The honest answer is an illustration, not a promise, because the research file documents cost ranges rather than a settlement statement for this exact price. Worked from those sourced ranges, a McLean seller at a 1,500,000 dollar price first surrenders commission at 5 percent to 6 percent, which is 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars, and seller closing costs at 1 percent to 2 percent, a further 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). Those two layers alone leave 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars. If the sale follows the full listed pattern, with inspection concessions of 15,000 dollars to 40,000 dollars and holding costs of 30,000 dollars to 70,000 dollars, the illustration lands between roughly 1,270,000 dollars and 1,365,000 dollars kept, before any mortgage payoff and before any tax calculation (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
That spread is the finding. Two sellers can sign contracts at the identical price and keep sums more than 100,000 dollars apart depending on how many layers their route exposes them to. The sections below build the illustration step by step so that any McLean owner can substitute personal figures, an actual mortgage balance or a confirmed tax position, into the same frame.
Key Findings
- The illustration applies sourced ranges only: commission at 5 percent to 6 percent and seller closing costs at 1 percent to 2 percent together remove 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars from a 1,500,000 dollar price (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- After those two layers the seller keeps 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars in the illustration, before concessions, holding costs, mortgage payoff and taxes (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Adding the listed route pattern of inspection concessions at 15,000 dollars to 40,000 dollars and three to six months of holding cost at 30,000 dollars to 70,000 dollars lowers the illustrated keep to about 1,270,000 dollars to 1,365,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The buyer agent share of commission alone averaged 2.4 percent in early 2025, equal to 36,000 dollars at this price, which most sellers never see separated on their statement (Redfin, 2025).
- The reference ledger at the nearby 1,600,000 dollar price nets the low 1,400,000 dollar range after a normal cycle, confirming that the illustration at 1,500,000 dollars follows the documented pattern rather than an invented one (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
How is the illustration built from the sourced ledger?
The method borrows the cost ledger compiled for the 1,600,000 dollar McLean sale and rescales only the percentage items to the 1,500,000 dollar price named in the headline, while carrying the documented dollar ranges for concessions and holding costs across unchanged, since those ranges describe the older housing stock rather than the price point. Commission at 5 percent of 1,500,000 dollars is 75,000 dollars; at 6 percent it is 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Closing costs at 1 percent are 15,000 dollars; at 2 percent they are 30,000 dollars. The percentages are the sourced figures behind the entire series, also used in the total cost breakdown, and the rescaling is arithmetic rather than new evidence.
The anchor transaction validates the method. At 1,600,000 dollars, the same percentages give commission of 80,000 dollars to 96,000 dollars and, after the full ledger of concessions and holding expense is applied, a net in the low 1,400,000 dollar range before any price reduction (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The 1,500,000 dollar illustration is that documented outcome shifted down by the price difference and the smaller percentage charges, landing in the high 1,200,000 dollar to mid 1,300,000 dollar band once every layer is counted. Nothing in the chain requires an assumption outside the research file.
Two exclusions must stay visible. The illustration does not deduct any mortgage balance, because balances are personal and range from zero to most of the price; an owner with a loan subtracts the payoff figure from the illustrated keep to reach the cheque amount. It also does not deduct income tax, because the tax outcome turns on basis, tenure and the exclusion rules addressed in the capital gains analysis, and no single figure could represent McLean sellers honestly.
Which layers does the listed route add beyond commission and closing?
The inspection layer comes first in time. Older McLean homes are typically 60 year old structures, and the ledger records inspection concessions on such homes commonly running 15,000 dollars to 40,000 dollars once a buyers inspector has priced the roof, systems and drainage findings (Frontier Capitals, 2026). At a 1,500,000 dollar price the concession demand often arrives framed as a percentage like adjustment, yet the dollars are the same dollars. Sellers who pre empt the inspection with their own repairs convert the concession into a contractor bill instead; the layer changes form, not size, and pre sale spending carries the risk that the buyer would have accepted less.
The holding layer accumulates quietly. The ledger prices three to six months of market time at 30,000 dollars to 70,000 dollars in pure hold expense on a McLean sale of this scale, counting the county tax accrual on a five figure annual assessment based bill, insurance, utilities and upkeep (Frontier Capitals, 2026; Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026). Listed homes in the ZIP average 34 to 69 days on market before contract, and settlement adds weeks more, so even a clean listing spends part of this layer (Redfin, 2026). A listing that misses its first contract, or that requires the price reduction the ledger pointedly excludes, spends all of it and then keeps less than the illustrated floor.
