A net proceeds calculation is a subtraction exercise with a fixed order, and Redmond homeowners in ZIP code 98052 can run it on one page. Start with the contract price, not the list price. Subtract commission, which in this market typically runs 5 to 6 percent of the price (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Subtract seller closing costs, commonly 1 to 2 percent, covering title, the excise tax, and prorations. Subtract the contingent lines a listed sale produces: concessions that routinely run 10,000 to 25,000 dollars on older homes, and carrying costs of 18,000 to 36,000 dollars across a normal marketing period. Finally subtract the mortgage payoff and any other liens. What remains is the amount the seller actually keeps, and the research ledger shows where the exercise lands on a worked example: a 900,000 dollar list price nets in the high 700,000s to low 800,000s after a normal market cycle, before any price reduction (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
The value of running the calculation early is that it changes decisions while they can still be changed. A seller who knows the net at several prices can judge an offer on arrival instead of by instinct. A seller comparing a listing strategy with a direct offer can compare the two nets rather than the two gross prices, which is the only comparison that reflects reality. The steps below follow the order of the settlement statement itself, so a homeowner can check the result against the real document when closing day comes.
Key Findings
- The calculation order is price, minus commission at 5 to 6 percent, minus closing costs at 1 to 2 percent, minus contingent listed sale costs, minus mortgage payoff (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Commissions plus closing costs together commonly take 54,000 to 72,000 dollars on a 900,000 dollar sale, the documented anchor example for this submarket (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The Washington excise tax sits inside the closing cost block, paid by the seller and graduated from 1.1 percent on residential sales (Washington Department of Revenue, 2025).
- Concessions on 50 year old homes routinely run 10,000 to 25,000 dollars, and carrying costs over three to six months of market time run 18,000 to 36,000 dollars, in the documented ledger (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Realized price often differs from list price, with recent data showing an average sale to list ratio of 98.6 percent and 25.1 percent of homes selling above list (Redfin, 2026).
- The mortgage payoff is applied at closing through escrow and the transfer records with the lien released, which is why equity, not price, is what the seller finally keeps (King County Recorder, 2026).
What are the steps, in order, from price to net?
Step one is fixing the starting figure. Use the contract price if a sale is agreed, or a realistic expected price if the calculation is for planning. Planning from the list price flatters the result, because recent market data puts the average sale to list ratio at 98.6 percent (Redfin, 2026). On a 900,000 dollar expectation, that ratio alone is a difference of more than 12,000 dollars, larger than several of the cost lines sellers agonize over. Honest inputs are the whole discipline of this exercise, and a seller who protects the inputs from optimism will find the output trustworthy enough to make real decisions against, including the decision to reject an offer that looks generous until the subtractions are finished.
Step two is commission. At the documented 5 to 6 percent for this market, a 900,000 dollar sale subtracts 45,000 to 54,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Step three is the closing cost block: 1 to 2 percent, or 9,000 to 18,000 dollars at that price, containing the excise tax, title, escrow, recording, and prorations (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Seller closing cost guidance itemizes the same categories for sellers nationally (Freddie Mac via Bankrate, 2026), and state level averages remind the calculator that the tax portion is jurisdiction specific (Bankrate, 2025). Steps two and three together produce the documented combined range of 54,000 to 72,000 dollars on the 900,000 dollar example.
Step four is the contingent block, which applies in full only to listed sales: concessions after inspection, carrying costs across the marketing months, and any price reduction taken along the way. Step five is the payoff: the mortgage balance and any secondary liens, disbursed at closing before the seller receives anything (King County Recorder, 2026). A homeowner who works the five steps on paper, in this order, will land within a narrow band of the final settlement figure. The two cost blocks are unpacked separately in how much it costs to sell a house in Redmond and in what closing costs Redmond home sellers typically pay.
How do the contingent lines change the answer?
They change it by enough to decide route comparisons. The documented concession range on 50 year old homes is 10,000 to 25,000 dollars, covering repair credits and post inspection price reductions (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The documented carrying range is 18,000 to 36,000 dollars across three to six months of market time at typical Eastside levels. Neither line appears in a naive calculation, and together they can remove 28,000 to 61,000 dollars that the seller expected to keep. This is why the research net on a 900,000 dollar list price lands in the high 700,000s to low 800,000s rather than near 828,000 dollars, which is where the fixed blocks alone would leave it.
