Worked at the percentages documented for this market, a seller who lists and sells at 1,500,000 dollars keeps roughly 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars before any mortgage payoff and before income tax on the gain. The arithmetic is direct. Commission at the typical 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025) takes 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars. Seller closing costs at the typical 1 to 2 percent take another 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars. Together those two lines remove 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars from the headline price, and they are the only two lines that can be computed from the price alone with confidence.
Inside the closing cost band sits one exactly computable item: Georgia transfer tax at 1 dollar per 1,000 dollars of consideration (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026), which is 1,500 dollars on this sale. The closing attorney computes it from the contract price under county transfer schedules (Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026). The rest of the band covers title, prorations, and closing fees, as in the documented ledger for the smaller 790,000 dollar example sale (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Everything after that core calculation depends on the seller circumstances. A mortgage, if one exists, is satisfied from proceeds at closing and reduces the amount kept dollar for dollar by the payoff balance. Repair credits, carrying costs, and tax on the gain can each reduce it further, and each is treated in its own section below, using only the ranges the Buckhead / Paces materials document. A seller with no mortgage, no credits, and a modest gain can land near the top of the core range. A seller with all three deductions will land well below it.
Key Findings
- At 5 to 6 percent, commission on 1,500,000 dollars is 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- At 1 to 2 percent, seller closing costs on the same price are 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars, giving a core kept range of 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars before mortgage and gain tax (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Georgia transfer tax inside the closing band is exactly 1,500 dollars at 1 dollar per 1,000 dollars of consideration (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026).
- The documented smaller example, 790,000 dollars, carries commission of 39,500 dollars to 47,400 dollars and nets in the high 600,000 dollar range after the full listed cycle (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- A 900,000 dollar guides illustration shows removing commission plus closing costs commonly saves more than 54,000 dollars, the same two lines scaled to this price save 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Federal home sale rules, including exclusion tests and estimated tax requirements, govern the gain tax layer that sits on top of this calculation (Internal Revenue Service, 2026).
How is the core kept figure built, line by line?
Start with the contract price: 1,500,000 dollars. Subtract commission first, because it is the largest and best documented line. At 5 percent the charge is 75,000 dollars; at 6 percent it is 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Commission research adds texture a seller can use: the average buyer agent share was 2.4 percent for homes sold in the first quarter of 2025, and 37.4 percent of recent sellers in the surveyed group negotiated their commission (Redfin, 2025). A negotiated commission toward the low end of the band is worth 15,000 dollars on this price, which is why the kept range is stated as a range and not a point.
Subtract closing costs second. At 1 percent the band is 15,000 dollars; at 2 percent it is 30,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The transfer tax component, 1,500 dollars, is included inside that band rather than added on top of it, because the research ledger describes seller closing costs as covering title, transfer taxes, and prorations together (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Double counting the transfer tax is a small error in dollars but a real one, and careful sellers should check that any estimate they are shown treats it once.
The result of those two subtractions is the core figure: 1,410,000 dollars kept at the favorable end, where commission is 5 percent and closing costs are 1 percent, and 1,380,000 dollars at the heavier end, where commission is 6 percent and closing costs are 2 percent. That is the amount before mortgage payoff, before any post inspection credit, before carrying costs already spent during the listing, and before tax on the gain. It is also the correct figure to compare against a direct sale, because a direct sale at the same price removes the first two lines almost entirely, a comparison developed in how much it costs to sell a house in Buckhead / Paces.
What does a mortgage do to the amount kept?
It reduces it by the payoff balance, exactly, and for many long held Buckhead estates that balance is small or zero, which is one reason this price point so often produces a large kept figure. Where a mortgage does exist, the mechanics are documented and simple: the payoff figure is obtained before closing, and the mortgage is satisfied from the sale proceeds at closing, as the guides describe for estate sales (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The seller never writes a separate check. The closing statement nets it.
Two cautions belong here. First, the payoff is the balance on the closing date, including interest to that date, not the balance on the last statement the seller read. On a large loan at recent rates, and the national survey put the 30 year fixed at an average of 7.28 percent as of October 1, 2026 (Freddie Mac, 2026), a few weeks of interest is a visible sum. Second, home equity borrowing, if a seller has drawn against the estate, is satisfied the same way and belongs in the same line of the seller personal calculation, even though it never appears in a market ledger.
For the headline question, the honest formulation is therefore conditional: the seller keeps 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars, minus whatever mortgage and equity balances the closing statement satisfies. A seller who wants a single personal number needs only add his payoff figure to the core range above. No other input is required for that step, and any estimate that produces a kept figure without asking about the mortgage is incomplete by construction.
How much can credits and carrying costs take beyond the core lines?
