An Arcadia / Camelback East homeowner calculates net proceeds by starting with the expected closing price, not the asking price, and subtracting each cost layer in order: commission at 5 to 6 percent, seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent, likely repair credits, holding costs for the expected months on market, and finally any mortgage payoff (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). Worked on the research ledger, a 900,000 dollar list price nets the seller something in the low to mid 800,000s after a normal market cycle, before any price reduction (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Every input in that calculation is a sourced range in this report, so an owner can rebuild it at any price.
Key Findings
- Net proceeds equal closing price minus commission, closing costs, credits, holding costs and mortgage payoff, in that order (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Commission at 5 to 6 percent is 45,000 dollars to 54,000 dollars on a 900,000 dollar sale (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Closing costs add 1 to 2 percent, taking the fixed deduction past 54,000 dollars at that price (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- The ZIP sale to list ratio of 96.4 percent means the calculation should start from expected closing price, not list price (Redfin, 2026).
- A direct sale deletes the commission, closing cost and credit lines, making its net equal to its price minus payoff and any tax (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
What is step one, and why does it use closing price?
Step one is choosing the right starting number, and most seller errors happen here. Owners naturally insert the asking price, yet homes in 85018 closed at an average of 96.4 percent of list in August 2026, with a median sale price of 1.2 million dollars (Redfin, 2026). On a 900,000 dollar asking price, that ratio implies an expected closing near 867,600 dollars by direct arithmetic. Calculating proceeds from 900,000 dollars therefore overstates the result by roughly 32,400 dollars before any cost is subtracted.
A seller with a live offer should replace the ratio with the offered price, adjusted for anything the contract gives back. A seller still deciding whether to list should run the calculation at three starting points: full list, the ratio adjusted figure, and a reduced figure reflecting a price cut after two months. The spread between those three results is the honest range of the listed route, and it usually explains why neighbors with similar homes kept quite different amounts.
The 53 percent Arcadia listing success rate belongs in this step as a risk note rather than a number (MyHyperLocalNews, 2026). A calculation that assumes a completed sale should be read beside the fact that nearly half of local listings do not complete on their first cycle. A failed cycle still consumes holding costs, which step four prices.
Owners comparing routes should also calculate the direct route at this stage, using any direct offer as its starting price. The two calculations then proceed through different cost layers, which is the entire point of the method. The route specific layers are detailed in the full cost account for selling here and in the closing cost breakdown.
What are steps two and three, the percentage deductions?
Step two subtracts commission. Use the percentage in a signed listing agreement where one exists; otherwise use the typical total of 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025). At 900,000 dollars that is 45,000 dollars to 54,000 dollars. Commission studies after the settlement changes found the structure intact, with the buyer agent component at 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 and 2.42 percent in the third quarter, and 2.17 percent on homes of 1 million dollars or more (Redfin, 2025). Sellers in the accompanying survey negotiated in 37.4 percent of cases, while 45.9 percent did not try, so a negotiated rate should only enter the calculation once it is agreed in writing (Redfin, 2025).
Step three subtracts seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent of the price. Title, escrow and seller side settlement charges live in this band. Steps two and three together produce the fixed deduction: on a 900,000 dollar sale, commission plus closing costs commonly exceed 54,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Because both steps are percentages, they scale exactly with the starting price from step one, which is why getting step one right matters more than arguing over a fraction inside a band.
A worked pass at the research price shows the method in motion. Start at the ratio adjusted 867,600 dollars. Subtract commission at the midpoint of the band and closing costs at the midpoint of theirs, and the figure falls into the low 800,000s before credits and holding costs are reached. The research summary, that a 900,000 dollar list nets the low to mid 800,000s after a normal cycle, is exactly what the steps produce when they are run in order (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
National profile research on sellers confirms that these two deductions are structural features of the listed route rather than local anomalies (National Association of Realtors, 2025). An owner who finds a materially lower quote locally should welcome it, document it, and then use it; the method does not change, only the input does.
What are steps four and five, credits and holding costs?
Step four subtracts the inspection and concession layer. On older inventory, the research ledger puts the credits and reductions that follow an inspection in a band from 10,000 dollars to 25,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Concessions are a separate, growing channel for the same money: 46.2 percent of United States sales included them in May 2026, and Phoenix reached 65.6 percent (Redfin, 2026). A cautious calculation for an older Arcadia home includes a credit inside the sourced band and treats a concession as a further risk, unquantified in the sources, rather than pretending either is unlikely.
