Worked transparently from the sourced Vienna rates, and labelled here as an illustration rather than a promise, a seller completing at 1,500,000 dollars keeps roughly 1,305,000 dollars to 1,380,000 dollars before any mortgage payoff and before any tax on the gain. The gap between the headline price and the kept amount, some 120,000 dollars to 195,000 dollars in this illustration, is not a single fee. It is the accumulated weight of commission at 5 percent to 6 percent, seller closing costs at 1 percent to 2 percent, inspection driven repair credits and the carrying cost of the months a listed sale consumes (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026).
A 1,500,000 dollar Vienna sale sits close to the broad market’s centre of gravity, since the median across all homes in 22180 stands near 1,400,000 dollars (Redfin, 2026). That makes this price point the right scale at which to test the ledger honestly, because percentages quoted at smaller prices can look deceptively gentle. Each layer below is calculated in the open, in dollars, so a reader can substitute a different price and rerun the whole account in a few minutes.
Key Findings
- In this labelled illustration, commission at 5 percent to 6 percent removes 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars from a 1,500,000 dollar sale (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Seller closing costs at 1 percent to 2 percent remove a further 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars at the same price (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Repair credits of 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars and carrying costs of 20,000 dollars to 45,000 dollars complete the typical listed deductions (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Total illustrated deductions run 120,000 dollars to 195,000 dollars, leaving 1,305,000 dollars to 1,380,000 dollars before mortgage payoff and tax.
- The research ledger at 950,000 dollars shows the same structure netting in the mid 800,000s, confirming the pattern at a second price point (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
How is the commission layer calculated at this price?
Start with the largest deduction. Total commission for a listed sale typically runs 5 percent to 6 percent of the price (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Applied to 1,500,000 dollars, the lower rate produces 75,000 dollars and the upper rate produces 90,000 dollars, so the illustration carries a commission range of 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars. Every point of commission at this price equals 15,000 dollars, which is why negotiating even half a point is worth 7,500 dollars of kept proceeds.
Recent commission analysis adds texture to that range. The average buyer agent commission alone was measured at 2.4 percent for homes sold in the first quarter of 2025, implying that the seller side and buyer side together account for the total band used here (Redfin, 2025). At Vienna prices the research also notes that percentage rates can run lower because agents have room to reduce fees on high priced homes (National Association of Realtors, 2025), so a well negotiated 1,500,000 dollar listing might land near the bottom of the commission range; the illustration keeps the full band so the reader can see the honest spread.
What commission is not is a payment for the transfer itself. It buys marketing, brokerage and negotiation, and it is charged on the gross price rather than on the amount the seller keeps. A seller who thinks of the sale as keeping 94 percent to 95 percent has made the first and most common error this report exists to correct, because four more layers still stand between the gross price and the banked figure.
What do closing costs and the grantor tax take at this level?
The second layer is the seller’s closing costs, the title, transfer and recordation charges and prorations that complete a sale legally. At the sourced band of 1 percent to 2 percent, a 1,500,000 dollar transaction carries 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars of seller closing costs (National Association of Realtors, 2025). State comparisons of closing costs confirm that these categories recur in every market’s settlement statement, scaled by local practice (Bankrate, 2025).
One entry in that layer is distinctly Virginian: the state charges sellers an extra grantor tax under section 58.1-802 of the Virginia Code (Code of Virginia, 2026). It is one component among the transfer charges rather than a separate surprise, but sellers relocating from other states consistently fail to budget for it because their previous markets placed the equivalent burden elsewhere.
Prorations add a timing sensitive element. Fairfax County real estate taxes on a 950,000 dollar assessment already run well into five figures annually on the research figures, so a property assessed anywhere near the 1,500,000 dollar level carries a correspondingly heavy annual bill whose seller share is settled at closing (Frontier Capitals, 2026; Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026). The county assessment record fixes the value from which that proration is computed, which makes the closing date’s position in the tax cycle worth real money at this scale.
Combined, commission and closing costs at 1,500,000 dollars consume 90,000 dollars to 120,000 dollars, exactly the 6 percent to 8 percent combined load the research ledger describes at other Vienna price points (National Association of Realtors, 2025). A seller who has only subtracted commission has understated the transaction cost by 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars before the house has spent a single day carrying costs.
Where do repair credits and carrying costs enter the illustration?
The third layer is negotiated rather than scheduled. Buyers inspecting older Vienna homes commonly secure repair credits or price reductions of 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars after inspection, and this illustration carries that sourced range unchanged to the 1,500,000 dollar case because the credit prices the age of the systems rather than the price of the house (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A higher priced older home can attract the top of the range precisely because its buyers hold it to a higher standard of remaining life.
