A seller of a 1.5 million dollar home in Arcadia / Camelback East keeps roughly 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars from the price itself on an explicit illustration built in this report, before repair credits, holding costs, any mortgage payoff and any taxes (National Association of Realtors, 2025). That illustration must be labeled carefully: the sourced ledger in the research is built on a 900,000 dollar sale, where commission at 5 to 6 percent equals 45,000 dollars to 54,000 dollars and seller closing costs add 1 to 2 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). Applying those same sourced percentages to 1.5 million dollars gives commission of 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars and closing costs of 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars, a combined 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars.
Key Findings
- The sourced cost ledger is documented at 900,000 dollars, so every 1.5 million dollar figure in this report is an explicit illustration from those rates, not a sourced ledger entry (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Commission at the sourced 5 to 6 percent equals 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars on 1.5 million dollars, by arithmetic from the rate (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Seller closing costs at the sourced 1 to 2 percent equal 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars at that price, by the same arithmetic (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Combined, the illustrated commission and closing deduction is 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars, leaving 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars before other deductions.
- A direct sale removes commission and seller closing costs entirely, so its illustrated keep is the full agreed price before mortgage payoff and taxes (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Why is this answer an illustration rather than a sourced figure?
Honesty about the evidence comes first in this report, because the headline names a price the research ledger does not use. The local study built its worked cost example on a 900,000 dollar sale: commission of 45,000 dollars to 54,000 dollars, seller closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, a combined total commonly above 54,000 dollars, and a net in the low to mid 800,000s after a normal market cycle (Frontier Capitals, 2026). No 1.5 million dollar ledger appears in the source material, and none is pretended here.
What can be done legitimately is to carry the sourced percentages to the larger price, because percentages scale in a way that fixed dollar examples do not. Commission is quoted as 5 to 6 percent of price in the industry source (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Five percent of 1.5 million dollars is 75,000 dollars and 6 percent is 90,000 dollars. Closing costs at 1 to 2 percent give 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars by identical arithmetic. Each figure in this report derived that way is described as illustrated, so a reader can separate sourced rates from calculated amounts at a glance.
The context for a price at this level is real enough. The ZIP median sale price stood at 1.2 million dollars in August 2026, so a 1.5 million dollar sale sits above the median but well inside the local distribution (Redfin, 2026). Finished new construction sells far above it, at 2.199 million dollars for the East Glenrosa home and near 1,010 dollars per square foot for the East Vermont compound (Redfin, 2026). A 1.5 million dollar older or partly updated home is therefore a recognizable Arcadia / Camelback East case, not a hypothetical built for effect.
Sellers who want the underlying 900,000 dollar ledger in full can read the complete cost of selling in this neighborhood and then scale the percentages to their own price in exactly the way this report does.
What else comes out before the seller is paid?
Repair credits are the next deduction in a listed sale of an older home, and the sourced band is 10,000 dollars to 25,000 dollars for credits and price reductions after inspection (Frontier Capitals, 2026). That band comes from the 900,000 dollar research context, so this report does not scale it upward for a 1.5 million dollar home; it simply notes that a credit in at least that band is a routine expectation on older inventory, and a larger, more complex home can present inspectors with more to price. In the benefits accounting used across this research, the avoided band for an as is sale is stated as 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars.
Holding costs run in parallel with the sale calendar. Five months of market time at the 900,000 dollar level costs 25,000 dollars to 45,000 dollars in holding expense in the research (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Homes in this ZIP averaged 72 days on market in August 2026, and listed older homes commonly spend 60 to 120 plus days in the full process (Redfin, 2026). A 1.5 million dollar property generally carries higher taxes, insurance and grounds costs than a 900,000 dollar one, so treating the sourced holding band as a floor rather than an estimate is the cautious reading, and this report labels it that way.
Concessions can take a further slice. Phoenix sellers included concessions in 65.6 percent of sales in May 2026, against 46.2 percent nationally (Redfin, 2026). No sourced percentage sizes the average Phoenix concession, so no dollar figure is assigned to it here; it is listed as an unquantified risk that applies to roughly two listed sales in three locally.
