay certain title costs, and escrow fees are then commonly split between both parties. Though all of that is ultimately governed by the purchase and sale agreement, and it can all be negotiated. But the cost of those title and escrow fees is gonna depend on what company you go with. A lot of times- They're pretty dang equal. They're not too far off of each other.

Joanna: [7:27] Mm-hmm.

Christian: [7:27] Your real estate agent or the seller's real estate, or I guess the buyer's real estate agent, depending on the market, might try to negotiate to use their favorite escrow company or title company It's really not gonna be a huge money saver one way or the other, so I don't- No.

Joanna: [7:42] I mean, I've had one client who worked for a title and escrow company. Mm-hmm. And we did ask that listing agent, "Hey, you know, is it okay- Mm-hmm … if we use this specific title and escrow company? Because if we do, then it's free."

Christian: [7:57] Yeah.

Joanna: [7:57] And the listing agent was like, "Hey, sure. Why not?" Mm-hmm. "I'm totally down to do that." Yeah. So, you know, a lot of times, like Christian was saying, it's, it's pretty equal-

Christian: [8:07] Mm-hmm … Joanna: unless you've had a really bad experience with one- Yeah … um, which I've never had that bad, so. Yep.

Joanna: [8:12] Yeah.

Christian: [8:13] But we do, as agents, we have kind of our favorites. You know, we have escrow people or title people that we love working with- Yeah because of one reason or another. Maybe they're just easy to get ahold of, they solve problems that crop up really quickly. It's usually

Joanna: [8:27] a, a good gauge.

Christian: [8:28] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, but ultimately, the cost isn't gonna be all that much different.

Joanna: [8:32] No.

Christian: [8:33] The thing that does change will be the costs that don't show up on your closing statement. That's the cleaning, the landscaping, all the prep, painting, repair, staging, moving, or other things that you need to do in order to get the house ready, and that's where some sellers get themselves into trouble. Either they don't do enough, or they do too much. Mm-hmm. This is where hiring the right agent to help you sell makes all the difference in the world. Right. And it's tough to understand who that might be. We'll give you some examples of what to look for and why we think we're the best, obviously.

Joanna: [9:03] Yeah.

Christian: [9:03] Um-

Joanna: [9:04] Like, don't save a dollar to lose $10, guys. Exactly, exactly. Uh, 'cause when you see all these lined up, all of these expenses- Mm-hmm … your natural reaction, everybody's is, is, "Where can I cut?" Yeah.

Christian: [9:15] And- Where can I save some money?

Joanna: [9:17] And we all wanna save money right now especially, but there are absolutely places, uh, where you can be smart with your money, but you have to separate saving money from doing something that can cause you to net less. Yeah. So take commissions. Of course you should understand what you're paying your agent and what you're getting in return- Mm-hmm but choosing an agent purely because they're the cheapest can make a very expensive decision. Mm-hmm. If that agent doesn't help you prepare the property based on the current market-

Christian: [9:46] Yeah, which is a huge deal. Huge deal. Based on the current market.

Joanna: [9:49] Yes, and they don't help you price it… And once again, all this is in the current market. Mm-hmm. They don't help you price it, market it, or negotiate it well, saving a few thousand dollars in commission doesn't help you when the house sells for 25 or 50,000, or sometimes even $100,000 less than what you were expecting- Mm-hmm … and what you've listed it for. So we've seen this happen time and time again- Yeah where the seller didn't hire us because our commission wasn't the cheapest.

Christian: [10:17] Mm-hmm.

Joanna: [10:17] But then the agent that they did choose to go with didn't advise them to prep the property very well. They rolled over when the negotiation, uh, started to happen, and they just wanted to get the house sold so they could make some quick money- Yeah so they didn't care. About what your house actually sold for. Mm-hmm. They just wanted to sell, and that happens a lot.

Christian: [10:37] Mm-hmm.

Joanna: [10:38] Believe it or not. And I wanna be equally clear about the other side, though, that the most expensive agent isn't automatically the best one either.

Christian: [10:46] Mm-hmm.

Joanna: [10:47] So the question isn't cheap or expensive, it's what are you actually getting for what you're paying for?

Christian: [10:53] Yeah.

Joanna: [10:54] Um, and that same logic applies to prep, right? Sometimes a relatively small amount of money spent before listing creates a much larger return. This is huge, uh, because buyers respond very differently to a house that feels move-in ready.

Christian: [11:08] Yep. This is the story that I mentioned at the top. So I had three listings come up within roughly the last three months. Um, looking at all three properties and what buyers were actually doing, I recommended to all three sellers that we make certain repairs and get the houses properly prepared prior to going on the market. Two of the sellers took all of my advice. One of them didn't The two that did the work the right way, with the people that I recommended to do the work, both of those houses sold within 48 hours of coming on the market for way over the asking price. The property where they didn't make the recommended improvements, it sat, and in fact, it's still sitting. It's unfortunate, but it's true.

Joanna: [11:50] Hopefully it's sold if you're listening to this a few years after it was released.

Christian: [11:55] So again, same agent, me, same market, right now. The difference was preparation. Did the two sellers that did the prep up front save, or spend some money? Yeah. On average, they spent around $10,000 each to prep the property to get ready for sale. But both properties sold for way, way over the asking price, and with offers that had minimal, if not zero contingencies from the buyer, and both of those closed within two to three weeks.

Joanna: [12:24] That's amazing.

Christian: [12:25] So in this market, that's not common. No. And it's, it just goes to show that when you hire the right agent, and you listen to that agent, and you take their advice, you should hopefully sell quickly and for more than what you had planned on, because we made the property look good physically- Yep … in person, we prepped it correctly, we had the seller hire an inspector to provide an inspection report for buyers so that the buyer can make a quick decision on if they wanted to move forward with it, and then I negotiated on their behalf the best I possibly could, drove up a couple offers on each of them, or multiple offers on each of them, to drive up the price, reduce the number of contingencies, and close the house very quickly. That's the goal.

