6 min read
Agent commission
Commission is usually the largest cost of selling. It is set by agreement, not by law, so it can be negotiated. In Central Ohio it is common for the seller to pay the listing side, and the buyer side is now its own conversation after the 2024 rule changes.
What you are paying for is the work that moves the price: pricing built from your block, prep that adds value, professional marketing, and steady negotiation. Ask any agent to show you what their fee buys before you sign.
Buyer concessions
Buyers often ask the seller to cover part of their closing costs or to fund a rate buydown. This is a credit, not a price cut, but it lowers your net the same way. How common it is depends on the market that month and on your price band.
A concession can be the smart move when it widens your buyer pool. It can also hide a pricing problem. The point is to decide on purpose, not to react to the first offer.
Title, escrow, and recording
Ohio uses title companies to close. The seller usually pays for the owner's title insurance policy that protects the buyer, plus a share of escrow and recording fees. These are smaller line items, but they are real, and they vary by company.
Ohio transfer tax (conveyance fee)
Ohio charges a conveyance fee when a property changes hands. The state portion is $1 per $1,000 of the sale price. Counties can add up to $3 more per $1,000, so the total runs up to $4 per $1,000 depending on the county.
On a $400,000 sale, that is up to $1,600. Franklin, Delaware, and Union counties each set their own rate, so the exact figure depends on where the home sits.
Prorated property taxes
Ohio collects property taxes in arrears, which means you pay for time you have already lived in the home. At closing you give the buyer a credit for the taxes that have built up but are not yet billed.
This credit catches a lot of sellers off guard because it is not a fee anyone is charging you. It is simply your share of a bill that comes due later. The net sheet shows it as a line so the math stays honest.
Putting it together
Add commission, any concessions, title and escrow, the conveyance fee, and the tax proration. Subtract that from your sale price, then subtract whatever you still owe on the mortgage. What is left is your net.
You can run your own number in the net sheet calculator in a couple of minutes. For a worked example at your suburb's median, with the local detail that changes the result, the free Seller Playbook walks through it line by line.
Want it run against your actual address?
The calculator uses typical figures. Your real number depends on your payoff, your county's rates, and what your home would actually list for. I run that version personally, free, with no obligation attached: real comps, your county's actual fees, and the net you would walk away with.
Text, call, or email, whatever is easiest. Happy to sit at your table and go through every line. If the number says wait, I will say wait.
