A Southampton homeowner calculates net proceeds by working down from the price in a fixed order: subtract commission, then seller closing costs, then repair credits, then the carrying costs already spent, then any mortgage payoff, using the documented rates for each line (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). On the research ledger at a 2,000,000 dollar price, the first two lines alone take 120,000 to 160,000 dollars combined, at commission of 5 to 6 percent and seller closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, leaving 1,840,000 to 1,880,000 dollars before the remaining lines are applied (National Association of Realtors, 2025). The worked example matters because the research records that a 2,000,000 dollar list price missing the season can net in the mid 1,700,000s once every line is counted (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Key Findings
- Net proceeds equal the price minus commission, seller closing costs, repair credits, carrying costs, and any mortgage payoff, in that working order (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Commission at 5 to 6 percent is 100,000 to 120,000 dollars on a 2,000,000 dollar sale, and seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent bring the combined total to 120,000 to 160,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Repair credits of 25,000 to 75,000 dollars are routine on 60 year old cottages and belong in the calculation, not outside it (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- A full year of carrying costs at the 2,000,000 dollar level runs 80,000 to 150,000 dollars, which is how a 2,000,000 dollar list price can net in the mid 1,700,000s (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The New York transfer tax is a formula line, 2 dollars per 500 dollars of consideration, equal to 8,000 dollars on a 2,000,000 dollar sale (New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, 2026).
What is the step by step worksheet?
Step one is the price, and the discipline starts with using a realistic one. Sellers should work the sheet on the price a buyer will actually pay, informed by recent sales and new construction results in the ZIP code, not on an aspirational list figure (Redfin, 2026). Every line below is calculated from that price, so an inflated starting figure inflates the answer while changing nothing at the closing table. Home values tracked for the ZIP code can inform the estimate, tempered by the research warning that value in Southampton changes block by block (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Step two is commission. Multiply the price by the negotiated commission rate inside the documented typical band of 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025). At 2,000,000 dollars that is 100,000 to 120,000 dollars. Sellers sometimes work the sheet with only the listing side of the commission in mind, yet the buyer agent share, which averaged 2.40 percent in early 2025 and has held largely steady since the settlement period, is part of the total the seller funds at closing (Redfin, 2025).
Step three is seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent of the price, for title, transfer, and proration items (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Inside this line, the transfer tax can be computed exactly: the consideration divided by 500, multiplied by 2 dollars, under the state formula (New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, 2026). Prorations for property taxes are set to the closing date from county assessment records, so the seller closing month changes this line modestly (Suffolk County Real Property Tax Service Agency, 2026). The disclosure step is settled by a statement or a 500 dollar credit at closing (New York State Department of State, 2026). The companion itemization of closing costs Southampton sellers typically pay explains each component of this step.
Step four is repair credits, entered as the range the research documents, 25,000 to 75,000 dollars for a 60 year old cottage after inspection (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Step five is carrying costs: take the documented annual range at the relevant price level, 80,000 to 150,000 dollars at 2,000,000 dollars, and apply the share of the year the sale is honestly expected to take, including the risk of missing the Memorial Day to Labor Day season (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Step six is the mortgage payoff, taken from the seller own loan statement, the one figure on the sheet no research file can supply. The order matters less than the completeness: a sheet missing steps four and five will overstate proceeds by six figures, which is the standard failure this method exists to prevent. The applied version at a lower price appears in the analysis of how much a seller keeps after a 1,500,000 dollar sale, and the full cost stack is catalogued in the report on how much it costs to sell a house in Southampton.
How does the worked example reach the mid 1,700,000s?
The research statement that a 2,000,000 dollar list price can net in the mid 1,700,000s looks severe until the worksheet is run in full (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Start at 2,000,000 dollars. Subtract combined commission and closing costs at the middle of the documented range, about 140,000 dollars of the 120,000 to 160,000 dollar band, and the sheet stands near 1,860,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Subtract a mid range repair credit of about 50,000 dollars from the documented 25,000 to 75,000 dollar range, and the sheet stands near 1,810,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Now apply time. A seller who lists outside the season, or prices high and waits through it, can spend a full year reaching the closing table, and the documented carrying range for that year is 80,000 to 150,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Subtract a mid range carrying year of about 100,000 dollars and the sheet lands near 1,710,000 dollars, in the band the research describes, and that is before any price reduction, which the example expressly excludes. The reconciliation is the lesson: no single line is extreme, and the lines are unremarkable individually, yet together they convert a round list price into a materially smaller net.