The fourth layer is time. Three to six months of market time, normal for older homes across listing, negotiation, inspection and closing, costs 20,000 dollars to 45,000 dollars in pure hold expense covering mortgage or equity opportunity cost, insurance, taxes, utilities and maintenance (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The vacant version of that burden is priced at roughly 2,500 dollars a month for an empty Vienna house, which corroborates the range at its lower end for owners who have already moved out (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Interest rate conditions influence both layers quietly. The weekly mortgage survey that tracks prevailing rates shapes the carrying cost of any loan the seller still holds and the speed at which financed buyers can perform (Freddie Mac, 2026). A slow financed closing stretches the holding layer; a cash or direct closing compresses it toward zero, which is part of why route selection changes the kept figure by more than the commission saving alone.
Now assemble the illustration in full. From 1,500,000 dollars, subtract commission of 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars, seller closing costs of 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars, repair credits of 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars and carrying costs of 20,000 dollars to 45,000 dollars. The gentlest path deducts 120,000 dollars and leaves 1,380,000 dollars; the heaviest deducts 195,000 dollars and leaves 1,305,000 dollars. The kept range of 1,305,000 dollars to 1,380,000 dollars is this report’s answer, stated before mortgage payoff and tax because those two items are personal rather than transactional.
What happens after the kept range: mortgage payoff and tax?
Mortgage payoff is the item owners most often misclassify. Repaying a loan balance from the proceeds is not a cost of selling but the settlement of a debt the seller already owed, so two sellers at the same 1,500,000 dollar price with different balances keep different final amounts without either having been charged differently. This illustration therefore stops before payoff deliberately, and any owner rerunning it should subtract the actual payoff figure from the loan statement rather than estimating it.
Tax on the gain is the second personal item, and it depends on the seller’s basis, filing status and eligibility for the principal residence exclusion. Federal guidance allows an exclusion of 250,000 dollars of gain for a single filer or 500,000 dollars for a married couple where the ownership and use tests are met (Internal Revenue Service, 2026), and Publication 523 is the document that governs the detailed treatment of a home sale (Internal Revenue Service, 2025). A long owned Vienna home sold at 1,500,000 dollars can carry a gain well beyond those exclusions, so the kept range in this report should be read as a pre tax figure with genuine tax planning still to do.
The sequence matters for households coordinating a purchase elsewhere. The amount available for the next commitment is the kept range minus the payoff minus any tax provision, and each of those subtractions is knowable in advance from a loan statement and a basis calculation. Owners who want the general method, applicable at any price, will find it set out in the report on calculating net proceeds from a Vienna sale, while the closing cost breakdown isolates the second layer in greater detail.
How does the illustration change on a direct sale?
A direct off market sale removes the transactional layers rather than merely discounting them. Commission falls to zero, seller closing costs fall to zero, the inspection credit stage does not occur on an as is purchase and the carrying period contracts from months to the owner’s chosen closing window. A seller comparing routes should therefore set a direct figure against the kept range of 1,305,000 dollars to 1,380,000 dollars from this illustration, not against the 1,500,000 dollar headline, because that range is what listing actually delivers before payoff and tax.
Certainty has a value inside that comparison which the ranges make visible. The listed kept figure is a range spanning 75,000 dollars because four of its layers are negotiated or time dependent; the direct figure is a single number agreed in advance. For a seller whose onward plans depend on a known amount on a known date, the width of the listed range is itself a cost, even when its midpoint looks attractive. The study context behind the ledger, a sample of 61 older Vienna homes in 22180 built in 1980 or earlier with 17 acquired by builders (Frontier Capitals, 2026), is described fully in the methodology for readers who want the evidence base.
What does a direct purchase do to the kept amount?
Frontier Capitals sources off market houses to builders as a wholesaler, agreeing a purchase directly with the owner and placing the home with a builder rather than building itself. For the purposes of this illustration, the relevant fact is structural: the layers that consumed 120,000 dollars to 195,000 dollars in the listed version are the layers its terms remove.
The five benefits, stated at the Vienna ledger prices used throughout this series, run as follows. Privacy is absolute, with zero showings, zero open houses and no public marketing period. Flexibility governs the calendar, with closing in 7 to 21 days when speed matters or months ahead with a leaseback when it does not, against 60 to 120 plus days for a listed older home. No commission is charged, against the 5 percent to 6 percent that the illustration priced at 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars on this sale size and at 47,500 dollars to 57,000 dollars on the 950,000 dollar ledger sale (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
No seller closing costs are charged either, against the 1 percent to 2 percent band, so the combined commission and closing saving that equals 57,000 dollars to 76,000 dollars at 950,000 dollars grows proportionally at this report’s price. The sale completes as is, without inspections and without the 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars of credits that follow them. An owner who wants the illustration rerun on an actual address can call 401-219-4207 or email [email protected].