Price behavior is the swing factor inside the contingent block. Seller research documents how frequently listed homes take reductions before they sell (Zillow, 2024), and each reduction comes straight out of the seller net while the percentage costs shrink only slightly. A seller modeling proceeds should therefore run at least two scenarios: the clean case, where the home sells at the expected price with average concessions, and the slow case, where one reduction and the full carrying range apply. The gap between those scenarios is the financial risk of the listed route, stated in dollars, and it belongs on the same page as the direct offer alternative.
Prorations deserve a footnote in the calculation because they can move either way. Property taxes prepaid beyond the closing date return as a credit; taxes accrued and unpaid appear as a charge. The amounts trace to the county assessed values on the parcel record, which also split land and improvement values for 98052 properties (King County Assessor, 2026). On most sales the proration net is small beside the other lines, but a seller calculating to the dollar should ask escrow for the estimate rather than assume it nets to zero.
A worked pass through the anchor example ties the steps together. Begin at 900,000 dollars. Subtract commission at the midpoint of the documented range and the exercise removes roughly 49,500 dollars. Subtract closing costs at the midpoint of their range and roughly 13,500 dollars more comes out, bringing the running figure to about 837,000 dollars, consistent with the combined 54,000 to 72,000 dollar documented range for the two blocks. Subtract a mid range concession allowance and a mid range carrying allowance for a listed sale and the figure drifts toward the documented landing zone in the high 700,000s to low 800,000s. Only then does the payoff step arrive, and it is personal: the same worksheet that leaves a mortgage free owner with roughly 800,000 dollars leaves an owner carrying a 400,000 dollar balance with roughly half that in hand. Both owners sold the same house at the same price. The worksheet, run honestly, is what tells each of them which outcome is actually theirs before they commit to a route or a list price.
How does the calculation change for a direct off market sale?
Lines disappear, and the order simplifies. A direct sale with no listing agent removes the commission step entirely. The closing block shrinks toward its immovable core, the excise tax, which is seller paid and graduated from 1.1 percent regardless of route (Washington Department of Revenue, 2025), plus recording and reduced escrow items. The contingent block largely vanishes: a closing in 7 to 21 days leaves almost no carrying window, and an as is agreement produces no inspection concessions. The payoff step remains identical, because the loan must be satisfied in any structure before the transfer records (King County Recorder, 2026).
The practical consequence is that a direct offer should be entered into the same five step worksheet as a planning scenario, with its own price in step one and its reduced costs in steps two through four. Sellers are often surprised to find the direct scenario netting within reach of the listed scenario, or ahead of the listed slow case, even at a lower headline price. That is not a sales claim; it is arithmetic following from the documented ranges, and any seller can reproduce it with a pencil. Federal tax on the gain, where it applies, is calculated after either route under the home sale exclusion framework (Internal Revenue Service, 2026), and it is a reserve against proceeds rather than a line in the closing worksheet. Homeowners ready to have the worksheet run on their own figures can start through the contact page.
What do sellers keep when a Redmond sale stays off market?
The first answer is privacy, kept from the first conversation to the last. An off market sale has zero showings and zero open houses, so the seller proceeds figure stays between the seller, the buyer, and the escrow officer. On an Education Hill street, no one watches a neighbor do this math in public, and for many families that discretion is the deciding comfort.
The second answer is the calendar. A direct cash sale closes in 7 to 21 days, or on a date months ahead with a leaseback, entirely at the seller election. The listed route spends 60 to 120 plus days from list to close, and every one of those days is a day the proceeds figure remains an estimate exposed to inspection findings and buyer financing.
The third answer is the commission line itself. Keeping the documented 5 to 6 percent, worth 45,000 to 54,000 dollars on the 900,000 dollar anchor example, is the largest single improvement a route change can make to a seller net. It converts directly, dollar for dollar, into kept proceeds.
The fourth answer is the rest of the combined block. Seller closing costs of 1 to 2 percent are commonly reduced in a direct structure, and since commissions plus closing costs together commonly consume 54,000 to 72,000 dollars on a 900,000 dollar sale, the total kept across both blocks is the difference between the two routes in most comparisons.
The fifth answer is certainty about the final number. An as is sale has no 10,000 to 30,000 dollar repair credits and no post inspection price reductions, so the proceeds calculated at signing are the proceeds funded at closing. For sellers whose next purchase depends on the exact figure, that certainty has a cash value of its own.
