Worked from the cost rates documented for this market, a seller who closes at 1,500,000 dollars keeps roughly 1,305,000 to 1,385,000 dollars before any mortgage payoff and before any tax on the gain. The illustration applies the sourced bands in sequence: commission at the typical total of 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, inspection concessions in the documented band remove 15,000 to 40,000 dollars, and carrying costs across a normal cycle remove a further 10,000 to 35,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Total deductions therefore run 115,000 to 195,000 dollars, and the seller who imagined keeping the round number discovers the first 8 to 13 percent of it was already spoken for.
Two honesty notes belong at the top of this report rather than buried in it. First, most older homes in ZIP 33405 sell well below 1,500,000 dollars: the sample average older home price was 20.6 percent of comparable new build prices, and the worked example in the research file pairs a 1,800,000 dollar new build with an older home near 370,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Second, this calculation is an illustration built by applying sourced percentage rates and cost bands to the larger price; it is not a measured average of local 1,500,000 dollar closings, because the source material contains no such dataset. What it offers is the correct method at a scale readers ask about, with every rate traceable to the research file.
Key Findings
- Commission at 5 to 6 percent on a 1,500,000 dollar sale is 75,000 to 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025).
- Seller closing costs at 1 to 2 percent add a further 15,000 to 30,000 dollars of deductions (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Concessions in the documented band for aging inventory run 15,000 to 40,000 dollars, and carrying costs across a normal cycle run 10,000 to 35,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Combined deductions of 115,000 to 195,000 dollars leave the seller keeping roughly 1,305,000 to 1,385,000 dollars before mortgage payoff and tax (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Most older homes in ZIP 33405 sell far below this price, with the sample worked example placing an older home near 370,000 dollars beside a 1,800,000 dollar new build (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Some 15 percent of homebuying contracts were canceled in a recent reported month, a risk that can restart the carrying clock entirely (Redfin, 2026).
How is the illustration built, line by line?
Commission comes first because it is calculated on the gross price and is the largest single deduction at any scale. The typical total of 5 to 6 percent (National Association of Realtors, 2025) produces 75,000 to 90,000 dollars at this price, and the buyer agent portion within it has been stable, averaging 2.42 percent for homes sold in Q3 2025 (Redfin, 2025). Sellers sometimes assume a higher priced home commands a lower percentage; the sourced data does not support building that hope into the arithmetic, and only 37.4 percent of sellers negotiated commission at all in the survey the research file draws on, so the prudent illustration uses the full band.
Closing costs come second, at the seller side band of 1 to 2 percent that covers title, documentary stamps and prorations (Frontier Capitals, 2026). At 1,500,000 dollars that band is worth more in dollars than the entire sale price of some older cottages in this ZIP: 15,000 to 30,000 dollars. Prorations deserve a word at this scale, because a premium home carries large tax and insurance amounts that are split at closing, and the seller settles the accrued share to the closing date. The detailed anatomy of these charges is given in the report on what closing costs sellers typically pay.
Concessions and carrying costs complete the illustration, and both are drawn from the documented bands rather than scaled guesses. Concessions after 4 point and wind mitigation inspections frequently run 15,000 to 40,000 dollars on aging inventory (Frontier Capitals, 2026), and a 1,500,000 dollar West Palm Beach home with an older roof sits squarely inside the insurance logic that produces those concessions, since standard wind coverage turns on the 15 year roof mark and older roofs draw five figure premiums or declines (Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, 2025). Carrying costs run 3,000 to 6,000 dollars a month in the ledger, burning 10,000 to 35,000 dollars over a three to six month cycle (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A premium home may carry more per month in reality; the illustration stays with the sourced band and notes the direction of the error, which is against the seller. Preparation for a sale at this level also commonly includes staging, a practice documented in industry surveys of how homes are readied for market (Real Estate Staging Association, 2025), and any staging or pre listing work the seller funds comes off the keep figure as well.
It helps to set the illustration beside the smaller worked example in the same research file, because the comparison teaches how percentage costs behave as prices rise. On the 550,000 dollar ledger sale, commission and closing costs together consume 6 to 8 percent and the seller lands in the mid 400,000s, a keep share near the middle of the price (Frontier Capitals, 2026). On the 1,500,000 dollar illustration the same 6 to 8 percent applies, but the fixed bands beneath it, concessions of 15,000 to 40,000 dollars and carrying costs of 10,000 to 35,000 dollars, do not scale with the price, so they take a smaller proportional bite. That is why the keep share in this illustration, roughly 87 to 92 percent of the price before mortgage and tax, looks kinder than the ledger outcome at 550,000 dollars. The lesson generalises in both directions: percentage charges grow with the price automatically, while event charges grow only when the sale goes badly, so a premium seller should fear a long, contested sale more than the commission band itself.
