By the documented ledger method, a seller at this headline price keeps roughly 1,305,000 to 1,378,000 dollars before any mortgage payoff and before tax. That range comes from applying the documented rates to 1,500,000 dollars: commission at 5 to 6 percent removes 75,000 to 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025), seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent remove 15,000 to 30,000 dollars, concessions are allowed inside the documented 12,000 to 30,000 dollar band, and carrying costs are allowed inside the documented 20,000 to 45,000 dollar band across a normal market cycle.
A required clarification belongs beside that answer. The worked sample ledger in the source material is built on a 575,000 dollar sale, so the 1.5 million dollar figures in this post are the same documented rates applied at the headline price, not a separate sample of sales at this level. The percentage layers scale exactly; the concession and carrying layers are carried over at their documented bands, and a specific seller could land outside the range if inspection findings or a long market cycle run heavier than those bands.
What the seller finally keeps also depends on two personal numbers no ledger can supply: the mortgage balance paid off at closing, which reduces the kept amount dollar for dollar, and the tax position, where federal exclusion rules may shelter part or all of a gain. Homes at this price exist in these neighborhoods, since finished new construction has sold between 1,600,000 dollars and 2,800,000 dollars (Redfin, 2026), and a renovated or waterfront older home can approach the headline figure from below.
Key Findings
- Commission at 5 to 6 percent on 1,500,000 dollars equals 75,000 to 90,000 dollars by the documented rate (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent equal 15,000 to 30,000 dollars at the headline price (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Commission plus closing costs at this price therefore total 90,000 to 120,000 dollars, or 6 to 8 percent (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Concessions and carrying costs are allowed at their documented bands of 12,000 to 30,000 dollars and 20,000 to 45,000 dollars respectively (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The resulting kept range is roughly 1,305,000 to 1,378,000 dollars before mortgage payoff and tax, by method rather than by a sample at this price (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The federal exclusion amounts of 250,000 dollars and 500,000 dollars shape the tax layer on any gain at this price (Internal Revenue Service, 2026).
How does the ledger run, line by line, at this price?
Line one is commission. At the documented 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025), a 1,500,000 dollar sale pays 75,000 to 90,000 dollars to the brokerage side of the transaction. National commission reporting shows the buyer agent share alone averaged 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 and that totals have not moved much since the settlement changes (Redfin, 2025), so planning at the full documented range is prudent rather than pessimistic.
Line two is seller closing costs: title, documentary stamps and prorations at 1 to 2 percent, which is 15,000 to 30,000 dollars here. Line three is concessions. The documented band of 12,000 to 30,000 dollars was observed on older inventory in the 575,000 dollar band, driven by foundation, electrical, plumbing and roof findings, and this method carries the same band forward without inventing a scaled figure; a grander house can produce grander findings, which is a risk the seller should note rather than a number this post will fabricate. Line four is carrying costs at 20,000 to 45,000 dollars over four to eight months, covering mortgage or equity opportunity cost, insurance, taxes, utilities and maintenance.
Add the four lines and the sale has spent between 122,000 and 195,000 dollars becoming a sale. Subtract from 1,500,000 dollars and the kept range of roughly 1,305,000 to 1,378,000 dollars appears, before the two personal layers. The full cost stack behind the method is laid out in how much it costs to sell a house in these neighborhoods, and the closing layer alone is itemized in what closing costs sellers typically pay.
What do the mortgage and tax layers do to the kept figure?
The mortgage layer is simple and absolute: whatever balance remains is paid from proceeds at closing, and the kept figure falls by exactly that amount. A long owned Hyde Park home may carry no balance at all, leaving the ledger range intact, while a recently refinanced Davis Islands home may surrender several hundred thousand dollars of the kept range to the payoff. Parcel and loan records in the seller own files answer this layer precisely, and county records document the property side of the picture (Hillsborough County Property Appraiser, 2026).
The tax layer turns on gain, not on price. Federal rules summarized in the sale of home guidance provide exclusion amounts of 250,000 dollars and 500,000 dollars subject to ownership and use tests (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). A seller whose gain fits inside the applicable exclusion may owe no federal capital gains tax on the sale, while a seller with a low basis and a large gain above the exclusion faces tax on the excess. At a 1,500,000 dollar price, the spread between those two situations is wide enough that personal tax advice belongs in the plan before listing, not after closing.
