Start with the gross price of 1,500,000 dollars and subtract honestly. On a 1,500,000 dollar closing, brokerage fees at the usual 5 to 6 percent level subtract 75,000 to 90,000 dollars before anything else is counted (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent remove another 15,000 to 30,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Before carrying costs, concessions, taxes or any mortgage payoff, the seller is already looking at roughly 1,380,000 to 1,410,000 dollars. The documented ledger for a slightly larger 1,600,000 dollar sale in ZIP code 34103 shows the same pattern at work, with a list price netting in the low 1,300,000s after a normal market cycle and before any price reduction (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A mortgage payoff then comes out of whatever remains, dollar for dollar.

That gap between the headline price and the kept amount is where selling decisions should be made. Two sellers can both announce a 1,500,000 dollar sale and keep sums that differ by well over 100,000 dollars, depending on route, timing and how the inspection round went. The sections below build the kept figure line by line so any owner can rerun the exercise at a different price. Related work appears in how much it costs to sell a house in Park Shore and Moorings and in how homeowners can calculate their net proceeds from a sale.

Elegant Naples home front in Park Shore representing a 1,500,000 dollar seller outcome
Park Shore home front in Naples typical of a 1,500,000 dollar sale whose net is calculated here.

Key Findings

  • Commission on a 1,500,000 dollar sale equals 75,000 to 90,000 dollars at the typical 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
  • Seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent equal 15,000 to 30,000 dollars, so commission and closing costs together take roughly 90,000 to 120,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
  • The documented 1,600,000 dollar ledger nets in the low 1,300,000s after a normal market cycle, before any price reduction (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
  • Carrying costs across 4 to 8 months run 50,000 to 150,000 dollars at Park Shore scale, with wind and flood insurance above 2,500 dollars a month combined (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
  • Waterfront inspection concessions routinely run 25,000 to 75,000 dollars on older homes in this submarket (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
  • Naples cash depth is high, with 67 percent of January sales paid in cash in the board area (Naples Area Board of Realtors, via Gulfshore Business, 2026).

What leaves the price before the seller sees a dollar?

Commission leaves first because it is calculated on the full price and paid at closing. Recent commission research shows the average buyer agent share at 2.42 percent for homes sold in the third quarter of 2025, with overall rates holding steady since the settlement changes (Redfin, 2025). Sellers sometimes budget only the listing side and forget the buyer side still exists inside most transactions. At 1,500,000 dollars, every forgotten percentage point is 15,000 dollars, so a small misunderstanding becomes a large one quickly.

Closing costs leave second. The Florida seller stack covers the documentary stamp tax on the deed, title search and the title insurance premium the seller customarily pays, the settlement fee, recording fees, association estoppel and transfer charges, and prorated taxes and dues (Bankrate, 2026). In Park Shore and the Moorings the association lines run higher than average, which nudges this stack toward the top of its 1 to 2 percent band (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Owners who have not sold in Florida before are often surprised that the seller funds title insurance at all, and surprise at the settlement table is exactly what this post exists to prevent.

Taxes leave third, in amount if not always in timing. The kept figure at closing is not necessarily the kept figure after tax season. Publication 523 and Topic 701 from the tax authority set out the exclusion rules, ownership and use tests and partial exclusion rules that decide how much of a gain is sheltered (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). A long held Park Shore home bought decades ago can carry a large gain even after the exclusions, and sellers should model the tax line with an adviser before spending the proceeds in their heads.

How do time and condition shrink the kept amount further?

Time shrinks it through carrying costs. A listed older home commonly needs 60 to 120 or more days to sell once marketing, showings, inspection rounds and financing are counted (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Across a 4 to 8 month total cycle, the documented carrying range is 50,000 to 150,000 dollars, driven heavily by insurance, association dues, maintenance and utilities on a waterfront property. A seller who keeps 1,395,000 dollars on paper in month one may keep materially less by month seven without the price ever changing, simply because the house kept billing its owner while it waited.

Condition shrinks it through the inspection round. On older waterfront homes, concession demands for seawall, roof and flood mitigation items routinely run 25,000 to 75,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Repair credits of 10,000 to 30,000 dollars appear in the ledger as a normal separate line. A seller can refuse concessions and risk the deal, or accept them and watch the kept figure fall. Neither option is painless, and both are more common on 1960s and 1970s canal homes than listing presentations usually admit.

