The Real Cost of Selling a Home in Austin

Selling has more moving pieces than buying, cost-wise, and most of the generic "cost to sell your home" content online just quotes a commission percentage and stops. That's not enough to actually plan around. So let's run the real math on a $450,000 home — the current Austin-area median — covering commission, title insurance, staging and repairs, moving, and the capital gains question that matters a lot more than people expect if you bought anytime before Austin's 2019-to-2022 price run-up.

Commission: the part that changed, and most sellers haven't caught up

Nationally, total real estate commission is averaging around 5.7% right now, roughly split between a 2.88% listing side and a 2.82% buyer's side. On a $450,000 sale, that's about $25,650 total. What actually changed since the NAR settlement isn't the rough size of that number — it's that these are now two separately negotiated figures instead of one number your listing agent quotes you. Your listing agreement has to spell out exactly what your agent is being paid, in plain language, and state that commissions are negotiable and not fixed by law. Whether and how much you offer toward the buyer's agent's compensation is now a deliberate decision, not something bundled in automatically — most sellers still offer something, because it keeps their listing attractive to the widest buyer pool, but it's worth having that conversation explicitly with your agent rather than assuming the number.

The closing costs beyond commission

Here's the detail that surprises a lot of first-time sellers: in Texas, it's customary for the seller — not the buyer — to pay for the buyer's owner's title insurance policy. It's a local custom, not a law, but expect real friction if you try to shift it. On a $450,000 sale, that policy runs about $2,565, using the current statewide rate of roughly 0.57% of the sale price. Beyond that, budget for a title/escrow closing fee around $350, a tax certificate around $75, and if you're in one of Austin's many HOA-governed communities, a resale certificate fee that typically runs $250 to $400. A lot of sellers also offer a one-year home warranty as a buyer incentive, which usually runs $500 to $600. Add it up and non-commission closing costs typically land around $3,700 to $4,000 on a home this price — close to 1% of the sale price, on top of commission.

Getting the home ready: staging and pre-listing repairs

Professional staging on a home this size typically runs $2,000 to $3,000, and unlike a lot of pre-sale spending, the data on this one actually holds up: staged homes sell in an average of 23 days versus 47 for unstaged listings, and about three out of four sellers see a 5% to 15% return over what they spent. Treat this as an investment with a real payback, not a sunk cost.

Pre-listing repairs are the widest-ranging number on this whole list, because it depends entirely on your home's condition. National data puts typical pre-listing repair spending at 1% to 3% of the sale price — $4,500 to $13,500 on a $450,000 home — covering things like paint touch-ups, minor plumbing and electrical fixes, and general presentation work. That's separate from major systems: a roof replacement runs $8,000 to $15,000, foundation work can run $5,000 to $30,000, and those are decisions to make with your agent based on whether the issue is likely to surface in the buyer's inspection anyway and cost you more in a repair credit later.

The line item everyone forgets: moving

It's not a closing cost, but it's real money leaving your pocket around the same time as everything else. A local move typically runs $800 to $2,500, averaging around $1,250. If you're leaving the Austin area entirely, budget $2,500 to $7,500 or more depending on distance and how much you're moving. Easy to forget when you're focused on the closing statement, and it shows up right when your cash is already stretched thin from everything else on this list.

Running the full number

On a $450,000 Austin home: commission around $25,650, title insurance and other closing costs around $3,700, staging around $2,500, mid-range pre-listing repairs around $5,000, and a local move around $1,250. That's roughly $38,000 total, or about 8.5% of the sale price — which lines up closely with the commonly cited figure that total selling costs run 9% to 10% of a home's value once repairs are factored in. Before you count on any of that as take-home cash, remember this is before your mortgage payoff, which is a separate number your title company will confirm with your lender directly. Get an actual net sheet from your agent before you list — it'll use your real numbers instead of averages, and it's the only version of this math that should drive your decisions.

The capital gains question, and why most sellers owe less than they think

If you bought anywhere in Austin before the 2019-to-2022 run-up, this is worth walking through carefully, because the market moved harder here than almost anywhere else in the country. The median home price was around $295,000 in January 2019. By April 2022, at the peak, it hit $555,000. If you've owned since before that run-up, you're very likely sitting on real, legitimate appreciation — and it's worth knowing how the tax math actually works before you assume you owe something.

If the home has been your primary residence for at least two of the last five years, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain from capital gains tax if you're single, or $500,000 if you're married filing jointly. Those thresholds haven't moved since 1997 and aren't indexed for inflation, but here's the part that surprises people: your taxable gain isn't simply today's sale price minus what you paid. It's your net sale proceeds — sale price minus selling costs like commission, title insurance, and other closing costs — minus your adjusted cost basis, which is your purchase price plus any capital improvements you've made, like a renovated kitchen, a new roof, or a room addition. Every dollar you spend selling the home, and every dollar you've put into improving it over the years, directly reduces the gain you're taxed on.

Here's what that looks like with real numbers: say you bought a home in Austin in January 2019 for $295,000, and you're selling it today for $450,000. Your raw gain looks like $155,000. But your net sale proceeds, after the roughly $38,000 in selling costs from this post, come out closer to $412,000. Subtract your $295,000 basis and your taxable gain is around $117,000 — comfortably under the $250,000 single exclusion, meaning you'd likely owe nothing at all, and married filing jointly has twice that room. This is genuinely the outcome for a lot of Austin sellers who bought before the boom: the appreciation was real, but between the exclusion and deductible selling costs, plenty of people who feel like they should owe a large tax bill don't owe one.

Where this changes is if you've owned much longer, made few capital improvements to add to your basis, are selling an investment property rather than a primary residence, or are single with a very large gain that pushes past $250,000. Any gain above your exclusion is taxed as a long-term capital gain, generally at 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your income. This is a conversation to have with a CPA or tax advisor before you list — not a guess to make after you've already signed a contract — and it's worth having early enough that it can actually inform your pricing and timing decisions, not just show up as a surprise at tax season.

What it all comes down to

On a $450,000 Austin home, plan on roughly $38,000 in commission, closing costs, staging, and prep before you ever get to your mortgage payoff — and separately, run your actual capital gains numbers with a tax advisor rather than assuming the worst. Neither of these is brochure math. They're the real numbers behind the biggest financial transaction most people make.