The composition of a 1,500,000 dollar West Palm Beach sale also deserves a word, because it explains which bands bite hardest. A price at that level in ZIP 33405 usually belongs to a finished or substantially renewed home near the top of the local market, since new construction on standard lots in Flamingo Park, El Cid and Prospect Park has sold between 1,300,000 dollars and 2,400,000 dollars (Redfin, 2026). Such a home is not priced as land; its buyer is purchasing the house, and household buyers at that level scrutinise condition through the same inspection machinery that produces concessions on older stock (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The insurance file matters at this scale too, because a premium home with an ageing roof meets the same 15 year wind eligibility line as a cottage does, and the resulting premium shock lands in the negotiation regardless of how elegant the house is (Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, 2025). Sellers at this level sometimes assume their price buys them out of the ordinary frictions. The illustration exists to correct that assumption with arithmetic rather than anecdote.
A useful way to test the illustration is to run it in reverse, starting from a target keep figure and working back toward the price that would be required to produce it. If a seller in West Palm Beach needs a particular amount after the transaction, each layer described above must be added back before a list price can be judged honestly. A target that looks modest against a 1,500,000 dollars headline can require a closing price well above early expectations once commission at 5 to 6 percent and closing costs at 1 to 2 percent are restored to the calculation (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). That reverse exercise also clarifies why small differences in time matter at this scale, because an extra month spent waiting for a marginally higher offer still carries the monthly costs documented in the ledger. Sellers in Flamingo Park, El Cid and Prospect Park can apply the same reverse method to a lower price as well, since the percentage layers behave consistently while the fixed bands remain in the ranges given for 33405. Treating the illustration as a two way tool, rather than as a single answer, helps an owner separate a genuinely strong offer from one that only looks strong before deductions.
What sits outside the illustration that can still change the answer?
The mortgage is the largest outside item. Whatever balance remains on the property is repaid from the proceeds at closing, dollar for dollar, so two sellers at the identical price can keep wildly different amounts depending on what they owe. The deed and lien records that document that position sit in the county file (Palm Beach County Clerk of Court, 2026), and parcel records confirm the property facts the payoff is attached to (Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, 2026). Sellers should read the keep figure in this report as the amount before that personal subtraction, not as a promise about any individual bank balance.
Tax is the second outside item, and it is deliberately excluded from the arithmetic here. Whether a gain on a home sale is taxable, and how the gain is figured, is governed by federal guidance that sellers should work through with a professional before closing rather than after (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). The companion treatment of that question is the report on whether West Palm Beach homeowners pay capital gains taxes when selling. What belongs in this report is only the sequencing point: tax, if any is owed, is calculated on the gain rather than on the price, and it is settled after the sale rather than deducted on the settlement statement.
Contract failure is the third outside item, and at this price it is expensive. With 15 percent of homebuying contracts canceled in a recent reported month (Redfin, 2026), a failed closing at 1,500,000 dollars restarts marketing, extends carrying costs beyond the illustrated band and often returns the home to market with a visible history. Survey evidence about seller behaviour shows how ordinary negotiated give backs have become, with 67 percent of sellers paying at least some closing costs (Zillow, 2025), a reminder that the keep figure erodes from several small directions even when nothing dramatic fails. Price reductions sit outside the illustration for the same reason: the arithmetic assumes the home actually closes at 1,500,000 dollars, and every reduction comes straight off the keep range, dollar for dollar.
How does the keep figure change on a direct sale?
The direct route removes the percentage layers rather than trimming them, which at this scale is worth a striking amount of money. The intermediary role should be stated plainly first: Frontier Capitals is a wholesaler that sources off market deals to builders, contracting with owners and placing properties with builders, and it does not claim to be a builder. Most 1,500,000 dollar homes are not teardown candidates, and this report does not pretend otherwise; the comparison below simply prices the same five documented benefits at the illustration scale for sellers whose property does fit the direct route.
Privacy leads the five: no showings, no open houses and no public marketing period, a meaningful protection for a prominent home in El Cid or Flamingo Park. Timing follows: closing in 7 to 21 days, or months later with a leaseback, instead of 60 to 120 plus days, which compresses the carrying layer toward its floor. No commission is third, and at 5 to 6 percent of 1,500,000 dollars that single line protects 75,000 to 90,000 dollars (National Association of Realtors, 2025). No seller closing costs is fourth, protecting the 1 to 2 percent band, 15,000 to 30,000 dollars at this price, and bringing the combined protected share to 6 to 8 percent of the price. No inspections or repairs is fifth: no concession round in the 15,000 to 40,000 dollar band and no repair credits of 10,000 to 30,000 dollars after inspection.
