What it really costs to sell a Dallas house, beyond the commission

The short answer on seller costs

Beyond the commission, a seller in Dallas typically pays for the owner's title policy if the contract assigns it to them, escrow and document fees, the payoff of any mortgage, a share of the year's property taxes, any repairs or credits negotiated after the buyer's inspection, and the cost of carrying the house until it closes. None of these is a fixed percentage, and together they can move your net more than a modest difference in sale price. The way to know your number is to build an estimated net sheet for your specific house before you list.

I am Andy Scott with Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate, and I have spent fifteen years helping sellers in Preston Hollow, the Park Cities and Lakewood work out what they will actually walk away with. Most surprises at the closing table are not surprises at all; they were knowable months earlier. Here is where the money goes and how to plan for it.

Brokerage fees are negotiated, not set

Commission is the line people focus on, so start there. No law sets what a listing agent or a buyer's agent is paid; it is negotiated, and the National Association of Realtors says plainly in its consumer guide that compensation is not set by law. Under the national practice changes of 2024, a buyer working with an agent signs a written agreement before touring that spells out what their agent will be paid. A seller then decides separately whether to offer anything toward the buyer's agent, and a buyer may ask for it as part of an offer.

What matters for your planning is that both pieces are decisions, made in writing, before the house is on the market. Ask any agent you interview to explain exactly what they charge, what it covers, and how they would handle a request for buyer-agent compensation inside an offer. Photography, staging advice and marketing are often part of the listing side, but ask rather than assume. If you are wondering whether skipping an agent altogether saves money, I walk through what that really involves in selling your house yourself in Texas.

Title, escrow and the papers that cost money

In Texas the title company is the hub of the closing. It searches the title, clears old liens, holds the earnest money and prepares the closing statement. The resale contract states which side pays for the owner's title policy, and that is one of the terms you negotiate. The premium comes from a rate chart published by the Texas Department of Insurance, so it scales with the sales price rather than with how much work the file takes. If you want to see that side of the month in detail, what the title company does once you are under contract lays it out well.

The payoff deserves its own note. Order it early, because a payoff letter shows the actual figure including interest through the payoff date, and that figure is what comes off the top. Sellers who work from the balance on their last mortgage statement are always a little short.

• Escrow or closing fee, which the contract may divide between buyer and seller
• Document preparation for the deed and the release of your old lien
• Payoff of your mortgage and any home equity line, with interest to the payoff date
• Recording fees for the documents that clear your old loan
• A new survey, if your existing one no longer matches the property or will not be accepted
• A resale certificate and transfer fees if the house is in a mandatory owners association

Property taxes and the gain on the sale

Texas property tax bills for a given year go out in the fall and are due at the start of the following year, so in most sales the seller has not yet paid the current year's taxes when the house closes. The closing statement prorates them: you credit the buyer for the part of the year you owned the house, and the buyer pays the full bill when it arrives. In neighborhoods where taxes are substantial, that credit is a real line on the statement, and it grows the later in the year you close.

Income tax on the gain is a separate question, and one for your accountant rather than for me. The IRS explains in Tax Topic 701 that a homeowner who owned and lived in the home for at least two of the five years before the sale may exclude up to $250,000 of gain, or up to $500,000 on a joint return. Long-time owners in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow can have gains above those amounts, and documented improvements can change the calculation, so keep your receipts and talk to a CPA before you sign a contract.

Repairs: pay now or pay at the negotiating table

Buyers in close-in Dallas almost always inspect, and the Texas resale contract gives them room to do it. The Texas Real Estate Commission explains that a buyer who pays an option fee has the unrestricted right to terminate for any reason during the option period, and can use that period to inspect the house and negotiate repairs. That is where many sellers lose more than they expected. A buyer's estimate for a repair is rarely low, and a credit negotiated under a deadline tends to be larger than the cost of doing the work beforehand on your own schedule.

My usual advice is to know the condition before the buyer does. A pre-listing inspection tells you whether there is anything a buyer will find alarming: a roof near the end of its life, an air conditioning unit on borrowed time, foundation movement, an electrical panel an inspector will flag. Then you choose. Fix it, get a bid and disclose it, or price for it. Each of those is cheaper than discovering it in someone else's report.

If you are working through the money side of a sale and want a second set of eyes on the numbers, this is a good moment to talk. A short conversation before you spend anything on repairs often saves the cost of the wrong ones.

What every month on the market costs you

Carrying costs are the quietest expense in a sale. While the house is listed you keep paying the mortgage, property taxes, homeowners insurance, utilities, lawn care and pool service. If you have already moved, add the cost of keeping a vacant house secure, insured and looking cared for.

That is why price strategy and cost are the same conversation. A house priced right and presented well tends to sell sooner and with fewer concessions than one that sits and then needs a reduction. I wrote about how I set a listing price before the sign goes up because it is where most of a seller's net is won or lost. If you are also buying, overlap is the other big variable, and deciding whether to sell first or buy first is largely a decision about how many months of two houses you can carry.

Preparation spending: where it returns and where it does not

Before listing, most sellers spend something. The question is whether each dollar shows up in the price or the speed of the sale. In my experience, the work that pays is the work a buyer would otherwise discount for, or the work that changes how the house photographs.

• Repairs to items an inspector will flag: roof, systems, active leaks, wood rot, electrical
• Fresh paint in rooms with dated or dark colors
• Landscaping and front-door work that improves the first photograph
• Deep cleaning and decluttering, which cost little and change everything
• Staging advice for empty or awkward rooms

Where a large remodel fits, and usually does not

What rarely pays back is a large cosmetic remodel done just before listing. At higher price points many buyers want to choose their own kitchen and finishes, and some are buying primarily for the lot. Spending heavily on a project a buyer may tear out is the most expensive preparation mistake I see.

When I meet a seller, the price conversation and the cost conversation happen together. I start with a realistic price range, then subtract everything above: agreed brokerage fees, the owner's title policy if the seller is paying it, escrow and document fees, the mortgage payoff, a property tax proration for the likely closing month, an allowance for inspection repairs based on what we know about the house, and the carrying cost of a realistic market time.

I usually show two or three scenarios side by side, for example a price that should draw early interest next to a higher price that may take longer and need a reduction. Seeing them together changes the conversation. A higher list price that nets less after two extra months and a bigger repair credit stops looking attractive. These are estimates, not promises; the title company's closing statement is the final word on the figures, and your accountant has the final word on taxes.

Questions to settle before you list

Before you sign a listing agreement, you should be able to answer a few questions without guessing. What will I pay in brokerage fees, and how will I handle a buyer's request for agent compensation? Who pays for the owner's title policy in my contract? What is my actual payoff? Which repairs am I making, disclosing or pricing in? How long can I comfortably carry the house?

If any of those are fuzzy, that is the work to do first. When we meet, I walk the house, look at your payoff and your timeline, and send you a written net estimate for the scenarios that make sense. From there you can decide whether to list now, prepare for a season, or wait. Either way you will know the number that matters, which is the one that reaches your account after closing.

Questions people ask me