Start with the price, then subtract every line the closing actually charges, because net proceeds are a ledger and not a guess. On a 750,000 dollar listed sale in Wilmette, the documented ledger runs like this: a commission of 37,500 to 45,000 dollars at the typical 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025), seller side closing costs of a further 1 to 2 percent, inspection concessions that routinely reach 15,000 to 35,000 dollars on older North Shore homes, tax prorations settled under the county cycle, and carrying costs of 30,000 to 60,000 dollars across four to seven months of market time. The research ledger records that a 750,000 dollar list price in 60091 nets the seller in the high 500,000s after a normal market cycle, before any price reduction (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Owners who build the calculation in that order, price first and deductions second, stop being surprised by the wire that arrives at closing.
Key Findings
- Net proceeds equal the sale price minus commissions, closing costs, concessions, prorations, mortgage payoff and carrying costs, in that order.
- On a 750,000 dollar sale, commission alone is 37,500 to 45,000 dollars at 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Commission and seller closing costs together commonly exceed 50,000 dollars on a 750,000 dollar Wilmette transaction (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Four to seven months of market time costs 30,000 to 60,000 dollars in pure holding expense, driven by annual tax bills of 18,000 to 35,000 dollars.
- A 750,000 dollar list price nets in the high 500,000s after a normal listed cycle, before any price reduction is counted (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
What is the correct order for building the calculation?
Begin with the contract price, because every percentage line hangs off it. Then deduct the commission. Then deduct seller side closing costs, which in Illinois include transfer taxes that sit on the higher end nationally, along with title, recording and settlement charges (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Seller closing cost guidance in the wider market puts the same band at 1 to 2 percent for this research, and sellers should use their own settlement estimate once a contract exists rather than a generic figure. Then deduct anything conceded during inspection. Then settle the tax proration, which follows the county assessment cycle and the timing of the closing date within it (Cook County Assessor, 2026; Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026). Then subtract the mortgage payoff, which is a balance rather than a cost but still reduces the cheque. Finally, subtract the carrying costs already spent during the months the home was marketed, because money spent holding a property is proceeds spent just as surely as money taken at the table.
That order matters because each line is knowable at a different moment. Commission and closing percentages are known at listing. Concessions are known only after inspection. Prorations sharpen as the closing date firms up, since county records carry the assessment and tax data the calculation prorates from (Cook County, 2026). Carrying costs accumulate silently the whole time, in tax instalments of 1,500 to nearly 3,000 dollars a month, plus insurance, utilities and upkeep (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A seller who tracks the ledger monthly, rather than reconstructing it at closing, can see the exact week when a price reduction becomes cheaper than another month of waiting.
Automated value pages are a poor substitute for this arithmetic. Valuation tools estimate what a home might sell for, drawing on recorded sales that mix older homes with new construction closing between 1,800,000 and 2,900,000 dollars, and they say nothing about deductions (Zillow, 2026; Redfin, 2026). Two homes with identical estimates can net sums tens of thousands apart because one carried a mortgage, one conceded a masonry repair, and one sold in three weeks while the other sat through a winter. The estimate answers a pricing question. The ledger answers the proceeds question, and only the second one pays the seller.
Which lines do sellers most often leave out?
Inspection concessions lead the list of forgotten deductions. On a 70 year old North Shore house, buyers routinely win 15,000 to 35,000 dollars for masonry, electrical and plumbing findings, and sellers who budgeted zero for that line discover it after they are already under contract (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Disclosure obligations shape this stage in Illinois, since the state disclosure report requires known material defects to be declared, and a candid disclosure paired with a priced in concession is cheaper than a dispute (Illinois Realtors, 2025). The concession is rarely the full repair cost. It is the negotiated price of letting the buyer take the problem away, and it lands directly on net proceeds.
Price reductions are the second forgotten line, and the largest. The ledger quoted above, the high 500,000s on a 750,000 dollar list, explicitly excludes them (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A home priced from hope rather than from comparable sales can give back 25,000 dollars or far more in a single reduction, and each month spent reaching that decision adds its own carrying cost. Recorded prices for comparable homes, checked against county records, are the discipline that prevents the error (Cook County Recorder of Deeds, 2026; Redfin, 2026). Sellers can stress test their asking figure against the report on hidden expenses that reduce profits in Wilmette, which catalogues the smaller leaks that surround these two large ones.
