This calculator vs. your title company's net sheet
Two different moments in the same sale. A title or escrow company's estimated net sheet settles one accepted contract with the real, local, quoted figures. This page is a free, private worksheet for the hours before that — when two offers are on the table and you have to pick one.
What each one is for
Your title or escrow company's estimated seller net sheet is the authoritative document, and you should ask for one. It is prepared for your transaction using figures nobody else has: the company's own title and escrow charges, the recording fees and transfer taxes that apply in the county where the property actually sits, your lender's payoff, and prorations calculated to your specific closing date. Where its numbers and this page's numbers disagree, the title company's are the ones that govern.
What it is not is instant. It is normally prepared on request and around a particular contract, which makes it an awkward instrument for the decision that comes first — when two offers are sitting in front of you and the response deadline is measured in hours. This calculator fills that gap: the same arithmetic, in your browser, immediately, re-runnable as many times as you want, with no account and nothing uploaded. Enter the rates from a title or escrow estimate rather than guessing them and the two agree.
It also runs the arithmetic in two directions a prepared net sheet does not. It compares two offers on the same house side by side, holding payoff, title, transfer tax, and proration assumptions constant so only the terms that genuinely differ move the result. And it solves backwards for the sale price that produces a target net — the question a seller asks when they already know what they need to walk away with.
One modelling difference is worth stating plainly, because it is the reason this tool disagrees with most “seller closing cost calculator” pages. After the NAR settlement, commission is not one blended percentage. Listing-broker pay is a contract between the seller and their own broker. Buyer-broker compensation is separately a negotiated seller concession, a buyer-paid amount, or nothing. Collapsing the two into a single rate hides precisely the variable that differs between competing offers — and therefore the variable that decides which offer nets more.
| Question | Where to answer it |
|---|---|
| What will I actually net on the contract I have accepted, using my county's real fees and my closing date? | Your title or escrow company's estimated net sheet — the authoritative figure, and this calculator does not replace it. |
| Which of these two offers leaves me more cash, right now, before the deadline? | This calculator's offer comparison — free, instant, private, no account. |
| What does the house have to sell for if I need to walk away with a particular number? | This calculator's target-net solver, which inverts the same arithmetic. |
| Does a higher headline price always mean more money? | This calculator — it separates buyer-broker compensation and concessions, which is where a bigger offer quietly becomes a smaller one. |
| What are the actual title, escrow, recording, and transfer-tax rates for my property? | Your title or escrow company. Type their figures into this calculator rather than estimating them. |
| How do the two offers compare line by line, on one page? | This calculator's offer comparison. |
| Do I need an account or a sign-in? | This calculator: no. A title company net sheet is requested from the company handling your closing. |
The two are sequential rather than competing: this page for the decision between offers, a title or escrow company's estimate for the contract you accept. This calculator is arithmetic, not a closing disclosure, and it is not a substitute for a title company, escrow officer, attorney, or tax adviser.
This tool needs no account and no sign-in: it is a static page, the arithmetic runs in your browser, and once it has loaded it keeps working with the connection off.
Common questions
Should I use this calculator or ask my title company for a net sheet?
Both, at different moments, and the title company's version is the authoritative one. A title or escrow company prepares an estimated seller net sheet using the actual fees for your county and your transaction: their own title and escrow charges, the recording and transfer taxes that apply where the property sits, and the payoff and proration figures for your specific closing date. Ask for it, and treat it as the number that governs. What it is not is instant, and it is normally prepared around a particular contract — which makes it an awkward fit for the question that comes first, when two offers are sitting on the table and you have hours rather than days to decide. That is the gap this calculator fills: it runs the same arithmetic in your browser, immediately, as many times as you like, so you can see which offer leaves more cash before you accept one. Enter the rates from your title or escrow estimate rather than guessing them, and the two agree; where they differ, the title company is right.
Why does this calculator split listing-broker pay from buyer-broker compensation?
Because after the NAR settlement they are genuinely two different things, and most seller closing-cost calculators still model commission as one blended percentage. Listing-broker pay is a contract between the seller and their own broker. Buyer-broker compensation is separately a negotiated seller concession, a buyer-paid amount, or nothing at all — it is not automatically half of five or six percent. Collapsing the two into a single rate hides exactly the variable that differs between competing offers, which is the variable that decides which offer nets more.
Can a higher offer really net less than a lower one?
Yes, and it is the ordinary case rather than a curiosity. Buyer-broker compensation and seller concessions such as closing-cost help or repair credits come out of the same proceeds as everything else, so an offer with a larger headline price that asks for more of both can leave less cash at closing than a cleaner, lower one. This calculator's worked example is a 425,000 offer asking 2.5 percent buyer-broker pay plus 8,000 in closing help, which nets below a cleaner 417,000 offer. Comparing headline prices is what this tool exists to stop.
What does this calculator do that a net sheet does not?
Two things, both of which run the arithmetic in a direction a prepared net sheet does not. It compares two offers on the same house side by side, holding the payoff, title, transfer tax, and proration assumptions constant so that only the terms that actually differ move the result. And it solves backwards for the sale price that produces a target net — the question a seller asks when they know what they need to walk away with and want to know what the house has to sell for to get there.
Does anything I type here leave my browser?
No. The arithmetic runs on your own device, there is no account to create, and no payoff amount, address, price, or rate is uploaded anywhere. Once the page has loaded it keeps working with the connection off.
Open the Seller Net Sheet Calculator to run your own numbers.