One Florida specific mechanic deserves a mention for sellers buying another homestead: the Save Our Homes benefit can transfer to a new homestead subject to a 500,000 dollar cap and a three year transfer window via the documented form (Florida Legislature, 2026). That portability does not change the sale ledger itself, but it changes the household tax position after the move, and at this price level the amounts involved justify attention.
Why is the kept range so wide, and what narrows it?
The range is wide because two of its layers are percentages of a large number and two are bands earned through negotiation and time. The percentage layers alone span 30,000 dollars between their low and high ends at this price. The concession layer depends on what an inspector finds under a house that may be a century old, and the carrying layer depends on whether the sale takes four months or eight, with market reporting showing 27.4 percent of listings nationally taking a price cut and a median of 29 days to pending in the September 2026 snapshot (Zillow, 2026). A price cut, notably, sits outside this range entirely; the method reports kept proceeds before any reduction, exactly as the source ledger does at its own price point.
A seller narrows the range by controlling the controllable layers. A realistic asking price shortens market time and therefore carrying costs. Clean disclosure and a well documented house shrink the concession negotiation. A closing date chosen with tax prorations in mind trims the edges of the closing layer. None of these moves touches the commission percentage once a listing agreement is signed, which is why the route decision, made before the agreement, carries more financial weight than any tactic used after it.
Seller outcome research documents how widely net results vary even at similar gross prices (Zillow, 2025), and American Housing Survey data on seller costs and timelines confirms that time on market is a cost variable in its own right (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025). At 1,500,000 dollars, those variations are measured in tens of thousands, which rewards the seller who plans the ledger before the sign goes up.
How much more would the seller keep through a direct sale at a similar price?
A direct sale deletes the largest lines of the ledger rather than trimming them. Commission falls away entirely, which at this price returns 75,000 to 90,000 dollars to the kept side. Seller closing costs are absorbed by the buyer in the Frontier Capitals structure, returning another 15,000 to 30,000 dollars. Repair credits fall away because the sale is as is, and carrying costs collapse because closing can land in 7 to 21 days rather than after a 60 to 120 plus day listed cycle.
The honest comparison is therefore not between two gross prices but between two kept figures. A direct offer somewhat below 1,500,000 dollars can deposit more than a listed sale at the full headline price once the listed ledger has run, and it deposits the money months earlier with the date chosen by the seller. The saving structure is generalized in how much homeowners can save by selling directly to a cash buyer, and the same arithmetic scales to any price by replacing the percentages with the seller own rate agreements.
Verification remains part of the bargain at this level, because the sums are large. Proof of funds in the buyer name dated within the last 30 days, recorded deeds from closed purchases in the buyer entity name, a contract in the closing name with no assignment clause and an earnest deposit of 1 percent or more, which at this price means at least 15,000 dollars, separate a funded direct offer from a speculative one. Sold records for the ZIP code supply the market context against which any offer at this level should be judged (Redfin, 2026).
What kind of Hyde Park or Davis Islands home sells near this price?
Finished new construction occupies the band above it, from 1,600,000 dollars to 2,800,000 dollars (Redfin, 2026). Below that band, the homes approaching 1,500,000 dollars tend to be renovated older homes on strong lots, waterfront or near waterfront Davis Islands properties, and contributing Hyde Park homes whose preservation premium is documented in the district material. The sample ratio offers a perspective check: older homes averaged 30.3 percent of comparable new build prices (Frontier Capitals, 2026), so a 1,500,000 dollar older home result implies either an exceptional lot, an exceptional renovation or both, measured against the finished market around it.
That context matters for the ledger, because exceptional homes attract exceptional inspection scrutiny and exceptional buyer expectations. A seller at this level should expect the concession conversation to be thorough and the buyer pool to be discerning, and should weigh the certainty of a direct closing accordingly. Online estimates at this tier are especially loose, since they average across the whole value landscape of the ZIP code (Zillow, 2026), and no seller at 1,500,000 dollars should plan a kept figure from an estimate alone.
How do the off-market benefits read at this price point?
Frontier Capitals sources off-market deals to builders and closes in its own name, and at 1,500,000 dollars the five benefits carry larger absolute values than at the sample example price, even though their structure is identical.
Privacy comes first, with zero showings and zero open houses, which at this tier also means no public tour traffic through a high value home. Flexible closing follows, in 7 to 21 days or months out with a leaseback, replacing a 60 to 120 plus day listed exposure. No commission is the third benefit, and at the headline price it preserves 75,000 to 90,000 dollars at the documented 5 to 6 percent rate (National Association of Realtors, 2025). No seller closing costs is the fourth, removing the 1 to 2 percent layer worth 15,000 to 30,000 dollars here, so the combined commission and closing preservation reaches 90,000 to 120,000 dollars. No inspections or repairs is the fifth, avoiding repair credit negotiations that begin from the documented 10,000 to 30,000 dollar band used in the direct comparison material.