National contract data shows why the time line deserves its pessimistic case. Roughly 15 percent of pending sales fell out of contract in late 2025, and each fallout returns the property to the market with the carrying meter still running (Redfin, 2025). The typical sold home spent 46 days on market in the 2026 update and a median of 51 days in late 2025, figures that describe the successful sales only (Redfin, 2026; Redfin, 2025). A prudent worksheet therefore carries two columns, an in season case and a missed season case, and the seller decides between sale routes using both. Life events press on the same decision: 78 percent of sellers nationally cite a life event behind the sale, so the missed season case often arrives during a relocation or a settlement when delay is most expensive (Zillow, 2025).
A word on how to enter the ranges is warranted, because the most common worksheet error after omission is false precision. Each documented line is a range, so the honest output is a range, and sellers should carry the low and high ends through every step rather than collapsing them into single figures at the start. Commission is entered at the negotiated rate where one is signed, and at the documented 5 to 6 percent band where it is not (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Closing costs are entered at 1 to 2 percent until the attorney projects the actual statement, at which point the projection replaces the band for that closing (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Repair credits stay a range until an inspection report exists, and carrying costs stay a range until the closing date is known. The result is two net figures, a favorable case and a demanding case, and any route decision that only works in the favorable case should be treated as undecided rather than decided. This discipline is unglamorous, and it is the entire difference between a proceeds estimate and a proceeds hope.
Recorded deeds offer the final check on the method. The deed record for completed Southampton sales shows the consideration buyers actually paid, against which a seller can test whether the starting price on the worksheet was ever realistic (Suffolk County Clerk, 2026). Optimism at step one is the quietest way a proceeds calculation fails, and the public record is the corrective. The research note on hidden expenses that reduce profits when selling extends the same discipline to the lines sellers most often omit entirely.
How does the worksheet change for a direct sale?
The worksheet does not change; the entries do. A direct off market sale is a private process with zero showings and zero open houses, so the marketing period that generates carrying costs largely disappears, and in Southampton the sale stays off the village social circuit until the deed records (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The closing is set on the seller calendar, in 7 to 21 days when speed matters or months out with a leaseback when the household needs time, against the full selling season a listed older home can consume (Frontier Capitals, 2026). On the sheet, that means the carrying line is entered in weeks rather than in seasons.
The commission line becomes zero, removing the typical 5 to 6 percent, worth 100,000 to 120,000 dollars at the 2,000,000 dollar level (National Association of Realtors, 2025). The seller closing cost line also becomes zero as the direct sale is structured in the research, removing another 1 to 2 percent, so the combined 120,000 to 160,000 dollar block never leaves the price (National Association of Realtors, 2025). The repair credit line becomes zero as well, because the sale is as is and no inspection renegotiation produces the 10,000 to 30,000 dollar repair credits the benefits schedule records, let alone the wider documented range (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
What remains on the direct sheet is honest and short: the price, the documented tax and proration items the contract allocates, and any mortgage payoff. Sellers should insist the comparison be run this way, both routes on the same worksheet, because route comparisons fail when the listed route is shown gross and the direct route net, or the reverse. The sample context supports taking the direct column seriously for older homes in this ZIP code: builders acquired 13 of 16 pre-1981 homes sampled in 11968, so the direct buyer class is the proven market for this stock (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
How should a seller verify the numbers on the sheet?
Begin with who prepared it. Frontier Capitals discloses its position directly: it is a wholesaler that sources off market deals to builders, not a builder, and its worksheets are built on the documented rates in this report so a seller can recompute every line independently. A proceeds figure that cannot be recomputed from stated rates is a sales figure, not a calculation, and it should be treated accordingly.
The buyer verification steps protect the price line at the top of the sheet. Proof of funds in the buyer name dated within the last 30 days confirms the buyer can pay the price entered, and neither a pre approval nor a private lender letter satisfies the standard (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Recorded deeds in the buyer entity name, checked in county records, confirm a history of paying such prices to completion (Suffolk County Clerk, 2026). A contract without an assignment clause, with earnest money of typically 1 percent or more forfeited on a walk away, protects the timeline the carrying line assumes; the assignment clause with a token deposit is the documented mark of a contract never meant to close (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Attorney review under New York contract custom then verifies the allocation lines, the transfer tax treatment, the prorations, and the disclosure credit, against the contract the seller actually signs (New York State Association of Realtors, 2026). With those checks complete, the worksheet becomes a reliable planning document: price from market evidence (Redfin, 2026), rates from the documented bands, taxes from the state formula, and a buyer who has been verified to the closing table.