A seller can also stress test the illustration before relying on it by changing one assumption at a time and watching how the kept range moves. Raise the commission to the top of its band and the range falls by a known amount. Extend the carrying period by a month and the range falls by roughly the monthly holding figure for a vacant home. Shorten the marketing period and part of that loss returns. That sensitivity exercise matters because it shows which negotiations deserve real effort (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
On the numbers in this report, the largest controllable item is commission, followed by time, while repair credits tend to matter most on older houses with deferred work. A seller who knows that ranking can spend effort where the dollars are, instead of bargaining hardest over the smallest line on the settlement sheet. The county assessment record should be checked during the same exercise, since the value recorded there drives the tax proration that will appear at closing and can shift the final figure by a noticeable amount at this price level (Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026). Running the stress test on paper costs an evening, and it converts the kept range from a published illustration into a personal planning range that a family can budget against with confidence.
Methodology and limitations
This report is a labelled illustration built by applying sourced Vienna rates to the headline price in the question: commission at 5 percent to 6 percent and seller closing costs at 1 percent to 2 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025), repair credits of 10,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars and carrying costs of 20,000 dollars to 45,000 dollars from the research ledger (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The underlying study sampled 61 older homes in 22180 built in 1980 or earlier, 17 of them acquired by builders (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Because it is an illustration, it does not predict any individual settlement: negotiated commission, the closing date’s prorations, inspection findings and the seller’s tax position will move a real outcome within or occasionally beyond the range shown. Mortgage payoff is excluded as a personal debt item rather than a selling cost, tax is flagged rather than computed, and no property was inspected or appraised in preparing the worked figures.
Conclusion
At a 1,500,000 dollar Vienna sale, the illustrated listed route leaves the seller with 1,305,000 dollars to 1,380,000 dollars before mortgage payoff and tax, once commission of 75,000 dollars to 90,000 dollars, closing costs of 15,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars, repair credits and carrying costs have each taken their sourced share (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). The headline price describes what the buyer paid; the kept range describes what the seller actually received for the years of ownership being closed out.
If the honest kept figure sits more than 120,000 dollars below the price on the contract, which of those two numbers should plan your next move?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 1,305,000 dollars to 1,380,000 dollars range a guarantee?
No, because it is a labelled illustration assembled from sourced rate bands applied to the 1,500,000 dollar price, and a real sale’s negotiated commission, inspection outcome and timing will place the result somewhere the bands allow (Frontier Capitals, 2026). It is a planning range, not a quote.
Why is mortgage payoff left out of the kept amount?
Because payoff settles a debt the seller already owed rather than charging for the sale itself, so including it would mix a personal balance into a transactional calculation. Owners should subtract their actual payoff from the kept range to reach their personal final figure.
How much commission does a 1,500,000 dollar Vienna sale carry?
Between 75,000 dollars and 90,000 dollars at the typical total of 5 percent to 6 percent, with recent analysis putting the buyer agent share alone at an average of 2.4 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Redfin, 2025). At this price each percentage point is worth 15,000 dollars.
Does tax reduce the kept amount further?
It can, depending on basis and eligibility for the federal exclusion of 250,000 dollars or 500,000 dollars of gain under the ownership and use tests (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). Publication 523 governs the detail, and sellers with large gains should compute the tax provision before treating the kept range as spendable (Internal Revenue Service, 2025).
How does the 950,000 dollar ledger compare?
The research ledger at 950,000 dollars nets in the mid 800,000s after the same four layers, which is a proportionally similar outcome to the 1,500,000 dollar illustration (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The structure of the deductions, not the price point, is what drives the gap.
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189-neighborhood builder-acquisition sample: 61 homes sampled in 22180, 17 acquired by builders, average older-home price 34.4 percent of new build. Market data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria market. Industry report.
- Bankrate, 2025. Average closing costs by state. Market data.
- Code of Virginia, 2026. Va. Code § 58.1-802, additional tax paid by grantor. Official record.
- Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration, 2026. Real estate assessments and permit records, Vienna VA. Official record.
- Redfin, 2026. 22180 market data: median sale price near $1.4M, seller's market, 99.8 to 101% sale-to-list, 25 to 34 average days on market. Market data.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2026. Topic 701, sale of your home: $250,000/$500,000 exclusion, 2-of-5-year ownership and use tests, once-every-two-years limit. Government data.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2025. Publication 523: Selling Your Home. Government data.
- Freddie Mac, 2026. Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Market data.
- Redfin, 2025. Commission analysis: average buyer's agent commission 2.4% for homes sold in Q1 2025. Market data.