Chicago Seller Net Sheet Calculator
How Much Will a Chicago Seller Net at Closing?
A $450,000 Chicago condo owned free and clear, with a $6,500 tax bill and a 2.5% listing broker, nets about $426,294. That assumes a December 15, 2026 closing and a buyer with a mortgage. Costs take about $23,706. The broker, the tax proration and the title charges are the largest lines. A seller's mortgage payoff and its interest come off too. Outside Chicago, the transfer tax can be zero or ten times higher. Run your own numbers below and copy the result as an email. First, find out if I will represent your seller for free.
Find Out if Justin Will Do This for Free
Two questions. Ten seconds.
Why it can be free: when my firm issues the owner's title policy, I am paid from that title premium as the title agent. The seller pays the title premium either way. I issue owner's policies through four or five title companies, so the seller still chooses. A seller who picks another title company is still welcome, at $500. Extra work, meaning litigation over a lien or another condition of the sale, is $225 an hour. An ordinary home with its bills paid almost never needs it. FIRPTA, the federal withholding rule for foreign sellers, is on my checklist for every sale. This price applies to all sales under $300,000, to all primary residence sales, and to sales of investment property by individuals who pay taxes in the United States of America. Other foreign-seller sales are billed for the FIRPTA work at the same hourly rate.
Seller Net Sheet
Built for listing appointments. The math runs in your browser. Nothing is sent unless you press Open the file.
Estimated seller net
I do your ordinary residential closings for free. Use that line at every listing appointment. Your seller keeps the attorney fee, and you walk in with an attorney already on the deal. Send me the signed contract with Open the file and I take it from there.
Ordinary means a Multi-Board 8.0 contract that needs no heavy renegotiation, and my firm issues the owner's title policy. I am paid from that title premium as the title agent, and the seller pays the premium either way. I issue owner's policies through four or five title companies, so the seller still chooses. A seller who picks another title company is still welcome, at $500. Anything else is $500 flat. Extra work, meaning litigation over a lien or another condition of the sale, is $225 an hour. An ordinary home with its bills paid almost never needs it. FIRPTA, the federal withholding rule for foreign sellers, is on my checklist for every sale. This price applies to all sales under $300,000, to all primary residence sales, and to sales of investment property by individuals who pay taxes in the United States of America. Other foreign-seller sales are billed for the FIRPTA work at the same hourly rate. Remote online notary signings are free.
How Do Agents Use This Net Sheet?
Agents use it in three places. Each one takes about a minute.
At the listing appointment. Run the price on your phone. Show the seller the net, not the commission.
On every offer. Change the price, the closing date and any credit to the buyer's broker. Press Copy as email. The cover note and the itemized table paste into Gmail or Outlook as they appear here.
When the contract is signed. Press Open the file. My office gets the net sheet and the contacts, orders the title work and the city certificates, and calendars the closing.
Copy link keeps every input in the link itself. Your seller opens the same net sheet and can try a different price. The inputs sit after the # sign, which browsers do not send to any server.
How to Read the Result
Start small. I round every transfer tax up to the next $500 increment, exactly as the statutes require, so a $450,100 sale is taxed on 901 increments, not 900.2. A calculator that multiplies by a flat per-dollar rate instead comes out slightly low.
Three lines move the number more than that rounding quirk, and all three are things you control before you sign.
| Line | Why it moves |
|---|---|
| Broker compensation | A negotiated contract term, not a fixed rate |
| Tax proration uplift | 100% or 110% of the last bill is a drafting choice |
| Municipal transfer tax | Ranges from nothing to $10 per $1,000, by town |
What Costs Sit Outside the Title Company?
Four costs never appear on a title company's rate card. Sellers forget them, and they come off the net all the same.
| Cost | Typical amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Association 22.1 packet | about $450 | Every condo, and townhomes with an association |
| Water and zoning certificates | about $500 | Every City of Chicago sale |
| Survey | about $500 | Detached houses and 2 to 4 flats |
| Payoff interest | rate times days | Any sale with a mortgage |
Sources: my own retainer terms and closing files. The Condominium Property Act caps the association's 22.1 fee at $375, adjusted each year for inflation, plus $100 for rush service within 72 hours (765 ILCS 605/22.1). In practice associations and management companies often charge more. I do not dispute packet fees, so budget for the real invoice.
Order the packet and the certificates early. Chicago zoning certificates have run about 12 to 16 business days this fall. A survey takes two to three weeks. Mortgage interest is paid in arrears, so the payoff letter adds interest from the first of the month to the closing day. The letter controls, and lenders can take 10 to 14 days to send one.
The Transfer Taxes, and Where They Come From
These are the only figures in the tool I take from statute rather than estimate, and both round up.
| Level | Rate | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| State of Illinois | 50¢ per $500 | 35 ILCS 200/31-10 |
| County (optional, Cook imposes) | 25¢ per $500 | 55 ILCS 5/5-1031 |
| Municipality | varies widely | local ordinance |
Both statutes read "or fraction thereof," so a $450,100 sale is taxed on 901 increments of $500, not on 900.2. This tool rounds up. Many calculators multiply by a flat per-dollar rate and come out slightly low.
I pull municipal rates, rounding rules, minimums and party liability from the Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund ordinance table. I pull title insurance and closing fees from the Chicago Title 2026 metro rate card. I cite both on every line of the result.