The disclosure attached to every version of this calculation: Frontier Capitals sources off-market deals to builders and works as a wholesaler in the technical sense, not as a builder, and its figures should be verified like anyone else. Verification of a direct buyer means proof of funds dated within 30 days, recorded deeds in the buyer entity name, earnest money of typically 1 percent or more, and no assignment clause in the contract.
Methodology and limitations
The calculation framework here uses the documented Redmond ledger: commission of 5 to 6 percent, seller closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, concession and carrying ranges from the research on this submarket, and the excise tax schedule published by the state. The anchor example, a 900,000 dollar sale netting in the high 700,000s to low 800,000s before any price reduction, is worked from those ranges and labeled as the research example it is. Individual outcomes vary with the actual contract price, negotiated commission, closing date within the tax cycle, loan balances, and tax posture, none of which this report can know for a specific home. The underlying sample covers 36 older homes in 98052, 13 acquired by builders, and no appraisal, inspection, or title search was performed.
Conclusion
A Redmond homeowner calculates net proceeds by subtracting, in order, commission, closing costs, the contingent costs of the route chosen, and the mortgage payoff from the contract price, and the documented example nets a 900,000 dollar sale in the high 700,000s to low 800,000s on the listed route. Run honestly and early, the worksheet turns route choice into a comparison of nets instead of a contest of headline prices. For the calculation run on a specific 98052 home, call 401-219-4207 or email [email protected]. If you ran your own numbers tonight, which line in the subtraction would surprise you most?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the single most common mistake in a proceeds calculation?
Starting from the list price and subtracting only commission. The documented structure subtracts the closing cost block of 1 to 2 percent as well, and the contingent lines after that (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Realized prices also average below list, at a 98.6 percent sale to list ratio in recent data (Redfin, 2026). Each omission flatters the estimate, and the omissions compound into the disappointment sellers feel at the settlement table.
Where does the excise tax enter the worksheet?
Inside the closing cost block, as its largest item in most Washington sales. The tax is seller paid and graduated from 1.1 percent on residential sales (Washington Department of Revenue, 2025). Because it is charged on the full contract price, it scales with every price scenario the seller runs. State closing cost comparisons show the tax line is the main reason seller costs differ across jurisdictions (Bankrate, 2025).
Should I include my mortgage payoff in net proceeds?
Yes, if by net proceeds you mean the money you keep. The payoff is disbursed at closing before the seller receives funds, and the lien release becomes part of the recorded transfer (King County Recorder, 2026). Some worksheets stop at net of selling costs and call that figure proceeds, which is legitimate as an intermediate step, but the seller spendable amount is the figure after payoff and liens. Being clear about which number you are quoting prevents expensive misunderstandings.
How do I estimate prorations before I have a closing date?
Ask escrow or your representative for an estimate built from the county assessed values and the tax installment calendar for your parcel (King County Assessor, 2026). Prorations split taxes and prepaid items at the closing date, so the estimate sharpens as the date firms up. In most Redmond sales the line is small next to commission and excise tax, and the national seller guidance treats it as a standard, predictable item (Freddie Mac via Bankrate, 2026).
Does the calculation account for capital gains tax?
Not inside the closing worksheet. Federal tax on the gain is settled through the return, under the exclusion of 250,000 dollars or 500,000 dollars where the ownership and use tests are met (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). A seller whose gain may exceed the exclusion should reserve the estimated tax out of the kept proceeds rather than treating the closing figure as fully spendable. The proceeds number and the after tax number are both real; they are simply computed at different moments.
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 36 homes sampled in 98052, 13 acquired by builders, average older home price 34.7 percent of new build. Market data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Seattle-Eastside market. Industry report.
- Washington Department of Revenue, 2025. Real estate excise tax: graduated rates from 1.1% on residential sales, seller-paid. Government data.
- Freddie Mac via Bankrate, 2026. Closing costs for sellers. Industry report.
- Bankrate, 2025. Average closing costs by state. Market data.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2026. Topic 701, Sale of your home: $250,000/$500,000 exclusion, ownership and use tests. Government data.
- King County Recorder, 2026. Recorded deeds and transaction records, Redmond WA. Official record.
- Redfin, 2026. September 2026 housing market data: 25.1% of homes sold above list price, 98.6% average sale-to-list ratio. Market data.
- King County Assessor, 2026. Parcel records, land vs. improvement assessments for the 98052 area. Official record.
- Zillow, 2024. Sellers: Results from the Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2024. Market data.