Third come the settlement details: prorated taxes, association or survey charges where they apply, and the cost of clearing any title item the search surfaces. Title, lien and easement records determine what must be resolved before a deed can pass cleanly (Cook County Recorder of Deeds, 2026). None of these lines is dramatic alone. Together they routinely account for the difference between a seller estimate made at the kitchen table and the figure on the final settlement statement.
How does the direct route rewrite the same ledger?
Line by line, it deletes most of it. There is no commission, which returns 37,500 to 45,000 dollars on a 750,000 dollar sale to the seller side of the page (National Association of Realtors, 2025). There are no seller closing costs of the usual kind, removing the further 1 to 2 percent, and the two lines together commonly exceed 50,000 dollars, roughly 6 to 8 percent of the price. There are no inspections to concede against, so the 15,000 to 35,000 dollar concession line and the 10,000 to 30,000 dollar repair credit line both fall away. Privacy is total: no showings, no open houses and no public marketing period, which in a close knit village keeps the transaction out of neighbourhood conversation until the deed records. The closing itself can land in 7 to 21 days when speed matters, or sit months out with a leaseback style arrangement when the household needs time, against 60 to 120 plus days on the listed route. Compressing the calendar compresses the carrying cost line from the 30,000 to 60,000 dollar band toward a few weeks of tax and insurance. The price on a direct sale will differ from a listed price, and an honest comparison nets both routes rather than comparing one gross figure with the other net one. That side by side method is developed in the report on how much Wilmette homeowners save by selling directly to a cash buyer.
Frontier Capitals works on the wholesale side, matching houses that never reach public listings with builders who want them, and that sourcing function is the whole of its role in a direct sale. It does not claim to be a builder, and sellers should hold every direct buyer to the same plain description of its role. Verification protects the proceeds calculation itself, because a failed contract costs months. Before relying on any figure, demand funds evidence bearing the buyer name with a date no older than 30 days. Confirm recorded deeds in the buying entity name in county records, showing that earlier purchases actually closed (Cook County Recorder of Deeds, 2026). Plan on a deposit at the customary meaningful level, described in the research as typically 1 percent or more. Read an assignment clause combined with a nominal deposit as the sign of a contract not meant to close, and treat any net figure promised under such a contract as provisional. A proceeds calculation is only as good as the closing behind it.
How should a seller handle the mortgage and the tax lines?
The mortgage payoff is not an expense in the same sense as a commission, yet it dominates many settlement statements. The correct treatment is mechanical: obtain the payoff figure for the actual closing date, since interest accrues daily, and subtract it after the transaction costs. Owners with no mortgage keep that entire slice, which is common among long tenured Wilmette households and one reason two neighbours with the same price walk away with very different sums. County recording records confirm the mortgage and its release, so the payoff and the satisfaction belong in the same document check (Cook County Recorder of Deeds, 2026).
Taxes appear twice in the ledger and must not be merged. The proration is a closing adjustment rooted in the county cycle: Wilmette bills run 18,000 to 35,000 dollars a year, the seller owes the share up to the closing date, and the triennial reassessment records drive the figures used (Cook County Assessor, 2026; Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026). The capital gains question is separate, arising on the return rather than at the table, and it turns on basis and the federal exclusion rather than on proceeds alone. House price index data gives sellers a sense of how much appreciation their holding period likely contains, which helps them brief a tax adviser accurately (Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2026). The practical rule is simple: calculate net proceeds at closing from the settlement ledger, then calculate tax exposure separately with an adviser, and never spend the gross figure in the meantime. Owners comparing routes can ground the price side using the analysis of how much a house is worth in Wilmette in 2026 before they run their own deductions.
A worked worksheet makes the method concrete for a household that wants to rehearse the numbers before any agent or buyer sees the house. Take two neighbouring owners on the same street, each expecting a price near 750,000 dollars based on recorded comparable sales in the area (Redfin, 2026). The first owner has no mortgage, a recent survey, and a house whose systems have been maintained on a schedule. The second carries a mortgage balance, an older survey that raises questions, and a furnace at the end of its service life. Their gross expectations are identical. Their net outcomes will not be within 40,000 dollars of each other, because the second owner subtracts a payoff the first never faces, concedes at inspection where the first concedes little, and probably spends longer on the market while buyers weigh the furnace. A worksheet that begins with identical prices and ends with different proceeds teaches the central lesson of this report more clearly than any single example can.