The sale to list ratio frames the starting point itself. Closings in the ZIP averaged 96.4 percent of list in August 2026 (Redfin, 2026). If the 1.5 million dollars in the headline is an asking price rather than a closing price, the illustrated keep should be calculated from the expected closing figure, which that ratio would place near 1,446,000 dollars by direct arithmetic. This report otherwise treats 1.5 million dollars as the closing price, as the headline implies.
What do mortgage payoff and taxes do to the keep?
Two large items sit below the selling cost lines, and neither can be sized from this research file. The first is any mortgage payoff. A seller who owes a balance receives the illustrated keep minus that balance, and the research holds no figure for typical balances in this neighborhood. Owners should read their payoff statement, not this report, for that number.
The second is tax. Federal guidance on selling a home sets out ownership and use tests with exclusion amounts of 250,000 dollars and 500,000 dollars depending on filing status (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). Whether a particular 1.5 million dollar sale produces a taxable gain, and at what amount, turns on the sellers basis, filing status and history with the property. This report therefore presents its keep figures before taxes and directs readers to the tax topic and to the dedicated capital gains analysis for this neighborhood rather than estimating a tax bill from insufficient facts.
Household context from the federal Survey of Consumer Finances helps explain why these below the line items vary so widely between neighbors (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2023). Two sellers can close at the same 1.5 million dollar price on the same street and keep very different sums, because their mortgage balances, bases and filing positions differ. The price based deductions, commission and closing costs, are the part of the answer that can be illustrated for everyone. The rest is personal arithmetic.
Recorded documents anchor what can be checked publicly. The deed records the completed transfer, and county records confirm the parties and date (Maricopa County Recorder, 2026). The settlement statement, which holds the exact deductions, remains a private document of the transaction, so any public claim about what a specific seller kept should be treated with care.
How does the keep change on the direct route?
Work the same illustration with the direct structure and the arithmetic simplifies sharply. A direct sale charges no commission, removing the illustrated 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars. It charges no seller closing costs, removing the illustrated 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars. It requires no inspections or repairs, removing the credit band, and its 7 to 21 day closing option removes most of the holding period that a listed sale spends reaching the same deed.
That does not mean a direct buyer will offer 1.5 million dollars for a home the listed market prices there. Direct offers, particularly from builders, are built from land and residual logic: the local sample puts the average older home at 32.3 percent of new build value, with builders acquiring 62.3 percent of sampled older homes (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The honest comparison is therefore between nets, not between a listed price and a direct price. A direct offer modestly below a listed price can still keep the seller more, once 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars of illustrated listed deductions leave the page.
Privacy and timing belong in the direct column as well. The sale involves zero showings and zero open houses and stays private until the deed records. Closing can be set in 7 to 21 days or months out with a leaseback, at the owners choice. At a 1.5 million dollar level, where listed exposure attracts particular attention in this neighborhood, those terms have weight beside the arithmetic. Owners can explore the direct savings structure further in the account of what selling directly to a cash buyer saves.
Commission durability matters to the illustration, because if typical rates were collapsing, the illustrated deduction would overstate the listed cost. The evidence says otherwise: buyer agent commission averaged 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 and 2.42 percent in the third quarter, and ownership profile research treats the 5 to 6 percent total as the working structure (Redfin, 2025; National Association of Realtors, 2025). The illustration rests on current, sourced rates.
How should a seller verify the figures and the buyer?
Verify the rates before the buyer. Ask any listing agent to state the total commission percentage in writing and compare it with the sourced 5 to 6 percent band. Ask the title company for an estimated seller settlement statement early, while the one to two week title search is running, so the 1 to 2 percent closing band becomes a property specific estimate rather than a report figure.
Verify the buyer with the standard file. 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, which at an illustrated 1.5 million dollar price equals 15,000 dollars by arithmetic (Maricopa County Recorder, 2026). A broad assignment clause with a nominal deposit remains the warning sign of a contract meant to be traded rather than closed.
Frontier Capitals explains its own economics in the same plain style. It is a wholesaler that sources off market homes to builders, contracting with the owner and placing the property with a vetted builder, and it never claims to be a builder. Sellers comparing its direct net with a listed net are entitled to that clarity, and to the same proof file from the end buyer.
How does the illustration change at other nearby prices?