Market context explains why sellers tolerate the stack. The ZIP median sale price near 1,800,000 dollars makes a 1,500,000 dollar contract feel like a concession already, and valuation estimates can anchor owners to figures no buyer has offered (Redfin, 2026; Zillow, 2026). Yet the keep is computed from the contract that closes, not from the estimate that flatters, and the illustration exists to keep that distinction in front of the seller at decision time.
Sensitivity runs in both directions, and an owner using the illustration should test the optimistic edge as carefully as the pessimistic one. If the home sells quickly at the short end of the ZIP market range, with a negotiated commission at the bottom of the band and an inspection that produces only a token concession, the keep approaches the top of the stated range and the holding layer shrinks toward its floor (Redfin, 2026). If the first contract fails and the property returns to market, the same illustration must be run again with the holding range applied in full and a probable price reduction added, and the keep falls below the floor printed here. The distance between those two runs, comfortably six figures at this price, is the economic value of the unglamorous virtues: realistic pricing, clean title and a buyer whose funds are verified before the ink dries (Fairfax County Circuit Court Clerk, 2026).
What sits inside the closing layer at this price?
The 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars of seller closing cost at this price buys the same items as at any McLean price: title search and any curative work, the settlement agents fee, and the transfer and recordation taxes computed on the deed (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The tax items are statutory, set under Title 58.1, Chapter 8 of the Virginia code, so they scale with the recorded price and cannot be negotiated away (Code of Virginia, 2026). The settlement agent is the sellers choice under Virginia law, which is the one place inside the layer where selection can trim the total modestly (Code of Virginia, 2023). Title quality is the wildcard: industry research on curative work shows how clearing old record defects adds cost and delay, and delay at this price level burns the holding layer at the same time (American Land Title Association, 2024).
Prorations close the layer. Because county real estate taxes on an assessment of this size run well into five figures each year, the settlement statement adjustment between buyer and seller to the closing date is a visible sum rather than a rounding item (Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026). The adjustment is a fair division of an annual bill, but sellers modelling their keep from the headline price alone routinely forget it, which is one more reason the realised wire differs from the imagined one.
Owners can preview the composition through the county deed and assessment records before listing, since the recorded history shows prior transfer taxes and the current assessment that drives prorations (Fairfax County Circuit Court Clerk, 2026; Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026). None of that homework changes the statutory items, yet it removes the surprise factor, and surprise at the settlement table is itself a negotiating weakness.
How does the keep change under a direct sale structure?
The direct route deletes layers rather than discounting them. Frontier Capitals sources off market deals to builders and acts as a wholesaler in the arrangement, not as the builder, and its structure charges the seller neither commission nor seller closing costs. Walk the benefit sequence against the illustration. Privacy holds throughout: zero showings, zero open houses, no lockbox and no sign, so the transaction stays out of public view until the deed records. The timetable is chosen by the seller: closing in 7 to 21 days, or months ahead with a leaseback, instead of the 60 to 120 plus days a listed older home commonly takes once market time is counted, which also caps the holding layer at a few weeks of the owners choosing.
Commission savings at this price are 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars against the typical 5 percent to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025). The closing layer saving adds 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars against the usual 1 percent to 2 percent, and together the two protected amounts equal the 6 percent to 8 percent combined band, 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars at this price. The condition layer closes the sequence: the sale is as is, with no inspections and no repair credits in the 10,000 dollar to 30,000 dollar range, so the 15,000 dollar to 40,000 dollar concession pattern of the listed route never opens. In illustration terms, the direct seller keeps an amount close to the full contract price before mortgage payoff and taxes, and accepts in exchange a price set by the builder market rather than the household market.
Which structure wins for a specific house depends on the gap between the two prices relative to the roughly 135,000 dollars to 230,000 dollars of combined layers the listed route can consume at this level. The worksheet in the net proceeds guide lets an owner run both structures side by side, and a parcel specific version is available by calling 401-219-4207 or emailing [email protected].
One further comparison helps owners place the illustration in the life of the property rather than in the abstract. The seller at this price point has typically held the home through a long appreciation run, with the county assessment climbing in steps that were visible on every annual tax notice (Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026). Measured against that accumulated gain, the illustrated deductions of roughly 135,000 dollars to 230,000 dollars across all listed layers are the final toll on a much larger increase, which is why experienced sellers focus less on resenting the toll and more on choosing the route that levies the smallest version of it. The buyer agent share alone, 36,000 dollars at the 2.4 percent average recorded for early 2025, exceeds what many owners originally paid for a car or a year of college when they bought the house (Redfin, 2025). Keeping the illustration in proportion does not shrink any line on the statement; it simply ensures the decision about route and price is made with the whole ledger in view rather than with the loudest line only.