Market context decides how much room a seller has to resist. The ZIP code 34103 median reached 1,229,650 dollars in August 2026, up 64 percent year over year (Josh Amolsch, 2026), and Naples wide cash share stood at 61.1 percent in July 2026 (Realty.com, 2026). Strong demand supports firm pricing, yet even firm pricing does not repeal the cost lines. It only means the gross figure from which those lines are subtracted starts higher than it would in a soft year.

Rear view of a Naples canal home with dock, where seawall condition shapes the final kept amount
Canal side of a Park Shore home where inspection items can reduce what the seller keeps.

How does the mortgage change the final cheque?

The mortgage is the largest variable of all because it is personal. A seller who owns the home free and clear keeps the full post cost figure, subject to taxes. A seller with a 600,000 dollar balance keeps that much less at the closing table, because the loan is satisfied from the proceeds before the seller receives anything. Neither outcome says anything about whether the sale was good. It says everything about how much equity the household had built and how much of the price was already spoken for.

Owners sometimes confuse the kept amount with profit, and the two are different measures. Profit compares the kept amount with what the household paid and spent over the years, adjusted by the tax rules. The kept amount is simpler: gross price minus every transaction line minus the mortgage payoff. Keeping the measures separate prevents a common error, celebrating a large cheque that mostly repays a large loan, or mourning a small cheque on a sale that was actually highly profitable because the basis was low.

Remote handling makes none of this harder for distant owners. Remote closings and electronic transactions, including remote online notarization, are standard for out of state sellers in this market (Florida Realtors, 2025). The settlement statement can be reviewed line by line from anywhere, and sellers should insist on seeing a draft early enough to question a charge while questioning can still change it.

What does the same sale keep on a direct cash route?

Frontier Capitals sources off-market deals to builders and does not claim to be a builder, and the direct route changes the kept figure through the cost lines rather than through promises about price. Privacy is the first of the five advantages: zero showings and no public marketing, so no staging season and no audience. Flexibility is second: a closing in 7 to 21 days, or a seller chosen date months out with a leaseback style arrangement, which cuts the carrying window from months to weeks against the 60 to 120 plus day listed norm.

No commission is third, and at a 1,500,000 dollar price that single absence preserves 75,000 to 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). No seller closing costs is fourth, because a direct buyer commonly absorbs the 1 to 2 percent stack, preserving a further 15,000 to 30,000 dollars and echoing the documented finding that in a direct cash sale the buyer commonly absorbs closing costs, which makes the net comparison favor the direct path (Frontier Capitals, 2026). No inspections or repairs is fifth, removing the 10,000 to 30,000 dollar repair credit risk and the 25,000 to 75,000 dollar waterfront concession round in one stroke.

Stack those preserved lines together and the direct route can keep roughly 100,000 to 195,000 dollars that the traditional route spent, before any difference in headline price is considered. A listed sale can still win when open competition bids the gross price far above any direct offer, and honest sellers should test that possibility. The way to test it is the worksheet in this post, not a guess. Owners who want the direct figure for their own address can call 401-219-4207 or email [email protected] and ask for the net in writing.

Settled Park Shore street after a closing, with a quiet front garden and no sale signage
Park Shore street after settlement day, reflecting a completed private sale in the submarket.

How does a worked example at this price come together?

Take a seller with no mortgage, a sound seawall and a tidy but original 1970s canal home, selling through the traditional route in a normal season. The gross price is 1,500,000 dollars. Commission at the middle of the documented band takes about 82,500 dollars. Closing costs toward the top of the local band, reflecting higher association charges, take about 27,000 dollars. Four months of carrying the home through marketing and contract, at waterfront insurance levels above 2,500 dollars a month plus dues and upkeep, take roughly 20,000 dollars on a lean budget and far more on a generous one. One inspection round producing a mid range concession takes about 40,000 dollars. The kept figure lands near 1,330,000 dollars before taxes, a result consistent with the documented pattern for the neighboring price point in the research ledger (Frontier Capitals, 2026).

Now run the same household through a direct cash structure at a similar gross figure. Commission is zero. Closing costs are absorbed by the buyer. Carrying time shrinks to a few weeks while the paperwork completes. The concession round never happens because the sale is as is. The kept figure rises toward the full price minus only minor personal items and the eventual tax line. The two outcomes can differ by an amount larger than many households earn in a year, which is why this comparison belongs at the start of a selling decision rather than at the end of one.