The same arithmetic can be run for owners whose homes sit near, rather than at, the headline price, and doing so shows how quickly the deduction grows with value. At the ZIP median of 1.2 million dollars, commission at the sourced 5 to 6 percent equals 60,000 dollars to 72,000 dollars by direct multiplication, and closing costs at 1 to 2 percent equal 12,000 dollars to 24,000 dollars (Redfin, 2026; National Association of Realtors, 2025). Those are illustrations from the same rates, offered so that a median priced seller can see the shape of the answer without borrowing the 900,000 dollar ledger figures, which would understate the deduction by tens of thousands.
Running the ladder in the other direction is equally instructive. On the sourced 900,000 dollar ledger itself, the combined commission and closing deduction commonly exceeds 54,000 dollars, which is about 6 to 7 percent of that price once both bands are counted (Frontier Capitals, 2026). At 1.5 million dollars, the illustrated combined deduction of 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars represents the same 6 to 8 percent corridor. The percentage, not the headline price, is the stable fact across the ladder, and it is the percentage a seller should test any agents quote against.
Owners should also remember what the illustration deliberately leaves standing. It assumes the 1.5 million dollar figure is the closing price, it makes no allowance for a concession in a market where Phoenix sellers granted them in 65.6 percent of sales in May 2026, and it sets taxes and payoff to one side for separate calculation (Redfin, 2026). Each of those omissions is stated so that the keep figure is read as a ceiling for the cost stage of the calculation, not as a promise about the final wire.
Methodology and limitations
This report answers a 1.5 million dollar headline from a research ledger documented at 900,000 dollars, and it marks that gap openly in the text. Every 1.5 million dollar amount is an explicit illustration: the sourced commission rate of 5 to 6 percent and closing cost rate of 1 to 2 percent applied by arithmetic to the larger price (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Repair and holding bands are carried across unscaled from the 900,000 dollar context and described as reference bands, not as illustrations for the larger price.
Other limits follow. Mortgage payoff and capital gains tax are excluded from the keep figures because the source material holds no basis or balance data for individual sellers, and the tax exclusions cited are federal guidance, not a personal calculation. The builder sample behind the local ratios covers 53 older homes and over represents builder targeted properties. No actual 1.5 million dollar settlement was examined for this report.
Conclusion
On the sourced rates, a 1.5 million dollar listed sale in Arcadia / Camelback East keeps about 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars before repair credits, holding costs, mortgage payoff and taxes, an illustrated deduction of 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars for commission and closing costs alone. The figure is an illustration from the documented 900,000 dollar ledger, stated as such, and it gives sellers the right order of magnitude for the decision that matters: comparing listed and direct routes by what is kept, not by what is asked.
Owners who want the illustration rebuilt around a real price, a real payoff and a real property can telephone Frontier Capitals at 401-219-4207 or email [email protected] for a direct working session on the numbers.
If two routes promise you the same street and the same closing month, would you choose by the price on the first page or by the amount illustrated to reach your account?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 1.5 million dollar net a sourced figure?
No. The sourced ledger is built at 900,000 dollars, and the 1.5 million dollar amounts are an explicit illustration applying the sourced 5 to 6 percent commission and 1 to 2 percent closing rates to the larger price (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026).
How much commission does a 1.5 million dollar sale carry?
By illustration from the sourced rate, 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). A signed listing agreement stating a different rate would replace the illustration for that sale.
What is left after commission and closing costs only?
About 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars, before repair credits, holding costs, mortgage payoff and taxes. Each of those four items reduces the keep further in a listed sale.
Does the seller keep more on a direct sale at the same price?
At the same agreed price, yes, by the full illustrated 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars, because a direct sale charges neither commission nor seller closing costs. Direct offers are usually priced differently, so nets should be compared, not prices.
Where does the 96.4 percent figure fit?
It is the ZIP average sale to list ratio for August 2026 (Redfin, 2026). If 1.5 million dollars is an asking price rather than a closing price, the expected closing figure, and therefore the keep, starts lower.
Sources
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Phoenix market. 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. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 85018, Phoenix AZ. 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.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2026. Topic No. 701, Sale of Your Home. Government data.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2023. Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2019 to 2022. Government data.
- Maricopa County Recorder, 2026. Recorded deeds and transaction records, Phoenix AZ. Official record.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Industry report.