The Real Cost to Sell a House in Salt Lake City
There's one number that matters more than any other when you sell, and it's not the listing price.
It's what's left after everyone else gets paid.. Most sellers don't think about it until closing day, when it's too late to plan around it. Let's figure it out now instead, so you know exactly what you’re going to earn when you sell your home. I do this with every home I sell.
Let’s start with the sale price.
Say your home sells for $550,000, right around the current Salt Lake County median. That's just your starting number. Here's what comes out of it.
Real estate commissions / Agent compensation
This is the biggest cost, and it's more negotiable than it used to be. Commission is a percentage of the sale price, and it is how I get paid. In today’s market it’s also often asked that a seller pay the buyer's agent commission as well. It is an open conversation instead of something baked in automatically. That works in your favor. I'll tell you exactly what I charge and what we offer a buyer's agent, in plain numbers, before you sign anything.
Prep and repairs
This is whatever we decide is worth doing before listing: paint, small repairs, cleaning, and staging. The key word is worth. I won't let you spend on prep that doesn't come back to you at closing, because money you can't recoup is just money off your net proceeds. Done right, this is a small, targeted number.
Seller concessions (yes, these are back and common)
Homes are sitting longer, so buyers have more room to ask for things they couldn't during the frenzy of years past. This may look like: seller-paid closing costs, a repair credit after inspection, or sometimes a rate buydown that lowers their payment for the first couple of years. Whatever it is, I will help you negotiate so what you offer protects the sale but also keeps your best interests in mind.
Title, escrow, and the smaller line items
In Utah, sellers usually cover the owner's title insurance for the buyer, plus part of the escrow fees for the title company that handles closing. If your home is in an HOA, there's often a reinvestment fee - up to 0.5% of the sales price(usually lower), and an administrative setup fee. Each one is small on its own, but they add up, so we account for them ahead of time.
Prorated property taxes
Utah property taxes are paid after the fact, which trips people up. At closing, you cover your share of the taxes for the part of the year you owned the home. It's not an extra fee, it's just settling up for the time you lived there. But it comes off your proceeds, so we plan for it, but you’ve likely been paying this already with your mortgage payment in your escrow. They’ll send you a refund.
Your remaining mortgage balance
Whatever you still owe on your mortgage gets paid off first, out of the proceeds. Your equity is what's left after the loan is cleared and the costs above are covered.
So what's the real net?
Let's put numbers to that $550,000 sale. Say you owe $300,000 on your mortgage. Between commissions, some prep, a reasonable concession, and the title, escrow, and tax items, your total selling costs might run 6 to 8% of the sale price. Call it $30,000 to $40,000, depending on what we negotiate and how the home is prepped.
Pay off the $300,000 loan, and you walk away with roughly $200,000 to $212,000 in equity, in hand. That's the down payment on your next home, seed money for a rental property, or the cushion that lets you make a change you've been putting off.
Your numbers will be different. That's why we run it before you list instead of finding out at the table.
When you know your net going in, you can make every transaction decision with a clear head.
A key tactic I use with all my sellers is telling buyers agents all offers of compensation will be considered. What this actually means is that if a buyer is asking us to pay their agent 2%, 3% or 4%, we will consider it. Why this matters is that at the end of the day, you as a seller want to walk away with the most amount in your pocket. If the offer that does that comes with a 4% buyers compensation request, it’s worth it to take it. I had one seller that I did this with and we received and offer for a flat $5,000 for their agents compensation. For a $550,000 home 2.5%, which is common, is $13,750. As you can see $5,000 is much less and saved my seller for committing to the higher number before the offer even came in.
Why I make sure you know your breakdown before we list
Every seller I work with gets this breakdown up front and I use it with every offer so you know exactly where each one lands.
Knowing your net changes everything. It tells you if now is the right time or if waiting six months makes more sense. It tells you how much room you have to negotiate. It tells you what your next move can be. And it means closing day is a celebration, not a surprise.
You built this equity. You should know exactly what it becomes.
TL;DR - The Short Version
The number that matters when you sell isn't the sale price, it's what you actually keep after everyone's paid. On a $550,000 sale, total selling costs usually run 6 to 8%: commissions (the biggest cost, and more negotiable now that the buyer's agent's pay is an open conversation), prep, seller concessions (back on the table now that homes are sitting longer), owner's title insurance, escrow fees, HOA reinvestment & transfer fees, and prorated property taxes. Then your remaining mortgage gets paid off, and what's left is your equity. Your real number depends on your price, loan balance, prep, and negotiation, which is why I run it before you list, not at closing. Know your net going in and every decision gets clearer.
Want to know what you'd actually walk away with? Let's run your numbers together. Book a no-pressure coffee or tea chat at KAPRealEstate.com/book.
No pitch, just an honest look at your equity and what it could do next.
Kevin A Petersen is an LGBTQ+ affirming real estate agent serving buyers and sellers throughout the Salt Lake City area. Schedule a no-pressure conversation about your home buying goals.
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