Owners comparing the two structures should also notice what does not change between them. The statutory recordation charges follow the deed in either world unless the structure absorbs them, the county tax proration still settles ownership days at the closing date, and the sellers own mortgage and tax positions wait at the end of both worksheets (Code of Virginia, 2026; Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026). The illustration isolates the layers that genuinely move, commission, seller closing charges, concessions and holding time, because those are the layers a route decision can actually influence, and at this price their combined weight is the difference between a good outcome and a merely acceptable one.
Methodology and limitations
This report is explicit about its central limit: the source material contains no settlement statement and no verified keep figure for a 1,500,000 dollar McLean sale. The answer given here is therefore a labeled illustration, constructed by applying the sourced commission range of 5 percent to 6 percent and the sourced seller closing range of 1 percent to 2 percent to the headline price, then applying the sourced dollar ranges for inspection concessions and holding costs from the research ledger compiled at the nearby 1,600,000 dollar price point (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). Mortgage payoff and income tax are excluded from the illustration because both are specific to the individual seller.
The wider market figures come from the 60 home sample of pre 1981 houses in ZIP code 22101 and from sold listing data for the ZIP (Frontier Capitals, 2026; Redfin, 2026). This report is built from records and the compiled sample, and rests on no inspection, appraisal or title search of any individual property. Owners should treat the illustrated bands as a planning frame and obtain a settlement estimate and tax advice for their own transaction before relying on any single figure.
Conclusion
On the sourced ranges, a seller at a 1,500,000 dollar McLean price keeps 1,380,000 dollars to 1,410,000 dollars after commission and closing costs, and about 1,270,000 dollars to 1,365,000 dollars after the concession and holding layers of a normal listed cycle, in each case before mortgage payoff and taxes (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The illustration is anchored to the documented ledger at 1,600,000 dollars, which nets the low 1,400,000 dollar range by the same arithmetic (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Route selection moves the keep by six figures at this price, which makes the choice of structure as financially significant as the negotiation of the price itself.
If two contracts can carry the same price and leave sums 100,000 dollars apart, which number have you actually been negotiating for?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the keep figure in this report a guaranteed amount?
No. It is a labeled illustration built only from the sourced commission, closing, concession and holding ranges in the research file, because no verified settlement figure for this exact price exists in the source material (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Your settlement agent can convert the illustration into a property specific estimate.
What is deducted first from the 1,500,000 dollar price?
Commission, at 5 percent to 6 percent, removing 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Seller closing costs at 1 percent to 2 percent follow, removing a further 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars before any concession or holding cost is counted.
Why are mortgage and tax left out of the illustration?
Both are personal to the seller. Mortgage balances vary from nothing to most of the price, and the tax outcome depends on basis and on the exclusion rules for owner occupied housing, which are household specific rather than market wide. Including either as a single figure would misstate the keep for most readers.
How does this compare with the documented 1,600,000 dollar case?
The research ledger at 1,600,000 dollars nets the low 1,400,000 dollar range after a normal market cycle and before any price reduction (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The 1,500,000 dollar illustration follows the same method and lands proportionally lower, which cross checks the arithmetic.
Can the concession layer really reach 40,000 dollars?
On 60 year old McLean homes the ledger records inspection concessions commonly running 15,000 dollars to 40,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The top of the range arrives when several major systems are flagged together, a common pattern in the mid century stock.
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 60 homes sampled in 22101, 20 acquired by builders, average older home price 42.6 percent of new build. Market data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Industry report.
- Redfin, 2025. Buyer's Agent Commissions Tick Up to Pre-NAR Settlement Levels. Market data.
- Redfin, 2026. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 22101, McLean VA. Market data.
- Zillow, 2026. Home values and recently sold, 22101. Market data.
- Code of Virginia, 2023. Va. Code Section 55.1-1006, Choice of settlement agent. Official record.
- Code of Virginia, 2026. Title 58.1, Chapter 8: recordation and grantor's taxes. Official record.
- American Land Title Association, 2024. Title curative work and residential closing delays. Industry report.
- Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026. Real estate assessments and permit records, McLean VA. Official record.
- Fairfax County Circuit Court Clerk, 2026. Land records and deed search, McLean VA. Official record.