What It Actually Costs to Sell a House in Riverside County

How much does it cost to sell a house in Riverside County?

Nobody can answer that in a percentage, and you should be skeptical of anyone who tries. Exactly one line on a Riverside County seller's closing statement is set by law. Everything else is custom, negotiation, or a number that depends on your specific loan and your specific house.

So instead of a made-up average, here is the actual list, in the order it hits your proceeds.

The one number that is fixed

Documentary transfer tax. Riverside County charges "fifty-five cents ($0.55) for each five hundred dollars ($500) or fractional part thereof" of value transferred, under County Ordinance 516. That works out to $1.10 per $1,000.

On a $650,000 sale, that is $1,430. On a $425,000 sale, $935. The math is the math.

One wrinkle: a city inside the county can impose its own documentary transfer tax at half the county rate, and the county grants a credit for it. The total does not double, but the split changes. Your escrow officer will apply the right one.

The lines that are custom, not law

These get described as "who pays what" as though it were settled. It is not. In Riverside County there is a customary allocation, and the purchase contract overrides it every single time. If you are in a market where you have leverage, these are negotiable.

• Brokerage compensation. The largest line, and the most negotiable. There is no standard rate, and any agent who tells you otherwise is describing their own pricing, not a rule.
• Escrow fee. Customarily split between buyer and seller here. The fee scales with price, not with effort.
• Owner's title policy. Custom in this county is for the seller to buy the buyer's owner's policy. Custom, not law.
• County and city transfer tax. Customarily the seller's, per above.
• Natural hazard disclosure report. Seller's, and required — Riverside County has fire, flood and fault zones in enough places that this is rarely a formality.
• HOA documents and transfer fees. Charged by the association or its management company. Ask early, because they vary wildly and some associations are slow.
• Home warranty, if the buyer asked for one and you agreed.

The lines nobody budgets for

This is where sellers get surprised, and it is almost always the same three things.

Repair credits after the inspection. The buyer gets an inspection. The inspection finds things. On a house that has not sold in fifteen years, it finds a lot of things. Whether you fix them, credit them, or refuse is a negotiation, but pretending the number will be zero is how a seller ends up short at close.

Your loan payoff is bigger than your balance. A payoff demand includes per diem interest through the funding date, a demand statement fee, a reconveyance fee, and recording. If the close slips a week, the payoff grows. Sellers who budget from their last mortgage statement are always a little light.

Prorated property taxes. Depending on where you land in the fiscal year, you may be crediting the buyer for taxes you have not paid yet, or getting credited for taxes you already did.

Why you should get a net sheet before you list, not after

A seller's net sheet runs all of the above against your actual payoff, your actual HOA, your actual title and escrow quotes, and gives you a number. It takes an escrow officer about twenty minutes.

The reason to get it before you list is that it sometimes changes the decision. A seller who nets less than they assumed may decide to wait, refinance, rent the house out, or price differently. A seller who finds out at close has no options left.

What about the buyer's side?

Federal law gives the buyer a Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing, per the CFPB. Sellers get a settlement statement from escrow, but there is no equivalent three-day federal waiting period on your side, which is exactly why you want the estimate up front rather than the final figure the day of.

Ask your agent for a net sheet before you sign the listing. If they hesitate, that tells you something.