How Much Will You Net When You Sell Your Home in MD, VA, or DC?

This is the gross amount the buyer has agreed to pay for your home. Everything else is deducted from this top-line number.

You might notice the calculator asks for your current principal balance and your monthly principal and interest payment. Why do we add one full monthly payment to your payoff? Your mortgage balance reflects the principal amount owed on the first day of the month. When you sell your home, interest accrues daily until the settlement company officially pays off your loan. Adding one month's payment creates a safe buffer to cover that daily interest accrual, so you are not caught off guard by a higher payoff amount.

When your mortgage is paid off, the money sitting in your escrow account for taxes and insurance belongs to you. If you call your loan servicer before closing, you can typically get this escrow balance netted directly from the official payoff quote the settlement company uses. Otherwise, your servicer will mail you a refund check approximately three weeks after your settlement date.

This is typically the largest single fee when selling a home. The commission compensates the real estate agents involved in marketing and facilitating the sale. While commissions are always negotiable, they generally range from 4% to 6% of the sale price. For 2025 and 2026, the average real estate commission is hovering around 5.5%.

Depending on where you live in the DMV, the local government requires a tax to transfer the deed. In Washington, DC, sellers pay a transfer tax based on the sale price: 1.1% for homes under $400,000 and 1.45% for homes over $400,000.

Maryland county rates range from 0.5% in Calvert County to over 1.5% in Baltimore City. Anne Arundel County at 0.85% before their mansion tax, Montgomery County is on a tiered scale, and counties like Prince George's are fixed at 0.975%.

In Virginia, the seller's side of the transfer tax is minimal compared to the buyer's recordation tax, and the calculator adjusts accordingly.

Your closing month dictates who owes what for property taxes. In Maryland, you prepay your taxes. That means when you sell the home, the buyer will reimburse you for the period of time which they own the property during that tax period. As an example, if the tax bill was paid in December through the end of June, and you are closing in March, the buyer would need to reimburse you for the taxes paid from the settlement date in March through June, which is a little over three months.

Note: Closings in July and August in Maryland are a special case. The semi-annual bill has been issued but the lender has often not yet paid it, so sellers are typically charged one to two months of taxes at settlement rather than receiving a credit.

In DC and Virginia, you pay taxes in arrears. That means you need to reimburse the buyer for the time you have lived in the home during that six-month tax cycle.

If you agree to pay a portion of the buyer's closing costs to secure the contract, those seller credits come directly out of your net proceeds. While not completely common in every market and sale price, your realtor will be able to let you know what is typical, given the state of the market. In 2022, when rates were jumping quickly, we noticed seller credits became more of a standard. In 2026, it is much more mixed by location and price point, but generally not as pervasive.

Selling a home often comes with a handful of extra costs required to get the property ready or finalize the deal. This field accounts for those extra line items. Staging your home could cost around $2,500. You might also have minor construction repairs, like painting, flooring, or minor renovations. During the transaction, you may encounter home inspection negotiations that require you to offer a repair credit. You will also owe administrative settlement fees to the title company, which usually run around $500.