The price is what they pay. This is what you keep.
Commission, concessions, Iowa's revenue stamps, the repairs the inspection will find anyway, every month it sits — subtracted one line at a time from the number on the sign.
Your numbers stay on this page until you choose to send them.
Live via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · refreshed every six hours
- Sale price
- $325,000
- Commission5% — negotiable, both sides
- −$16,250
- Buyer concessions1% — closing help the buyer asks for
- −$3,250
- Title, abstract, attorney, recordingabout 1%
- −$3,250
- Iowa revenue stamps$1.60 per $1,000, seller pays
- −$519
- Repairs before listing
- −$4,500
- Staging and photography
- −$900
- Carrying cost while listed2 months at $1,950
- −$3,900
- Mortgage payoff
- −$190,000
$102,431 walks out the door with you. Selling costs $32,569, 10.0% of the price — high, mostly from repairs and carry. Every month on the market is $1,950; pricing right the first week is worth more than any staging.
If the metro's last year repeated — prices up 2.3% — waiting twelve months and paying twelve more months of carry would net roughly $15,925 less. That's a trend, not a forecast.
Three things worth fixing. Three things that only feel like they are.
- Roof, furnace, water in the basement
The inspection finds these; the buyer prices them at double. Fix or disclose with a quote in hand.
- Paint, light, the front door
The cheapest thousand dollars in the process. Neutral walls photograph; a dark hallway doesn't.
- The price, in week one
Metro homes priced right sell in weeks. Priced high, they sit, and every month costs you the carry line above.
- A kitchen remodel
You'll spend $40,000 to move the price $25,000. The buyer wanted a different kitchen anyway.
- Finishing the basement
Same arithmetic. Clean, dry and bright beats half-finished.
- Waiting for the market
Last year's trend is a trend. Twelve months of carry is a certainty.
A ledger is only as honest as its footnotes.
- Price
- Yours to set. With an address, the county's assessed value and last sale anchor it.
- Commission
- Set at the metro's common ask; it has been negotiable since 2024 and the slider says so.
- Revenue stamps
- Iowa's real estate transfer tax, $1.60 per $1,000 above the first $500, paid by the seller. Computed exactly.
- Concessions
- Closing help buyers in the metro have been asking for this year, as a share of price.
- Trend
- FHFA's house-price index for Des Moines–West Des Moines, year over year, quarterly — shown as a trend, never a forecast.
- Parcel
- Assessed value, year built, lot size and last recorded sale from the Polk County Assessor.
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- Data center worker influx strains Cedar Rapids housing marketkcrg.com · 16d ago
- Iowa home sales drop 16% from June to JulyRadio Iowa · 17d ago
One agent. Your ledger first.
One who works your part of the metro and sees your numbers before the first conversation — so it starts with the price, not the pitch.