On the documented smaller sale, the additional lines are material: buyer concessions and repair credits after inspection routinely run 15,000 dollars to 40,000 dollars, inspection driven reductions run 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars, and carrying costs over three to six months run 20,000 dollars to 45,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Those ranges were documented on older inventory generally and on the 790,000 dollar example in particular, and this post does not scale them up mechanically to 1,500,000 dollars, because credits are driven by the condition of the specific house and carrying costs by the size of its tax and insurance bills, not by a fixed percentage of price.
What can be said at this price point is directional and still useful. A 1,500,000 dollar older estate will carry taxes and insurance at least as heavy as the documented example, where those two items alone run deep into five figures annually (Frontier Capitals, 2026), and a listed timeline of 60 to 120 plus days spends months of that carry before closing. Its inspection will cover the same aging systems that produce credits on the documented sales. A seller who budgets the core range and then reserves a further five figure allowance for credits and carry is budgeting the way the documented ledger behaves.
Market conditions decide how much of that allowance gets spent. The ZIP median was 1,450,000 dollars in March 2026 with about 5.5 months of supply (Fulton County MLS records via local reporting, 2026), very close to this headline price, which means a 1,500,000 dollar seller is pricing into the thickest part of the market, with real alternatives available to every buyer who walks through. Current supply and days on market data track how that competition is moving (First Multiple Listing Service, 2026). In a supply position like this one, credits are rarely waived out of buyer enthusiasm. The companion post on what closing costs sellers typically pay separates the closing band from these negotiated lines in detail.
What tax on the gain sits on top of the kept figure?
The kept figure above is before income tax, and the tax layer is personal rather than transactional. Federally, the home sale publication sets out the Section 121 tests, exclusion limits, and estimated tax requirements that determine how much of a gain is taxable (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). In Georgia, capital gains are taxed as ordinary income (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026), a point the next post in this set treats on its own; for this calculation it is enough to note that a Georgia seller with a taxable gain owes state tax on it at ordinary income treatment, in addition to any federal tax.
The size of the gain, not the size of the price, drives the tax. A seller who bought an estate decades ago at a fraction of 1,500,000 dollars, even after documented improvements are counted in basis, can face a substantial gain. A seller who bought recently near the current price may face almost none. Inherited property follows its own basis rule, generally a stepped up basis to date of death value (Internal Revenue Service, 2026), which is why two neighbors selling at the identical price can owe completely different tax. No responsible kept figure can include the tax line without the seller basis, holding period, and filing facts, and this post will not guess them.
The practical step is sequencing. Compute the core kept range first, subtract the mortgage payoff second, and then have the gain estimated by the seller tax professional using the federal publication framework (Internal Revenue Service, 2026) and the Georgia ordinary income treatment (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026) before the money is mentally spent. Sellers who reverse that order, and treat the contract price as the kept amount until a tax bill arrives, are the ones who get hurt by this layer.
What would the same seller keep in a direct sale at the same price?
At an identical 1,500,000 dollar price, the direct structure documented in the guides removes the two core lines: no commission, and seller closing costs commonly absorbed by the buyer (Frontier Capitals, 2026). That retains the full 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars that the listed core calculation subtracts, before any price difference between the routes is considered. Whether a direct buyer will pay the same gross price as the best listed outcome is a separate, property specific question, answered by the land and finished value analysis for the parcel, where sampled older homes priced at 28.3 percent of finished new build value and finished sales on standard estate lots run from 2,200,000 dollars to 4,500,000 dollars (Fulton County MLS records via local reporting, 2026).
The honest comparison is therefore kept against kept, never price against price. A listed 1,500,000 dollar sale that nets 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars before mortgage and tax should be compared with a direct offer by asking what that offer nets under its own terms, with commission at zero and closing costs absorbed. Sellers who run the comparison that way frequently discover the gross gap they were worried about is much smaller than the net gap, and sometimes runs the other direction once credits and carrying months are charged to the listed route.
Frontier Capitals, as a sourcing firm that places off market homes with vetted builders and does not build, presents direct offers with those cost terms stated in the contract, and with buyer verification behind them: proof of funds within 30 days, recorded purchases in the entity name checkable in county records (Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026), closing in the contract name, and earnest money of 1 percent or more. A kept figure is only as good as the closing behind it, which is why verification belongs in a post about money kept and not only in posts about marketing.
What does an off market sale at this level keep for the seller?