Every Municipality, and Who Actually Pays
Municipal transfer tax is set town by town, the rate is only half the question, and the other half is who the ordinance makes liable. The table behind this tool covers 194 Illinois jurisdictions, each carrying its own ordinance citation and effective date.
| What the ordinance says | Jurisdictions | Your seller line |
|---|---|---|
| Seller pays, or splits it | 54 | the computed tax |
| Buyer pays | 18 | $0.00, and it says why |
| No transfer tax at all | 122 | $0.00, confirmed |
Source: Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund real estate tax ordinance table, read 2026-09-08. The tool reproduces each jurisdiction's rounding rule and minimum, because those change the answer: Alsip has a $100 floor, Aurora rounds to the nearest $1,000, Bartlett does not round at all.
I handle the whole closing for a buyer for a $500 flat fee. A seller pays no attorney's fee when the contract is a Multi-Board 8.0 and my firm issues the owner's title policy.
The earlier version of this calculator knew 20 towns and returned $0.00 for everything else, which told a seller in a transfer-tax town that they owed nothing. Cicero is the clearest case: the ordinance charges the seller $10 per $1,000, so on a $450,000 sale that is $4,500, and the old tool showed zero. A zero here is now either "the buyer pays it" or "there is no such tax," and the tool names which. If your town genuinely is not in the table, it says that instead of guessing.
What This Tool Does Not Do
- The title figures are a published rate card, not a quote on your file. They come from Chicago Title's 2026 metro schedule, effective January 1, 2026, covering Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will. Another underwriter will differ, and so will your own file if anything about it is unusual. Above $1,000,000 the card stops publishing rates and the tool says so.
- Recording fees are excluded. The county recorder sets them, and they vary by county.
- Payoff interest is an estimate. The tool counts days from the first of the closing month at the rate you enter. Your payoff letter states the real per diem and any lender fees.
- It does not handle credits to you: earnest money already held, a buyer credit you negotiated, or a seller-paid repair holdback.
- It does not compute income tax. Whether the sale is taxable, and any capital gains exclusion, is a separate question. See real estate earnings and taxes.
- It assumes a residential sale. Commercial deals, short sales and transfers into an entity all behave differently.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this seller net sheet calculator free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no email capture. The arithmetic runs in your browser. Nothing is sent to anyone unless you press Open the file and submit the form.
Can I send this net sheet to my seller?
Yes. Press Copy as email and paste it into Gmail or Outlook. The cover note and the itemized table come with it. Or press Copy link. The inputs ride in the link, so your seller sees the same numbers and can change them.
What does the seller's attorney cost?
Nothing, when the contract is on the Multi-Board 8.0 form and my firm issues the owner's title policy. I am paid from that title premium as the title agent. Otherwise my fee is $500. Extra work is billed at $225 an hour. Extra work means litigating a lien or another condition of the sale. Examples are a foreclosure case, a mechanics lien, a zoning problem, a homeowner duty the contract requires, or a disputed HOA debt. If you own an ordinary home and pay your bills each month, you will almost never see this fee. FIRPTA, the federal withholding rule for foreign sellers, is on my checklist for every sale. This price applies to all sales under $300,000, to all primary residence sales, and to sales of investment property by individuals who pay taxes in the United States of America. Other foreign-seller sales are billed for the FIRPTA work at the same hourly rate.
What is a seller net sheet?
It is the line-by-line list of what comes off the sale price before the seller gets paid: transfer taxes, title charges, prorated property taxes, broker compensation, the mortgage payoff and the costs outside the title company. What is left is the net. The closing statement is the final, official version at the closing table.
How much is the Illinois real estate transfer tax?
The state tax is 50 cents for each $500 of value or any fraction of $500, under 35 ILCS 200/31-10. A county may add 25 cents per $500 under 55 ILCS 5/5-1031, and Cook County does. Both round up to the next $500. Municipalities set their own on top, and the seller's share varies by town.
How much does a condo 22.1 packet cost?
Most Chicago packets cost about $450, and I see a range of $300 to $700. The Condominium Property Act caps the association's own fee at $375, adjusted each year for inflation, plus $100 for rush service within 72 hours (765 ILCS 605/22.1). Associations and their management companies often charge more than the cap. I do not dispute packet fees, so budget for the real invoice. The calculator uses $450, and you can change it.
Does the seller still pay the buyer's broker?
Not automatically, and not since the 2024 changes to how broker compensation is offered. It is now a negotiated term of the contract. The calculator defaults the buyer's broker line to zero. Enter what the contract actually says.
Why does my town show a zero municipal transfer tax?
A zero can mean three different things, and the tool tells you which. The ordinance may put the tax on the buyer, which is 18 of the jurisdictions in the table. The town may have no transfer tax, which is 122 of them. Or the town is not among the 194 jurisdictions covered, and the tool says so instead of guessing.
How accurate is the estimate?
The transfer taxes come from the statutes and from each town's ordinance, with its rounding rule and minimum. The title figures are Chicago Title's published 2026 metro rate card, not a quote on your file. The packet, certificates, survey and payoff interest are planning numbers. Recording fees are not included. Treat the result as a planning number.
Where to go next
- Chicago closing attorney: what the seller and the buyer each pay.
- The Chicago home selling guide. The whole process, contract to closing.
- The attorney review period, and what it is actually for.
- The Multi-Board 8.0 contract, clause by clause.
- Selling without a realtor in Illinois.
- Short sales, if the payoff exceeds the price.
- Chicago cap rates, if you are selling an investment property.
Send Me the Contract
A calculator catches the math. It does not catch a bad clause. Press Open the file above, book a free 30 minute call, call (630) 839-9195, or text (312) 489-8710.
This tool is general information, not legal advice, and using it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Transfer tax rates and title charges change. The statutory rates were verified against the codified text in September 2026, and the costs outside the title company in October 2026.