Most sellers know roughly what their house is worth. Far fewer know what actually lands in their account afterward. The gap between those two numbers is larger than people expect, and almost all of it is knowable in advance.

Here is the full list of what comes out, roughly in the order it hits.

Brokerage compensation

The largest single cost in most sales. It is negotiated, not fixed, and there is no standard rate. Since August 2024 the way buyer agent compensation gets handled has changed meaningfully: it can no longer be advertised through the MLS, and whether you contribute to the buyer’s agent at all is a negotiation rather than an assumption.

What has not changed is that it is a real number and it should be settled in writing at the listing stage, not discovered later. Ask your broker to walk you through both sides of it explicitly.

Transfer taxes, and the one that catches people

Los Angeles County charges a documentary transfer tax on the sale, and the City of Los Angeles adds its own. Those are modest and routine.

Measure ULA is the one that surprises people. For transactions closing after 30 June 2026, it applies to sales in the City of Los Angeles at $5,400,000 and above at 4%, and $10,900,000 and above at 5.5%. Those thresholds adjust annually with inflation.

Two things worth knowing. First, it applies to the whole price, not just the amount above the threshold, which makes the line between $5.3M and $5.5M unusually expensive. Second, it applies inside City of Los Angeles limits, and plenty of addresses with a Los Angeles mailing address are not in the city. That distinction is worth confirming early if you are anywhere near the number.

Most Northeast LA sales are well under these thresholds. If yours is not, this belongs in your planning from day one.

Title and escrow

Escrow fees, the owner’s title policy, recording fees, notary, courier and wire fees. Individually small, collectively a few thousand dollars on a typical sale. Who pays which portion is partly custom and partly negotiable, and custom varies by county.

Payoffs and prorations

Your remaining mortgage balance, plus any home equity line, plus any liens. Property taxes get prorated to the closing date, so you pay for the days you owned it. If you have an HOA, expect transfer and document fees, and those can be surprisingly slow to obtain, which is a timing issue as much as a cost.

If you have solar on a lease or a PACE assessment, deal with it early. Both routinely complicate closings and neither resolves quickly.

Getting the house sold

Pre-listing repairs, cleaning, staging, photography. These are discretionary and they vary enormously. The useful question is not what they cost but whether each one returns more than it costs on your specific house, which depends on your price point and your competition.

Then there is the negotiated middle of the transaction: the repair credit, the appraisal gap, the closing cost contribution you agree to. Sellers plan for the fixed costs and forget these, and they are often larger.

The two that surprise people most

Capital gains. Not a closing cost, but it comes out of the same money. There is a federal exclusion for a primary residence if you meet the ownership and use requirements, and it is per-taxpayer. Long held Los Angeles property can exceed it comfortably. This is a question for a CPA, and the time to ask is before you list, not in April.

Carrying costs while you wait. Mortgage, taxes, insurance and utilities keep running through escrow. On a house with a real mortgage, an extra sixty days is a meaningful number, and it is the hidden cost of holding out for a price the market will not pay.

What to ask for

Before you list, ask your broker for a written net sheet: your likely price, every cost line, and the estimated number that reaches you. Then ask for a second one at a price ten percent lower. The difference between those two is the real cost of overpricing, and seeing it in writing changes how sellers behave.

General information about costs in Los Angeles residential sales, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rates, thresholds and customs change, and your situation is specific. Confirm current figures with your escrow officer, and talk to a CPA about the tax side.