Step five subtracts holding costs for the months the calculation assumes. The research prices five months of market time at a 900,000 dollar level at 25,000 dollars to 45,000 dollars of holding expense (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Owners should count their own mortgage or capital cost, taxes, insurance, utilities and the landscape and pool care that irrigated Arcadia lots require, for the realistic selling period. That period starts from local evidence: a 72 day average on market for the ZIP, and 60 to 120 plus days for the full listed journey on older homes (Redfin, 2026). The national typical figure of 46 days for the four weeks ending September 13, 2026 describes faster product than an unrenovated ranch (Redfin, 2026).
The Medlock Drive case is the cautionary calibration for step five. The 1953 ranch at 4101 East Medlock Drive listed at 2.195 million dollars sat for 156 days (Redfin, 2026). An owner who had calculated holding costs for sixty days would have understated that line by three months of carrying a high value property. Building the calculation at two time assumptions, expected and extended, is cheap insurance against that error.
Pre sale project spending, if any is planned, enters at this stage as well. A 120,000 dollar kitchen and bath update belongs in the outflow column, with its expected return of 80,000 dollars to 100,000 dollars added to the step one price only in the household buyer scenario, and 0 dollars added in the builder scenario (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Mixing scenarios is how sellers convince themselves a project pays when the eventual buyer type says it does not.
What are the final steps, payoff, tax and the direct comparison?
Step six subtracts any mortgage payoff, using the lenders payoff statement for the closing date rather than the statement balance. The research file holds no local payoff figures, and this report invents none; the line is simply mandatory in the method, and for many long held Arcadia homes it is mercifully small or zero.
Step seven notes tax without calculating it. Federal guidance provides exclusions of 250,000 dollars and 500,000 dollars for qualifying main home sales under the ownership and use tests (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). Publication 523 supplies the worksheets for gain and basis (Internal Revenue Service, 2025). Proceeds and taxable gain are different numbers: proceeds are what this calculation produces, while gain subtracts basis and applies the exclusion. Owners should hand the completed proceeds calculation to their tax adviser rather than treating its result as a tax estimate. The tax framework is summarized in the capital gains analysis for local homeowners.
The final step is the comparison that justifies the whole exercise. Run the identical price through the direct route layers: no commission, no seller closing costs, no inspection credits, and holding costs only until a chosen closing in 7 to 21 days or a planned later date with a leaseback. The direct net will usually sit far closer to its price than the listed net sits to its price. Then compare the two nets, remembering that the two prices themselves may differ, because direct offers follow land logic: builders acquired 62.3 percent of sampled older homes at an average of 32.3 percent of new build value (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
One last sense check on the inputs is worth making. Holdings and debts vary widely between households on the same street, so net proceeds are personal in exactly that way: the method is universal, the inputs never are.
What does the direct route do to each line of the calculation?
Privacy removes the soft costs around the listed lines. A direct sale has zero showings and zero open houses and no public marketing period, so the owner is not funding months of presentation for a home that may be priced as land. The transaction stays private until the deed records, and the calculation stays a private document as well.
Flexible timing caps the holding line. Closing in 7 to 21 days when speed matters, or on a date months out with a leaseback when the household chooses it, replaces an open ended market exposure with a known number of carrying days. In proceeds terms, certainty about step five is worth almost as much as reducing it.
No commission deletes step two entirely, worth 45,000 dollars to 54,000 dollars at the research price of 900,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). No seller closing costs deletes step three, the 1 to 2 percent band. Together the two deletions exceed 54,000 dollars at that price and grow with the price, which is why the method matters most exactly where Arcadia prices live, around and above the 1.2 million dollar median (Redfin, 2026).
No inspections or repairs deletes step four. The sale completes as is, so no credit in the 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars benefits band reopens the agreed price. What remains in the direct calculation is the price, minus payoff, minus any tax the owners adviser identifies: three lines where the listed version had seven.
How should an owner verify the numbers and the buyer?
Verify each input against its own document. Commission against the listing agreement, closing costs against the title companys estimate once the one to two week title search is under way, payoff against the lender statement, and price against recorded comparable sales rather than asking prices (Maricopa County Recorder, 2026). Parcel facts that support the price input for a land valued property should be confirmed from the county record before they enter the worksheet.
Verify the buyer with the same discipline. Proof of funds in the buyers name dated within 30 days, recorded deeds in the buying entity name in county records, and earnest money of 1 percent or more (Maricopa County Recorder, 2026). An assignment clause paired with a nominal deposit marks a buyer whose proceeds promise may never be tested at a closing table, which makes every line of the owners calculation provisional.