A direct price would need its own negotiation, and no honest report can state it in advance. What can be stated is the arithmetic of comparison: a direct offer should be judged against the 1,305,000 to 1,385,000 dollar keep range from the listed route, not against the 1,500,000 dollar headline, and the full cost stack behind that comparison gives sellers the ledger to do it with. Judged that way, the apparent gap between routes narrows by the full width of the deduction stack.
Methodology and limitations
This report applies the sourced cost rates from the research file for ZIP 33405, commission of 5 to 6 percent, seller closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, the concessions band of 15,000 to 40,000 dollars and carrying costs of 3,000 to 6,000 dollars a month, to a 1,500,000 dollar price as an illustration (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). The underlying sample behind the series is 38 older homes, of which builders acquired 31, cross checked against county records and listing data (Frontier Capitals, 2026; Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, 2026; Palm Beach County Clerk of Court, 2026). The selection limitation applies as throughout the series: the sample was built to find builder targeted older housing, so the 81.6 percent rate describes the sample, not the whole ZIP.
The limitation specific to this headline is stated plainly, as the task of an honest illustration requires: most 33405 older homes sell below the 1,500,000 dollar level, often far below, and the research file contains no dataset of actual 1,500,000 dollar seller outcomes. The keep range here is therefore a rate based construction, useful for method and scale, and it excludes mortgage payoff, tax and price reductions, each of which can move an individual result materially.
Conclusion
A seller closing at 1,500,000 dollars in West Palm Beach keeps roughly 1,305,000 to 1,385,000 dollars of the price once commission, closing costs, concessions and carrying costs are deducted at the sourced rates, before any mortgage is repaid and before any tax is considered (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026). The missing 115,000 to 195,000 dollars is not lost to a single charge; it leaves through four ordinary doors that stand open on every listed sale.
Knowing the keep range in advance changes the negotiation, because offers can be compared on surviving dollars rather than on headline prices. If two buyers stood in front of you, one quoting a higher price through the full cost stack and one quoting a lower price with the stack removed, would you know which cheque would actually be larger?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the keep range on a 1,500,000 dollar sale in one line?
Applying commission of 5 to 6 percent, closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, concessions of 15,000 to 40,000 dollars and carrying costs of 10,000 to 35,000 dollars leaves roughly 1,305,000 to 1,385,000 dollars before mortgage payoff and tax (National Association of Realtors, 2025; Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Why is this figure called an illustration rather than a statistic?
Because most older homes in ZIP 33405 sell well below 1,500,000 dollars, with the sample worked example near 370,000 dollars beside a 1,800,000 dollar new build (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The range is built by applying sourced rates to the larger price, not by averaging real closings at that level.
Does the keep figure include paying off a mortgage?
No, because the remaining loan balance is repaid from proceeds at closing and differs for every seller (Palm Beach County Clerk of Court, 2026). Subtract whatever is owed from the keep range to reach the personal figure.
Where does tax fit into the calculation?
Tax is settled after the sale on any gain, under federal guidance sellers should review with a professional before closing (Internal Revenue Service, 2026). It is not a settlement statement deduction, which is why this illustration excludes it and treats it separately.
How do sellers fail to reach even the low end of the range?
Contract cancellation, which hit 15 percent of contracts in a recent reported month, restarts carrying costs and marketing (Redfin, 2026). Price reductions then come straight off the keep figure, and 67 percent of sellers already pay some closing costs as negotiated give backs (Zillow, 2025).
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 38 homes sampled in 33405, 31 acquired by builders, average older home price 20.6 percent of new build, minimum lot 5,227 sq ft. Market data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Industry report.
- Redfin, 2025. Average buyer's agent commission 2.42% for homes sold in Q3 2025. Market data.
- Zillow, 2025. Consumer Housing Trends Report: 67% of sellers paid at least some closing costs; 72% completed at least one improvement project. Industry report.
- Redfin, 2026. Sellers Are Getting Ghosted: 15% of Homebuying Contracts Were Canceled in September. Press.
- Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, 2025. Homeowners insurance market data and wind underwriting standards, Florida. Government data.
- Real Estate Staging Association, 2025. Staging cost and practice surveys. Industry report.
- Palm Beach County Clerk of Court, 2026. Recorded deeds and official records, West Palm Beach FL. Official record.
- Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, 2026. Parcel and permit records, West Palm Beach FL. Official record.
- Internal Revenue Service, 2026. Topic No. 701, Sale of Your Home. Government data.