What It Costs to Sell a House Here, Line by Line

Sellers ask me what their house is worth. The number they need is what they will have in hand at the end, and those are different numbers.

Here is everything that comes out between the two.

Commission. The largest line. Since the 2024 changes to how buyer agent compensation is handled, this is negotiated separately from what it used to be, and the structure is worth a conversation rather than an assumption. What you pay and what a buyer’s agent is paid are now two questions instead of one.

Escrow fees. Split by custom, and the custom varies by county and is negotiable.

Title insurance. In Los Angeles County the seller customarily pays for the owner’s policy for the buyer. Negotiable.

County transfer tax. Los Angeles County charges a documentary transfer tax on the sale price. Properties inside the City of Los Angeles carry an additional city transfer tax, and for higher value properties the city’s Measure ULA transfer tax applies on top of that at a substantially higher rate. Whether your property is inside city limits matters enormously here. Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Westchester and Venice are in the City of Los Angeles. El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa, Redondo and Torrance are not.

Natural hazard disclosure report. Required. A few hundred dollars.

County and city retrofit requirements. Smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, water heater strapping. Some cities require a pre-sale inspection or a certificate of compliance before a property can transfer. The Los Angeles requirements and the individual beach city requirements are not the same.

HOA document fees. If you are in an association, producing the documents costs money and there is usually a transfer fee.

Repairs negotiated after inspection. The variable nobody can quote in advance and the one that most often surprises people.

Prep and staging. Optional in theory. In practice, on most properties, it returns more than it costs.

Prorated property tax. You pay through the closing date.

Your loan payoff. Including any prepayment terms and the per diem interest through closing.

What I do about it

Before you list, I build a net sheet with every line above filled in for your specific property, at three different sale prices. You see the number you walk away with, not the number on the sign.

Ask any agent for that before you sign a listing agreement. If they cannot produce it, that is informative.

Call me at (310) 861-3459.