Naples market depth makes both routes genuinely available, which is not true everywhere. With 67 percent of January sales in the board area closing in cash (Naples Area Board of Realtors, via Gulfshore Business, 2026) and a ZIP code median of 1,229,650 dollars (Josh Amolsch, 2026), a Park Shore seller at this price sits in one of the most liquid luxury submarkets in Florida. Liquidity is an asset only when the seller uses it to compare real net outcomes, including the tax framework in Publication 523 (Internal Revenue Service, 2026), instead of accepting the first structure offered. The companion worksheet in how homeowners can maximize their profits when selling turns the same discipline toward the decisions that remain after the route is chosen.

What single habit most improves the kept figure?

Deciding the route before spending the first preparation dollar is the habit that protects the most money. Sellers who renovate first and compare routes afterward have already surrendered part of the direct route advantage, because preparation spending belongs to the listed path and rarely returns itself on a land value parcel. Sellers who compare first can still choose the listing with open eyes, and their preparation budget then serves a known buyer type instead of a hopeful guess. The research ledger rewards that order of operations at every price point it documents (Frontier Capitals, 2026).

A close second is negotiating from the kept figure rather than from the contract price. A seller who knows that a 15,000 dollar price concession equals a full percentage point at this level, and who knows which cost lines a given buyer is absorbing, can trade intelligently: accepting a slightly lower price from a buyer who absorbs closing costs and closes in three weeks can keep more than a higher price loaded with costs and months of carrying time. The Naples cash market, where most board area sales in January closed without financing (Naples Area Board of Realtors, via Gulfshore Business, 2026), gives sellers an unusually rich set of such trades to choose among, provided the worksheet is built before the offers arrive.

Methodology and limitations

The kept figure in this post is built by applying the documented percentage ranges for commission and seller closing costs to a 1,500,000 dollar price, then layering the documented carrying and concession ranges from the seller ledger compiled for this submarket (Frontier Capitals, 2026). That ledger was constructed around a 1,600,000 dollar worked sale in ZIP code 34103, and its statement that such a sale nets in the low 1,300,000s after a normal cycle is the anchor for the arithmetic here. The underlying study sampled 28 older homes built in 1980 or earlier, with 11 builder acquisitions, and presented sample figures rather than a census.

Tax treatment is described only at the level of the published exclusion framework (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). Individual outcomes depend on basis, ownership and use history, marital status and prior exclusions, and this post is not tax advice. Mortgage balances, association arrears and individual insurance costs are personal variables that no study can supply, so each seller must insert real figures before treating any total here as a personal prediction.

Conclusion

On a 1,500,000 dollar sale in Park Shore or the Moorings, a traditional route typically spends 75,000 to 90,000 dollars on commission and 15,000 to 30,000 dollars on seller closing costs, then exposes the seller to 50,000 to 150,000 dollars of carrying costs and 25,000 to 75,000 dollars of possible concessions before the mortgage is repaid and taxes are considered (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The kept amount is therefore a range built by choices, not a fixed share of the price, and a direct cash route preserves several of the largest lines by design. When you picture your own sale, are you picturing the price on the contract or the amount that will actually remain in your hands?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the quick estimate of what a seller keeps at this price?

Before carrying costs, concessions, taxes and any mortgage, a 1,500,000 dollar seller keeps roughly 1,380,000 to 1,410,000 dollars after commission at 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025) and closing costs at 1 to 2 percent (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Each additional line then reduces that figure.

Why does the documented 1,600,000 dollar sale net only in the low 1,300,000s?

Because the full cycle includes more than commission and closing costs. Carrying costs across months, preparation spending and inspection concessions stack on top of the two percentage tolls (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The statement in the research describes a normal market cycle, not a best case.

Does a cash sale always keep more than a listed sale?

Not always. A listed sale keeps more when competition lifts the gross price enough to overcome its extra costs. The comparison that matters is net against net, and the direct route starts with an advantage because the buyer commonly absorbs closing costs and no commission is paid (Frontier Capitals, 2026).

How does the mortgage affect the answer?

The loan is repaid from the proceeds at closing, so the kept amount falls by the full outstanding balance. A free and clear seller keeps the entire post cost figure, subject to taxes, while a leveraged seller keeps the equity portion only.

Where can a seller check the tax side before selling?

The exclusion rules, ownership and use tests and partial exclusion rules are set out in Publication 523 and Topic 701 (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). Reading those summaries and then confirming the personal position with a tax adviser is the documented path.

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