The number that matters isn't your sale price — it's what you keep. Here's the full ledger, modeled before you list.
Model Your Net ProceedsSellers fixate on the headline number. The number that actually funds your next move is what lands in your account after commission, taxes, legal fees, and the cures you didn't budget for. Luke models this for every seller before listing — because the right list price depends on the net, and because nobody should meet these figures for the first time at the closing table.
The largest line item. Commission is negotiable and always has been — and following recent industry-wide changes to how buyer-side compensation is handled, the structure is more explicitly negotiated between seller, listing agent, and buyer's agent than it once was. What matters is not shaving the rate; it's what the fee buys. A listing marketed with cinematic film and global targeting that draws four qualified buyers instead of one will out-earn the savings from a discount brokerage many times over at Hamptons price points. Luke will walk you through the structure openly.
New York State charges a real estate transfer tax on the seller — $2 per $500 of consideration, or 0.4% of the sale price, with an additional 0.25% on residential sales of $3 million and above. On a $5M sale, that's roughly $32,500. Note the contrast with the buyer side: the Peconic Bay CPF tax and the mansion tax are customarily the buyer's burden — see buyer closing costs if you're also purchasing.
Your real estate attorney's fee (New York closings are attorney-driven), mortgage payoff and satisfaction recording if you carry a loan, prorated property taxes and fuel, and any survey update the buyer requires. Individually modest; collectively real.
This is where deals bleed. Open permits, an unpermitted pool house or finished basement, a stale certificate of occupancy, septic non-compliance, or a failing bulkhead on waterfront property — each surfaces during buyer diligence, each delays closing, and each hands the buyer a renegotiation lever precisely when you have the least leverage. Cure them before listing, as covered in preparing your home for sale. It is always cheaper on your schedule than on theirs.
Worth flagging early with your tax advisor: the primary-residence capital gains exclusion generally does not apply to a second home, and many Hamptons sellers hold a very low basis after decades of ownership. That's a material number, and it can change the timing or structure of a sale. Not a reason to panic — a reason to plan.
Figures are customary and for planning only. Rates and rules change; your attorney and tax advisor confirm your actual numbers.
Luke models full net proceeds alongside your valuation — commission, transfer tax, cures, and all.
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