I think you'll be waiting a while OP. Our next door neighbors bought in 2004 (on the way up) and we bought in 2007 (on the way down) - the identical townhouse. Similar houses on our street are currently selling for roughly 10% less than we both paid, and that is BEFORE you pay the realtor/closing costs.

Neither of us will be selling anytime soon and even breaking even, let alone clearing money after realtor costs.

But good luck to you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought our house for $355K in 2004. Assuming we want to clear, say, $100K when we sell, how much do we have to sell it for, in order to cover both realtors, and any of the other things the seller has to cover (taxes, etc.)? Sorry for my ignorance - this is my first time selling!!!

Market + tax base (to some extent) determine that.

So if you paid $355K and still owe $250K, for example, you'll have to sell in order to cover that, plus a bit over to gain your $100K and to cover closing costs. Plus, once you lock into a rate, you may have to pay points - more money!

Again, price is determined by the market. Your realtor will set a price based on comps in your 'hood. Sadly, if a house sells for under value, that's a comp you can't ignore. So it's also a game of chance.

You could do some research yourself. Go to Franklymls.com, type in your zip code, put in a price range, and filter by 'hood. You'll see some comps out there. Look for homes that are similar in model. Upgrades increase the price in most cases - but not by much now b/c the market stinks.

Thanks for the suggestion of this site. I was not aware of it before. I am going to play around on it! Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:We bought our house for $355K in 2004. Assuming we want to clear, say, $100K when we sell, how much do we have to sell it for, in order to cover both realtors, and any of the other things the seller has to cover (taxes, etc.)? Sorry for my ignorance - this is my first time selling!!!

Market + tax base (to some extent) determine that.

So if you paid $355K and still owe $250K, for example, you'll have to sell in order to cover that, plus a bit over to gain your $100K and to cover closing costs. Plus, once you lock into a rate, you may have to pay points - more money!

Again, price is determined by the market. Your realtor will set a price based on comps in your 'hood. Sadly, if a house sells for under value, that's a comp you can't ignore. So it's also a game of chance.

You could do some research yourself. Go to Franklymls.com, type in your zip code, put in a price range, and filter by 'hood. You'll see some comps out there. Look for homes that are similar in model. Upgrades increase the price in most cases - but not by much now b/c the market stinks.

Anonymous wrote:A quick google search suggests that selling costs total around 8.5% - 6% for commission plus 2% for the assorted other items, meaning the seller pockets about 91.5% of the sales price.

So a rough estimate of what you will clear at sale would be this amount minus your outstanding balance. Thus:
$ is pocket = 0.915 x Sales Price - Outstanding balance
- OR (approximately) -
Sales Price = 1.1(Money in pocket + Balance)

Thus to get 100K now with ~320K outstanding you need to sell for just over $460K.

Thank you! Super helpful!

Anonymous wrote:You'll pay about 6% in fees when you sell. Subtract 6% from your sales price for the fees, then subtract whatever you owe. That's what you clear. Basically, you need to calculate for that extra 6% when you're selling unless, of course, you're selling it yourself.

Thank you! Very helpful! Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:And, OP, I broke the numbers down for you, but ultimately what people were saying at the get-go is correct.

You may need $460k to clear $100,000 at the table, but if your house is only worth $400k based on the comparables, nobody is going to pay you $460,000 for it. What you want to clear really isn't relevant and trying to "hit" that figure is the wrong way to approach the transaction.

Similarly, if you list it for $460,000 but someone offers you $420,000, then what? That's not an unlikely scenario.

Thank you so much!

Anonymous wrote:Expect you'll always need housing. Someone giving a place to you? If not, sometime you may want to buy again. Or is that the point of your deciding on a target figure - something to go towards a new place?

Thank you so much to you all for your help! Yes, that was generally the point, PP, to decide on a target figure to put towards a new place. The house we are in is perfectly fine, really, for as long as we need to live there, but if it ever appreciated to a certain point, then we'd consider selling. But not before then. So, thank you so much, all, for your help and patience with me as I tried to figure this out! I appreciate it!

And, OP, I broke the numbers down for you, but ultimately what people were saying at the get-go is correct.

You may need $460k to clear $100,000 at the table, but if your house is only worth $400k based on the comparables, nobody is going to pay you $460,000 for it. What you want to clear really isn't relevant and trying to "hit" that figure is the wrong way to approach the transaction.

Similarly, if you list it for $460,000 but someone offers you $420,000, then what? That's not an unlikely scenario.

Expect you'll always need housing. Someone giving a place to you? If not, sometime you may want to buy again. Or is that the point of your deciding on a target figure - something to go towards a new place?

A quick google search suggests that selling costs total around 8.5% - 6% for commission plus 2% for the assorted other items, meaning the seller pockets about 91.5% of the sales price.

So a rough estimate of what you will clear at sale would be this amount minus your outstanding balance. Thus:
$ is pocket = 0.915 x Sales Price - Outstanding balance
- OR (approximately) -
Sales Price = 1.1(Money in pocket + Balance)

Thus to get 100K now with ~320K outstanding you need to sell for just over $460K.

You'll pay about 6% in fees when you sell. Subtract 6% from your sales price for the fees, then subtract whatever you owe. That's what you clear. Basically, you need to calculate for that extra 6% when you're selling unless, of course, you're selling it yourself.