Methodology and limitations
The rates on this worksheet come from the Southampton research ledger: commission of 5 to 6 percent and seller closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, combined at 120,000 to 160,000 dollars on a 2,000,000 dollar sale; repair credits of 25,000 to 75,000 dollars on 60 year old cottages; and carrying costs of 80,000 to 150,000 dollars for a full year at that price level (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). The market sample behind the report is the Frontier Capitals sample for 11968, 16 pre-1981 homes with 13 acquired by builders (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The research publishes no carrying cost range at other price points and no seller specific mortgage data, so the worksheet instructs sellers to scale time honestly from the documented annual range and to insert their own payoff figure, rather than presenting invented precision. Mid range values used in the worked example are arithmetic illustrations inside the documented ranges and are labeled as such.
Conclusion
Net proceeds are calculated, not discovered at the closing table: price, minus commission at 5 to 6 percent, minus seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent, minus repair credits of 25,000 to 75,000 dollars, minus carrying costs for the time the sale honestly takes, minus any mortgage payoff (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). Run in full, the worksheet explains the research finding that a 2,000,000 dollar Southampton list price can net in the mid 1,700,000s, and run for a direct sale, it shows the same price keeping the combined 120,000 to 160,000 dollar block that the listed route deducts.
Homeowners who want the worksheet run on their own price and timeline can call 401-219-4207 or email [email protected]. The figures are documented, the method is open, and the answer arrives before any commitment is made.
If the net figure is knowable within a range before a house is ever shown, what should a seller make of any process that asks them to commit first and calculate later?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the formula for net proceeds?
Net proceeds equal the sale price minus commission, seller closing costs, repair credits, carrying costs for the selling period, and any mortgage payoff (Frontier Capitals, 2026). On a 2,000,000 dollar listed sale the first two items alone total 120,000 to 160,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
Which line do sellers most often leave out?
Carrying costs. A full year at the 2,000,000 dollar level runs 80,000 to 150,000 dollars in the research ledger, and sellers routinely omit the line because it is paid monthly rather than deducted at closing (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
How do I compute the transfer tax line exactly?
Divide the consideration by 500 and multiply by 2 dollars, under the state formula (New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, 2026). The result is 8,000 dollars on a 2,000,000 dollar sale and 6,000 dollars on a 1,500,000 dollar sale.
Where do prorations come from?
Tax prorations are adjusted to the closing date using county parcel and assessment records (Suffolk County Real Property Tax Service Agency, 2026). The disclosure step is settled with a statement or a 500 dollar credit at closing (New York State Department of State, 2026).
How does a direct sale change the worksheet?
The direct route zeroes the commission and seller closing lines, the combined 120,000 to 160,000 dollars on a 2,000,000 dollar sale, and removes repair credits because the sale is as is (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). The documented taxes and any mortgage payoff remain, allocated as the contract states.
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 16 homes sampled in 11968, 13 acquired by builders, average older home price 23.3 percent of new build. Market data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Hamptons market. Industry report.
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, 2026. Real estate transfer tax and mansion tax guidance. Official record.
- New York State Department of State, 2026. Property condition disclosure requirements for residential sales. Official record.
- New York State Association of Realtors, 2026. Residential contract customs: attorney review and contingency standards. Industry report.
- Redfin, 2026. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 11968, Southampton NY. Market data.
- Redfin, 2025. National market data, late 2025: median days on market 51; roughly 15 percent of pending sales fall out of contract; investors purchased 17 percent of U.S. homes in Q3 2025. Market data.
- Suffolk County Clerk, 2026. Recorded deeds and parcel records, Southampton NY. Official record.
- Suffolk County Real Property Tax Service Agency, 2026. Parcel and assessment records, Southampton NY. Official record.
- Zillow, 2025. Consumer Housing Trends Report: 78 percent of sellers cite a life event as influencing the decision to sell. Market data.