A seller resource
What a Net Sheet Is, and Why You See One Before You List
A net sheet answers the only question that matters when you sell: what lands in your account? It starts with the price and subtracts every cost of selling, line by line, so you can see your number before you sign anything.
What’s on it
| Likely sales price | start here |
| Your loan payoff, if there is one | minus |
| Brokerage fee, as set in your listing agreement | minus |
| Title, settlement and recording fees | minus |
| Owner’s title insurance, normally the seller’s cost here | minus |
| Alabama deed tax or Georgia transfer tax, normally the seller’s cost | minus |
| Property taxes owed up to the day of closing | minus |
| Anything you agree to pay for the buyer | minus |
| Repairs, cleaning or a home warranty, only if you choose them | minus |
| What you walk away with | your number |
See What It Costs to Sell a House Here for what each line usually runs in Alabama and Georgia.
When you’ll see one
- Before you list. So you can decide whether to sell, and whether any repair is worth it. See Fix It or Sell It As-Is?
- With every offer. Each offer gets its own column, so you compare what you’d keep, not just the price on the front page.
- Before closing. When the closing attorney sends the settlement statement, I check it against the net sheet line by line.
Why the highest price isn’t always the best offer
In Alaska, I once put more than a dozen offers on one house side by side on a single net sheet. Two of them were for the same price. One asked the seller to pay $10,000 of the buyer’s closing costs. On paper they looked alike. On the net sheet, one put about $9,000 more in the seller’s account than the other.
One of the top offers came from a buyer whose loan depended on the appraisal, with little cash left to cover a gap if the house appraised low. Other offers near the top agreed to cover any appraisal gap, which made them safer numbers. A net sheet makes those trade-offs visible before you choose.
What a net sheet is not
It’s an estimate, not a guarantee. The final numbers come from the closing attorney at closing. A good net sheet gets you close enough to make decisions with confidence, and I update it every time something changes.
See your own number
I’ll come see the house, then give you a free net sheet, line by line. If you’re weighing repairs, I’ll run that column too. There’s no obligation to list.
Call or text 256.207.8127Request it onlineMelissa Harmel, Realtor®, CRS, ABR · eXp Realty, LLC · AL # 000164573-0 · GA # 451015 · Equal Housing Opportunity. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Your closing attorney prepares the final numbers.