Home Valuation

Seller tools · Massachusetts

What would you actually
walk away with?

Every Massachusetts closing has the same line items — the mortgage payoff, the commission, the state's deed excise "tax stamps," the attorney, and a couple of certificates most sellers have never heard of. Put in your numbers and see the honest math. Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere unless you ask us to.

Your sale

$
$
$
%
%

No set commissions. Real estate commissions in Massachusetts are not fixed by law, by any MLS, or by any association — and Sherwood & Company does not charge a "standard" rate. Every commission, including whether to offer buyer-agent compensation at all, is individually negotiated in your listing agreement. The percentages above are editable placeholders for estimation only.

Our practice on cooperating compensation. As a team, we recommend — and, with each seller's informed written consent, extend — an offer of cooperating compensation to buyers' agents on our listings, because in our experience it widens the pool of represented buyers competing for your home. It is a recommendation, not a requirement: the amount is negotiated case by case, and whether to offer anything at all is always your decision.

Massachusetts closing costs

$0
$
$
$
$
$

Where these numbers come from

The deed excise tax is Massachusetts' transfer tax — $4.56 per $1,000 of the sale price under M.G.L. c. 64D, paid by the seller by long-standing custom (Barnstable County on Cape Cod pays $6.48, but every North Shore county pays the statewide rate). On a $750,000 sale that's $3,420 — the line item that surprises sellers most often.

The Municipal Lien Certificate proves to the buyer's lender that your property taxes and municipal charges are paid current; your closing attorney orders it from town hall. The smoke and carbon-monoxide certificate is a fire-department inspection required before any Massachusetts sale closes — schedule it early, because failed detector placement is the classic day-before-closing scramble. And if the home is on septic rather than sewer, Massachusetts requires a passing Title 5 inspection, which is on the seller.

On commissions, plainly: there is no such thing as a set or standard real estate commission — not by law, not by MLS rule, not by industry custom that binds anyone. What you pay your listing agent, and whether you offer compensation to a buyer's agent at all, are separate decisions you negotiate in writing before the sign goes in the yard. The defaults in this tool reflect ranges we commonly agree with our own clients; change them to whatever your agreement says. For the full picture of what happens between accepted offer and the check in your hand, start with Closing Explained and the Purchase & Sale agreement. Buying as well as selling? Our buyer closing cost calculator runs the same math from the other side of the table.

Get in touch

Rather just talk it through?

Tell us about the property and your timeline — we'll bring the net sheet, a real price opinion, and straight answers.