The worksheet should also separate sunk amounts from future amounts, a distinction sellers blur when they feel a sale slipping. Money already spent on taxes and upkeep during the holding period is gone regardless of the route chosen next, and it should inform the decision only through the carrying rate it reveals. The county assessment file shows what the property has been charged and how the triennial cycle has moved its assessed position over time (Cook County Assessor, 2026). Reading that file tells the owner the true monthly cost of owning the decision for another season. Sellers who skip it tend to negotiate as though waiting were free, then discover the charge on the settlement statement in the form of a larger proration than they expected.
Estimates deserve a final warning inside the worksheet itself. An owner who anchors the top line to an automated figure rather than to recorded sales has built the entire calculation on the weakest number on the page (Zillow, 2026). The estimate cannot see the furnace, the survey or the mortgage, and it borrows strength from new construction closings the older home will never resemble. A defensible worksheet takes its price from closed comparable transactions, its tax figures from the state guidance on the property tax cycle (Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026), and its deductions from the documented bands used throughout this report. Built that way, the proceeds figure it produces may disappoint the owner at first reading. It has the considerable virtue of resembling the wire that actually arrives, which is the only version of the number that can be spent, saved or handed to the next purchase.
Methodology and limitations
The market context comes from the sample compiled for this research in 60091: 12 pre-1981 homes, all 12 acquired by builders, a builder demand rate of 100.0 percent (Frontier Capitals, 2026). That rate rests on a sample of only 12 homes, a small sample caveat that must travel with the figure wherever it is used, and it describes the sampled properties rather than every home in the ZIP. The residual illustration used in this research series, a 2,300,000 dollar new build sale less roughly 950,000 dollars of construction cost and a margin near 20 percent leaving 890,000 to 980,000 dollars before site preparation of 30,000 to 45,000 dollars, is a simplified illustration and not a promise. No inspection and no appraisal were performed for this report, and individual settlement statements will differ with mortgage balances, closing dates and negotiated terms.
Conclusion
Net proceeds in Wilmette are calculated, not discovered: price, minus commission of 5 to 6 percent, minus closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, minus concessions, prorations and payoff, minus the carrying cost of every month spent selling (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). Worked honestly on a 750,000 dollar listed sale, that ledger lands in the high 500,000s before any price reduction, which is why the direct route, with its deleted lines and 7 to 21 day calendar, deserves a netted comparison rather than a dismissal. Owners who want the ledger built for their own address can call Frontier Capitals at 401-219-4207 or email [email protected].
If the wire at closing is the only number that spends, why do so many sellers plan their next move around the list price instead?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the first line to subtract from the sale price?
The commission. At the typical 5 to 6 percent it is 37,500 to 45,000 dollars on a 750,000 dollar sale, and it is the largest single transaction deduction for most sellers (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
Why does a 750,000 dollar sale net only in the high 500,000s?
Because commission, closing costs, inspection concessions of 15,000 to 35,000 dollars, prorations, any mortgage payoff and 30,000 to 60,000 dollars of carrying cost all come out of the same price during a normal listed cycle (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Are tax prorations part of net proceeds?
Yes. Wilmette tax bills of 18,000 to 35,000 dollars a year are prorated to the closing date under the county cycle, and the seller share reduces the amount received at settlement (Cook County Assessor, 2026; Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026).
Does a direct sale change the calculation?
It removes the commission and seller closing cost lines, which commonly exceed 50,000 dollars together on a 750,000 dollar sale, and it removes inspection concessions while shortening carrying time to a 7 to 21 day closing window.
Should the mortgage payoff count as a cost?
It is a balance rather than a fee, but it reduces the cheque in the same way, so an accurate proceeds figure subtracts the payoff for the actual closing date after transaction costs (Cook County Recorder of Deeds, 2026).
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder demand sample: 12 homes sampled in 60091, 12 acquired by builders, average older home price 27.5 percent of new build. Market data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Chicago market. Industry report.
- Redfin, 2026. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 60091, Wilmette IL. Market data.
- Zillow, 2026. Home values and recently sold, 60091. Market data.
- Cook County, 2026. Parcel and assessment records, Wilmette IL. Official record.
- Cook County Assessor, 2026. Triennial reassessment records and tax proration data for 60091. Official record.
- Cook County Recorder of Deeds, 2026. Title, lien, and easement records. Official record.
- Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026. Property tax cycle and assessment guidance. Government data.
- Illinois Realtors, 2025. Residential disclosure requirements and closing practices. Industry report.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2026. House Price Index. Government data.