Anonymous wrote:Shop around for realtors. Some of them will contribute part of their commission towards closing costs. Some may not tell you up front, but ask!

This. The PP who just signed a contract, I did my own research so realtor had very little to do, we asked for 1% rebate and we got it. We also got a 1% rebate from sale of our previous house.

Anonymous wrote:We're hoping to sell our current (and first) home for about $450k. After paying off the mortgage (250k balance), we'd like to use that 200k net as down payment on an upgrade to a home that is in the $700-800k range. How feasible/realistic is this?

Learned so much buying our first home... But it was only the beginning!

It's totally doable and realistic. On a 800k home, 20% is 160k so even if you net less than 200k you are fine. We have put a contract on a 900k property and we put 300k down, in my mind our scenarios aren't too different.

Shop around for realtors. Some of them will contribute part of their commission towards closing costs. Some may not tell you up front, but ask!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not realistic, after taxes and the blood-sucking realtors your net will be a lot less.

Can you elaborate? You mean taxes on any proceeds from the sale? Thanks!

Transfer & recordation taxes on the sale, not income taxes on the profit from the sale.

Your realtor should also give you an estimate of what you'll get after their fees and taxes based on different listing prices. This was helpful to us.

Redfin had a calculator for net in Virginia, DC and Maryland after taxes and fees

Anonymous wrote:http://www.ncsl.org/research/fiscal-policy/real-estate-transfer-taxes.aspx

very helpful, thank you.
So from a tax perspective, it's 0 fed (unless over the 250K/500K threshold), then whatever the NCSL table says for state and muni....

Anonymous wrote:Are the taxes on a home sale the same as sales tax?

Just googled this...found this on the intuit/turbotax website:
"If you owned and lived in the place for two of the five years before the sale, then up to $250,000 of profit is tax-free. If you are married and file a joint return, the tax-free amount doubles to $500,000. The law lets you "exclude" this much otherwise taxable profit from your taxable income. ...If your profit exceeds the $250,000 or $500,000 limit, the excess is reported as a capital gain on Schedule D."

Are the taxes on a home sale the same as sales tax?

*Subtract 10% or $45,000*

Subtract 10% of $45,000 from the $450,000 sales price for Realtor Commission and miscellaneous other costs. You could spend less than that but to be realistic use the 10%. You could quite likely spend more than 10% also, low offers, buyer concessions, repairs

Anonymous wrote:Not realistic, after taxes and the blood-sucking realtors your net will be a lot less.

Can you elaborate? You mean taxes on any proceeds from the sale? Thanks!

Not realistic, after taxes and the blood-sucking realtors your net will be a lot less.

We're hoping to sell our current (and first) home for about $450k. After paying off the mortgage (250k balance), we'd like to use that 200k net as down payment on an upgrade to a home that is in the $700-800k range. How feasible/realistic is this?

Learned so much buying our first home... But it was only the beginning!