As the five documented benefits, scaled to this price, they are substantial. Privacy is total, with no showings, no open houses, and no public marketing period, a protection many sellers at this level value independently of money. The timetable is the seller choice, a close in 7 to 21 days or a settlement months out with a leaseback, instead of 60 to 120 plus days of listed exposure and carry. No commission is paid, retaining 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars at the typical 5 to 6 percent on this price (National Association of Realtors, 2025). No seller closing costs at the typical 1 to 2 percent are paid, retaining a further 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars, so the two retentions together reach 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars. And the sale is as is, with no inspection reduction of 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars and no repair credit negotiation of 15,000 dollars to 40,000 dollars standing between contract and closing.
Sellers looking beyond cost removal toward the best overall outcome can continue with how homeowners can maximize their profits when selling, which places this kept figure inside the wider choices about buyer pool, timing, and preparation that move the top line itself (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Methodology and limitations
This post applies the documented Buckhead / Paces percentages, commission at 5 to 6 percent and seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent, to the 1,500,000 dollar price named in the headline, following the task the research ledger sets up with its 790,000 dollar and 900,000 dollar examples (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The transfer tax treatment follows the state formula and is counted once, inside the closing cost band, as the ledger describes that band (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026). Credit and carrying ranges are quoted at their documented values and are not scaled by price, for the reasons given in the text. Mortgage payoff and tax on the gain are seller specific and are treated as deductions to be inserted, not estimated. This post is a worked calculation, not tax, legal, or financial advice for any individual seller.
Conclusion
A seller at 1,500,000 dollars keeps roughly 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars from a listed sale after commission and closing costs, minus any mortgage payoff satisfied at closing, minus any credits and carrying costs the listed cycle imposes, and before tax on the gain under federal rules and Georgia ordinary income treatment of capital gains. The contract price is the beginning of the answer, never the answer itself.
If you want that calculation run with your actual payoff, your likely price, and both routes compared on kept money, call 401-219-4207 or email [email protected]. When you picture selling at 1.5 million dollars, are you picturing the price, or the smaller and more honest figure you would actually keep?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 1,380,000 dollar to 1,410,000 dollar range after tax?
No. It is after commission at 5 to 6 percent and closing costs at 1 to 2 percent only (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Tax on the gain is a separate, personal layer governed federally by the home sale publication framework (Internal Revenue Service, 2026) and in Georgia by ordinary income treatment of capital gains (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026).
Where does the 1,500 dollar transfer tax fit in the range?
Inside the closing cost band, not on top of it. The band covers title, transfer taxes, and prorations together (Frontier Capitals, 2026), and the tax itself is 1,500 dollars at the state rate on this price (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026).
What if I have no mortgage on the property?
Then nothing further is subtracted for a payoff, and the core range stands as your kept figure before credits, carrying costs already incurred, and gain tax. Many long held estates in this ZIP are in exactly that position, which is why their sellers focus on the percentage lines and the tax layer.
Can negotiating commission really move the kept figure by 15,000 dollars?
Yes, at this price each commission point is 15,000 dollars, and survey evidence shows a substantial share of sellers do negotiate (Redfin, 2025). Moving from 6 percent to 5 percent lifts the kept figure from the bottom of the core range toward the top, before any other line changes.
How fast could a direct sale at this level close?
The documented direct window is 7 to 21 days, or months out with a leaseback (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Speed at this price depends on title clarity and buyer funds verification, both of which can be checked in county records before a contract is signed (Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026).
Sellers in Buckhead / Paces also ask Do Buckhead / Paces Homeowners Pay Capital Gains Taxes When Selling?, How Can Buckhead / Paces Homeowners Calculate Their Net Proceeds From a Sale? and What Hidden Expenses Can Reduce Profits When Selling a Buckhead / Paces Home?
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189-neighborhood builder-demand study: 14 homes sampled in 30327, 10 acquired by builders and redeveloped, 71.4 percent builder-demand rate, older homes at 28.3 percent of new-build prices, minimum lot 18,905 sq ft, ranked 76th of 189. Research institute.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Buckhead market. Industry report.
- Redfin, 2025. Commission analysis: average buyer's agent commission 2.4 percent for homes sold in Q1 2025; Redfin/Ipsos seller survey, March to April 2025. Market data.
- Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026. Real estate transfer tax: $1 per $1,000 of consideration. Official record.
- Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026. Transfer tax schedules and recording procedures for Fulton County, Georgia. Official record.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2026. Publication 523, Selling Your Home: Section 121 tests, exclusion limits, estimated tax requirements. Government data.
- Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026. Taxation of capital gains as ordinary income. Official record.
- Fulton County MLS records via local reporting, 2026. New-construction price bands and 30327 median sold price, March 2026. Press.
- First Multiple Listing Service, 2026. 30327 supply and days-on-market data, via The Agency Atlanta's August 2026 Buckhead market report. Market data.
- Freddie Mac, 2026. Primary Mortgage Market Survey: 30-year fixed averaged 7.28 percent as of October 1, 2026. Market data.