Owners weighing a sale at this level can model both kept figures with Frontier Capitals through the contact page, at 401-219-4207 or at [email protected], using their own mortgage and tax facts to complete the personal layers.
One sensitivity is worth spelling out for sellers at this level, because a single percentage point carries unusual weight here. Each point of commission on a 1,500,000 dollar sale equals 15,000 dollars, so the difference between signing at the bottom and the top of the documented 5 to 6 percent range is itself the size of a small renovation. The same sensitivity applies to time: a seller whose insurance, tax and maintenance burn is heavy can spend the equivalent of another percentage point simply by letting a listed cycle stretch across an extra season. Running the method with your own monthly figures, rather than with the documented bands alone, shows exactly where your personal range tightens or widens inside the headline answer.
Methodology and limitations
This post applies method, and says so plainly: the documented sample ledger was built on a 575,000 dollar sale within the Frontier Capitals sample of 16 older homes in 33606, ranked 64 of 189 (Frontier Capitals, 2026), and the headline answer applies those same documented rates and bands at 1,500,000 dollars. Percentage layers scale exactly, while concession and carrying bands are carried at their documented ranges and could run higher on a larger, older or slower sale. No sample of sales at the headline price was published, no inspections or title work were performed, and mortgage and tax outcomes are personal to each seller.
Conclusion
A seller at 1,500,000 dollars in Hyde Park or on Davis Islands keeps roughly 1,305,000 to 1,378,000 dollars by the documented ledger method, before mortgage payoff and tax, after spending 122,000 to 195,000 dollars on commission, closing costs, concessions and carrying costs. The direct route can raise the kept figure by deleting the largest layers outright. Knowing your own payoff and tax position, which of the four ledger layers would you attack first if you wanted to keep more of a sale at this price?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 1,305,000 to 1,378,000 dollar range based on actual sales at this price?
No, and this report states the basis openly. The range is produced by the documented ledger method: rates and bands documented on a 575,000 dollar sample sale, applied at the headline price of 1,500,000 dollars. Percentage layers scale exactly, while concession and carrying layers use their documented bands, so treat the range as a disciplined estimate rather than a sampled result.
How much commission is paid on a 1.5 million dollar sale here?
At the documented 5 to 6 percent range, commission equals 75,000 to 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). The exact figure depends on the rate in the signed listing agreement, and national reporting indicates totals have remained fairly stable in recent periods (Redfin, 2025).
Does the kept figure include paying off my mortgage?
No. The range is calculated before mortgage payoff, because balances are personal and vary from zero on a long owned home to substantial sums on a recently financed one. Subtract your own payoff figure from the range to reach your personal kept amount before tax.
Will I owe capital gains tax on a sale at this price?
Possibly, depending on your gain and eligibility for the federal exclusion of 250,000 dollars or 500,000 dollars under the ownership and use tests (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). A gain fully inside the exclusion may owe nothing federally, while a larger gain is taxed on the excess, so individual advice is worthwhile at this price.
Can a direct sale really keep more than a listed sale at the full price?
Yes, when the direct price is reasonably close. Deleting commission of 75,000 to 90,000 dollars, closing costs of 15,000 to 30,000 dollars and the concession and carrying layers means a direct offer can trail the listed gross price by a wide margin and still deposit more, months sooner.
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 16 homes sampled in 33606, 11 acquired by builders, average older home price 30.3 percent of new build. Market data.
- Hillsborough County Property Appraiser, 2026. Parcel and permit records, Tampa FL. Official record.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Tampa-St. Petersburg market. Industry report.
- Redfin, 2026. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 33606, Tampa FL. Market data.
- Zillow, 2026. Home values and recently sold, 33606. Market data.
- Florida Legislature, 2026. Fiscal analysis of homestead exemption amendment: Save Our Homes portability framework, $500,000 cap, three-year transfer window via Form DR-501T. Government data.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2026. Topic No. 701, Sale of Your Home. Government data.
- Redfin, 2025. Redfin Reports Real Estate Agent Commissions Haven't Changed Much Since the NAR Settlement Took Effect. Market data.
- Zillow, 2025. Consumer Housing Trends Report 2025: sellers results. Market data.
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2025. American Housing Survey: seller costs and timelines data. Government data covering owner transaction experiences.