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What will you actually walk away with? Net proceeds calculator

The sale price is not what you keep. Commission, closing costs, repair concessions, carrying costs while the listing runs, and the mortgage payoff all come out first. This calculator puts a listed sale and a direct private sale side by side so you can compare what actually lands in your account.

Estimate your net proceeds

Rough estimates only — costs vary by state, contract, and property. Change every number to match your situation. Both paths are calculated the same way, so the answer can genuinely go either way.

Your property & costs that apply either way

Listed sale (with a broker)

Direct private sale

Optional — the value of getting paid sooner

Listed sale — estimated net

$1,003,000

Cash in hand in about 8 months

  • Sale price: $2,000,000
  • Mortgage payoff: −$800,000
  • Commission: −$100,000
  • Closing costs: −$40,000
  • Repair concessions: −$25,000
  • Carrying cost (8 months): −$32,000

Direct private sale — estimated net

$1,075,600

Cash in hand in about 1.5 months

  • Offer price: $1,920,000
  • Mortgage payoff: −$800,000
  • Commission: −$0
  • Closing costs: −$38,400
  • Repair concessions: −$0 (typically priced into the offer)
  • Carrying cost (1.5 months): −$6,000
On these numbers a direct sale nets about $72,600 more and gets you there 6.5 months sooner. Raise the listed price or lower the listed costs to see what a broker would have to achieve to beat it.

Educational estimate only — not an offer, appraisal, or tax, legal, or investment advice. Excludes taxes on the gain (capital gains, depreciation recapture, state tax), which often matter more than any line above. Confirm numbers with your attorney, CPA, and title company.

How to use the numbers honestly

The fair comparison is not "listed price vs. direct offer." It is your realistic listed price minus every listed-sale cost — commission, concessions, and months of carrying costs — against a direct offer that skips most of them. Sometimes the listed path still wins, especially for trophy assets in hot markets with competitive bidding. For ordinary income-producing property, the gap between the two nets is usually far smaller than owners expect, and the direct path buys speed, privacy, and certainty.

The line most owners forget: carrying cost

Every month a property sits on the market you keep paying taxes, insurance, maintenance, and debt service. If the property fully covers itself from rents, this line may be zero — but for a vacant building, a struggling strip center, or an owner already managing from out of state, six to twelve months of carrying costs quietly consume the price advantage a listing was supposed to deliver.

Taxes are the bigger conversation

Nothing here touches capital gains, depreciation recapture, or a 1031 exchange — the items that often decide whether selling now makes sense at all. Read our capital gains & 1031 guide for the plain-English version, then confirm the numbers with your CPA before you commit to any path.

Frequently asked questions

What costs come out of a commercial sale price?
The big five: the mortgage payoff (plus any prepayment penalty), broker commission on a listed sale (commonly 4–6% for commercial), closing costs such as transfer taxes, title, attorney and recording fees (commonly 1–3%, varying widely by state), repair credits negotiated after inspection, and the carrying costs you pay every month the property sits on the market.
Why does a direct private sale often net more even at a slightly lower price?
Because most of those costs shrink or disappear: there is no commission, no months of carrying costs while a listing runs, and repairs are typically priced into the offer rather than renegotiated after inspection. A direct offer a few percent below a hoped-for listed price can still net the same or more once all listed-sale costs are subtracted.
What is not included in this calculator?
Taxes on the gain — capital gains, depreciation recapture, and state income tax — which depend entirely on your basis, depreciation history, and whether you use a 1031 exchange. Those usually matter more than any line in this calculator, so run the sale past your CPA. Our capital gains and 1031 guide covers the basics in plain English.
Are these numbers an offer or an appraisal?
No. The calculator is an educational estimate using numbers you enter. An actual offer on your property is based on its rent roll, trailing-12 financials, condition, and market — if you want one, the form below starts a private, no-obligation conversation.
What commission do commercial brokers actually charge?
Commercial commissions are negotiable and commonly land between 4% and 6% of the sale price, sometimes lower on large assets and higher on small ones. On a $2M building, each percentage point is $20,000 — which is why the commission line dominates the listed-sale math.
The calculator says listing would net me more. Should I list?
Quite possibly, yes — and the calculator will tell you so rather than steer you. If a full marketing process realistically achieves a strong price, the property carries itself while it sits, and you can wait several months, listing may well be the better financial outcome. Weigh two things it cannot price: whether the sale actually closes at that number (listed deals can retrade after inspection or fall through in financing), and what the waiting costs you personally.
How do I put a number on selling faster?
Two places. First, carrying cost: every month until closing you pay taxes, insurance, maintenance, and debt service, so a longer sale is a real expense rather than a neutral delay. Second, the optional redeployment rate: if you would put the proceeds into a 1031 purchase, another asset, or paying down debt, receiving the money months earlier has value — enter the annual return you would expect and the calculator estimates it. Leave it at zero to ignore time value entirely.
Why does the direct offer start lower than the listed price?
Because that is the honest trade. A direct buyer is not running a competitive process, and typically prices deferred maintenance into the offer rather than renegotiating it after an inspection. The useful question is not which price is higher, but how much lower a direct offer can be and still leave you with more once commission, concessions, and months of carrying cost are subtracted. You can test exactly that by changing the offer price.

Want a real number instead of an estimate?

Tell us about the property and we'll follow up discreetly. No public listing, no commissions, no pressure — or text us at 202-932-7527.

Prefer to read first? Browse the selling guides