Own Luxury Homes®
How to Sell Your House: Complete Mechanics Guide
Total seller costs: 8–10% of sale price with commission; 1–3% without. Net proceeds (not sale price) is the only number that matters. FSBO: 9% of sales, historically sell below agent-listed median (NAR). No flat-fee upsell, no cash offer, no staging service — just honest mechanics. Own Luxury Homes® 12-Point Agent Integrity Audit™ — seller representation with no conflict.
How to Sell Your House: The Complete Mechanics Guide
Every guide to selling your house is written by someone selling you something: a flat-fee listing service that wants you to skip an agent, an iBuyer that wants to buy your house below market, or a staging company quoting inflated ROI figures. This guide is written by a brokerage with no flat-fee product, no cash offer, and no staging service. We earn when sellers are well-represented — which means giving you the honest mechanics, including when going it alone genuinely makes sense.
- FSBO vs Agent: The Honest Cost Comparison
- NAR Settlement: What Sellers Need to Know
- How to Price Your Home to Sell
- Home Staging ROI: The Honest Analysis
- Pre-Listing Repairs: What’s Worth It
- Seller Net Proceeds: What You Actually Keep
- The Seller-Side Closing Process Explained
- Listing Photos and Marketing That Sells
- How to Handle Showings and Open Houses
- Evaluating Offers Beyond Price
- Selling and Buying at the Same Time
What does it cost to sell a house in 2026?
Total seller costs typically run 8–10% of the sale price including commissions, or 1–3% without agent commissions. On a $400,000 home: roughly $32,000–40,000 all-in. This includes agent commissions, transfer taxes, owner’s title insurance (in some states), prorated property taxes, and any buyer concessions. Your mortgage payoff is separate and further reduces net proceeds.
How much do I actually keep when I sell my house?
Net proceeds = sale price − mortgage payoff − selling costs (8–10% with commission). Example: $400,000 sale, $250,000 payoff, $28,000 selling costs = $122,000 net. The sale price is not what you keep — net proceeds is the only number that matters for your next move.
Should I sell my house without a realtor?
FSBO can save the listing commission (2.5–3%) but comes with trade-offs: FSBO homes historically sell below the agent-listed median (NAR), you still typically pay a buyer-agent commission, and you take on pricing, marketing, showings, negotiation, and contract management. It works for sellers with market knowledge and time; the honest net comparison depends on your specific situation.
What changed for sellers after the NAR settlement?
The 2024 NAR settlement changed how buyer-agent commissions are advertised and negotiated. Buyer-agent compensation can no longer be advertised on the MLS, and buyers now sign agreements with their own agents specifying compensation. Sellers retain the option to offer buyer-agent compensation and most still do to maximize buyer interest — but it is now explicitly negotiable.
Own Luxury Homes® — audited listing specialists who give you the honest mechanics of selling, with no product to upsell. 12-Point Agent Integrity Audit™. Talk to an audited listing specialist ›
"The introduction Own Luxury Homes® makes is to a specialist with documented closing history in your specific market — not the county, not the metro, the submarket you're actually selling or buying in. That's the standard we verify before your name goes anywhere."
— Ryan Brown, Principal Broker & CEO, Own Luxury Homes® (FL License BK3626873)