Frontier Capitals is candid about its place in the direct column. It sources off market homes to builders as a wholesaler, agreeing the purchase with the owner and placing the property with a vetted builder, and it never claims to be a builder. That candor lets an owner put the right names into the calculation and the contract alike.
What does a one page worksheet for this calculation look like?
Owners often work better from a single page than from a narrative, so the method compresses into seven labeled lines. Line one holds the expected closing price, already adjusted by the 96.4 percent ratio where no live offer exists (Redfin, 2026). Lines two and three hold commission and closing costs, entered as percentages and converted at the line one price (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Line four holds the credit allowance, entered inside the 10,000 dollars to 25,000 dollars band for older homes (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Line five holds holding costs, calculated from the owners real monthly carrying figure multiplied by a realistic month count drawn from the 72 day ZIP average and the 60 to 120 plus day range for older stock (Redfin, 2026). Line six holds the mortgage payoff from the lender statement. Line seven is left blank on the worksheet itself, marked for the tax advisers figure, because converting proceeds into after tax proceeds requires the basis and exclusion analysis that belongs to that conversation (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). A worksheet with line seven honestly blank is more useful than one with a guessed tax number filling it.
Methodology and limitations
The method in this report is assembled from the research ledger for this neighborhood: commission and closing bands from industry sources, credit and holding bands from the local study, the sale to list ratio and pace from dated ZIP records, and the tax framework from federal guidance (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026; Redfin, 2026; Internal Revenue Service, 2026). The worked price is 900,000 dollars, matching the ledger, and percentage steps scale to other prices by arithmetic.
The limits are explicit. The calculation is a planning method, not a settlement statement; actual commission is set by agreement, actual closing costs by the title estimate, and actual credits by negotiation. Mortgage payoff and tax are included as mandatory lines but are not sized here, because the source material holds no personal data and this report invents none. The underlying sample of 53 older homes over represents builder targeted properties, and the 96.4 percent ratio is a ZIP average that individual results will miss in both directions.
Conclusion
Net proceeds in Arcadia / Camelback East are calculated, not guessed: start from expected closing price at the 96.4 percent ratio, subtract commission of 5 to 6 percent and closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, allow 10,000 dollars to 25,000 dollars for credits and the holding cost of a realistic selling period, then subtract payoff and hand the result to a tax adviser. Run honestly, the method turns a 900,000 dollar list price into low to mid 800,000s of proceeds, and it shows just as clearly why a direct price with its cost lines deleted can keep a seller more.
Owners who would like the seven steps run with their own price, payoff and timeline can telephone Frontier Capitals at 401-219-4207 or email [email protected] for a direct working session on the calculation.
If you ran your own home through all seven steps tonight, which single line would change your decision about how to sell it?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the first number in the calculation?
The expected closing price, not the asking price. Homes in 85018 closed at 96.4 percent of list in August 2026, so the ratio adjusted figure is the honest starting point (Redfin, 2026).
Which deduction is largest?
Commission, at 5 to 6 percent of price, or 45,000 dollars to 54,000 dollars on a 900,000 dollar sale (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Closing costs of 1 to 2 percent are the next fixed line.
How much should I allow for holding costs?
Use your own monthly carrying figure for a realistic period. The research benchmarks five months at a 900,000 dollar level at 25,000 dollars to 45,000 dollars, with older homes commonly spending 60 to 120 plus days in the listed process (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Does the calculation include taxes?
It includes tax as a final step to take to an adviser, not as a computed amount. Federal exclusions of 250,000 dollars and 500,000 dollars may cover part or all of a qualifying gain (Internal Revenue Service, 2026).
Why does a direct offer sometimes net more at a lower price?
Because its calculation deletes commission, seller closing costs and repair credits, which together exceed 54,000 dollars plus the credit band at the research price (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). Nets, not headline prices, are the correct comparison.
Sources
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Phoenix market. Industry report.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Highlights from the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Industry report.
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 53 homes sampled in 85018, 33 acquired by builders, average older home price 32.3 percent of new build. Market data.
- Redfin, 2026. Market trends for ZIP code 85018: median sale price, days on market and sale to list ratio. Market data.
- Redfin, 2026. Seller concessions report: United States and Phoenix concession shares. Market data.
- Redfin, 2025. Real Estate Agent Commissions Haven't Changed Much Under New Rules. Market data.
- MyHyperLocalNews, 2026. Arcadia luxury market reporting: listing success rate and inventory data. Press.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2026. Topic No. 701, Sale of Your Home. Government data.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2025. Publication 523, Selling Your Home. Government data.
- Maricopa County Recorder, 2026. Recorded deeds and transaction records, Phoenix AZ. Official record.