Joanna: [13:09] Yep. And that's why you don't just hire the agent who promises you the highest sale price.

Christian: [13:14] Mm-hmm.

Joanna: [13:15] And that does lead into talking about one of the biggest mistakes sellers make when they're interviewing agents. Don't automatically hire the agent who tells you the highest number. Mm. This happens all the time. Mm-hmm. Um, which is why people do it. Yeah. Um, if three agents tell you your house is probably worth around $900,000, and a fourth tells you, "I can get you 1,050,000," probab- I mean, obviously 1,050,000 sounds better, but ask them, "Why?"

Christian: [13:46] Yeah. " Joanna: How?" Mm-hmm. " Joanna: What sales support that number? What's the pricing strategy? What happens if the buyers don't respond?" Because an agent isn't going to do you any favor by telling you the number you wanna hear. Yeah.

Joanna: [13:59] It's not doing anybody any favors- Mm … well, except the agent, maybe. Our job is to interpret the market. Christian and mine's job- Mm-hmm … that we do, is to interpret the market, market, and build a strategy most likely- To produce the best actual results. Sometimes that strategy is aggressive, sometimes it's conservative, and sometimes the best strategy is pricing your home a little lower than the competition.

Christian: [14:21] Yeah, but why would you ever price your house lower?

Joanna: [14:23] Oh, scary.

Christian: [14:24] That's one of the hardest- It is … concepts for sellers to understand, and I get it, 'cause I've also been a seller. I understand the mentality. It's

Joanna: [14:31] scary.

Christian: [14:31] Um, they'll say, "Well, if I want 900,000, why wouldn't I list it at 925 and give myself room to negotiate?" Well, because a lot of times that works against you. Your asking price isn't necessarily the final number. It's a marketing tool. Mm-hmm. That's the asking price. You gotta look at it as a marketing tool.

Joanna: [14:49] It's a suggestion.

Christian: [14:50] Yes, it is just a suggestion. In the right market, pricing slightly below the competition gets more people through the door. The more buyers mean the more interest. The more interest can create multiple offers. Competition is how you get buyers to stretch beyond what any single one buyer would pay, and the price goes up, the number of contingencies go down- Mm-hmm and the closing period shortens up. So you end up getting more for your house by marketing it that way.

Joanna: [15:19] Mm-hmm.

Christian: [15:20] This doesn't mean underpricing is always right, though.

Joanna: [15:22] Mm-hmm.

Christian: [15:22] Everything depends on the market. There isn't one pricing strategy that works for every single house. Um, the four levers that you have to deal with when you are pricing your home. If I had to simplify the whole strategy, the four levers are preparation, price, exposure, and negotiation. So preparation, this is pretty obvious. You make the house look like the product that buyers in today's market actually want to buy. Or maybe you make it slightly better than what the competition on the market currently is, so what you, so that you can stand out. Price, you position the property correctly against the competition, instead of just choosing the biggest number and hope that somebody will pay it. Exposure. You get as many qualified buyers through the house as possible, and you make them get off of their screen and into the house. That is the goal. Everyone is sitting on their screen. When they're looking at their screen on their app, whatever they like to look at, you're trying to convince them that based on the photos, based on the video, the Matterport, or the listing description, whatever it is, you're trying to get them to go, "I want to see this in person." And then the last is negotiation. Once offers come in, you need to understand what each one actually means to your bottom line. The highest price, surprisingly, isn't always the best offer. That doesn't mean that you should always immediately take the highest price. You want the offer that's going to for sure close with all the other terms that go into it. There's so many different terms, and this is where hiring the right agent really comes into play because you need to make sure that your agent understands how to weigh all of those differences so that you get the strongest, highest priced offer with the best terms. Netting the most money with the best combination of price, terms, and certainty is what we're solving for.

Joanna: [17:12] Exactly. So if you're thinking about selling, the questions to ask aren't just, "What will my house sell for?"

Christian: [17:19] Mm-hmm.

Joanna: [17:19] Ask, "What will it cost to sell?" Ask, "What should we spend money on before listing?" Ask, "What do you think I'll actually net?"

Christian: [17:29] Mm-hmm.

Joanna: [17:30] And ask, "What's our strategy for getting there?" Those are much better questions, and any agent worth hiring should know how to answer that.

Christian: [17:38] Yeah, and don't think of every expense as a bad thing. Sometimes the right repairs, the right prep, or the right representation is what makes you meaningfully more money at the end of the day. The goal isn't to sell your house as cheap as possible. It's to make smart decisions about where to spend your money so that you maximize the amount of money that you walk away with. It's to net the most money. That's the goal. If you're thinking about selling in Seattle or the Seattle metro area, um, and you want to know what your home might sell for, what it will cost to sell, and most importantly, what you'll actually net-

Joanna: [18:10] Mm-hmm … Speaker: schedule a selling strategy session with us right on our website, AwesomeNossumGroup.com. We'll build you a real estimated net spreadsheet so that you can see the numbers specifically built for your property before you make any decisions. We would love for you to hire us as your agent. We have done this for a long, long time. We have helped numerous people. We have tons of Google reviews. Just check us out. We would love to be the agent that helps you. If you are ready, go to our website, schedule a time to chat with us, and we'll go through all these steps with you, and we'll do it honestly, and we will really try to get you the best deal possible. Absolutely.

Christian: [18:47] That's it for this episode of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.

Joanna: [18:51] Bye.