What is a seller net sheet and how do I calculate mine in Illinois?

A seller net sheet is an itemized estimate of what you walk away with after selling your home. In Illinois, you calculate yours by starting with the sale price and subtracting six lines:

• the listing fee (traditionally 2% to 3% of the price, or a flat $1,995 at Net Gain Realty, a full-service flat-fee brokerage)
• any buyer-agent compensation you choose to offer (0% to 3%, negotiated per deal)
• transfer taxes (Illinois state at $0.50 per $500 of price, Cook County at $0.25 per $500, and the seller’s CTA share of the Chicago city tax at $1.50 per $500, about 0.45% combined for a Chicago seller)
• owner’s title insurance, attorney, survey, and recording fees (roughly $3,000 to $4,500 combined on a $500,000 sale)
• the property tax proration credit to the buyer (Cook County collects taxes in arrears)
• your mortgage payoff

What is left is your estimated net proceeds. The calculator above runs this exact math with your numbers, and the rest of this page explains every line in plain English.

The first time most sellers see a net sheet, they are already at the closing table, and every number on it has already been decided. I believe that is backwards. The net sheet is the single most useful document in a home sale, and it is most useful before you sign a listing agreement, when every line is still a decision instead of a receipt.

This page does two things. The calculator above builds your estimated net sheet with real Chicago numbers. The sections below explain every line on it in plain English, including the one line that is negotiable and the one line that surprises almost everyone.

The nine lines on a Chicago net sheet

A net sheet starts with your expected sale price and subtracts everything that comes out of it before the money reaches you:

The number left over is your net proceeds. That number, not the sale price, is what you are actually selling your house for, and it is the number the fee-to-equity ratio measures your fees against.

The transfer-tax figure above is scoped to a sale inside Chicago city limits. Outside them, most Illinois sellers pay only the state and county layers, about 0.15% combined, and the full statewide stack is broken out at three price points on the Illinois seller closing costs page.

The lines that are fixed

Transfer taxes

Transfer taxes are set by statute and compute exactly from the price. A Chicago seller pays three stacked taxes: Illinois state at $0.50 per $500 of price, Cook County at $0.25 per $500, and the seller’s CTA portion of the city tax at $1.50 per $500. Together that is $2.25 per $500, about 0.45% of the sale price. The buyer customarily pays the city’s larger $3.75 per $500 portion. Sell in most suburbs and the city layer drops off, though some towns levy their own.

Title, attorney, survey, and recording

Title insurance, the attorney, the survey, and recording fees move a little between providers, but they live in narrow ranges. On a $500,000 sale they total roughly $3,000 to $4,500 combined. Worth shopping, not worth agonizing over.

The line that surprises people

Cook County collects property taxes in arrears. You pay this year for last year. So when you sell, the buyer is going to receive a bill for a period when you still owned the home, and you owe them that share at closing. It shows up on your net sheet as a tax proration credit, commonly calculated at 100% to 110% of the most recent annual bill, prorated to the day you close.

On a $10,000 tax bill, closing at mid-year, that credit can exceed $5,000. It is not a fee and nobody is taking your money, it is taxes you always owed, settling up. But if the first time you see it is at the closing table, it feels like a fee. Enter your tax bill and sale month in the calculator above and it will size the credit for you.

The line that is negotiable

Every line above is either set by law or confined to a narrow market range. One line is not: commission.

The listing fee

Traditionally, the listing fee has been a percentage of the sale price, commonly 2% to 3% for the listing side. Commission rates are not set by law and never have been. On a $500,000 Chicago sale, an example 2.5% listing fee is $12,500. That single line is larger than the transfer taxes, title insurance, attorney, survey, and recording fees combined, and it is the line that separates every option ranked in the cheapest way to sell a house in Chicago.

I built Net Gain Realty because I believe that line deserves the same scrutiny as every other line on the sheet. Net Gain Realty lists homes for a flat $1,995: full MLS exposure through the same MLS every brokerage uses, professional photography, pricing from comparable sales data, showing coordination, negotiation, and closing support. The calculator above shows both versions of your net sheet side by side, the same sale with an example 2.5% listing fee and with a flat fee, so the flat fee vs commission comparison is arithmetic instead of argument.

Buyer-agent compensation

Buyer-agent compensation is its own decision. Since the 2024 NAR settlement, buyers sign agreements with their own agents and that fee is theirs. You can choose to offer coverage to strengthen a deal, and buyers can ask for it in an offer, but who pays the buyer’s agent commission is a negotiation, not a rule. The slider in the calculator lets you model it from 0% to 3%.

When to build your net sheet

Before the first listing appointment. Not because agents hide the numbers, but because the order changes the conversation. The same logic applies to any of the three ways to sell a house in Chicago. A seller who walks in knowing their transfer taxes, their proration, and their payoff can evaluate a fee quote in ten seconds: it is the only number on the sheet that moved.

If you want to see the listing fee measured against your equity instead of your sale price, how much will I keep when I sell my house in Chicago walks the same nine lines and adds that ratio. If you want the same math for your specific block, the home sale calculator breaks down the full cost to sell, commission rates in Chicago covers what the percentage model costs at every price point, and how realtors get paid explains where the money actually flows in plain terms.

All figures are estimates for illustration. Transfer tax rates are subject to change. Commission rates are negotiable and not set by law. Your attorney and your lender’s payoff statement determine final figures at closing. Net Gain Realty is a licensed Illinois brokerage, #481.014232.