TL;DR
- The main cost to sell a house in Florida is real estate commission, followed by closing costs that typically run about 1 to 3 percent of the sale price, as of mid-2026.
- Florida charges documentary stamp tax on the deed, roughly seventy cents per hundred dollars of the sale price in Broward County, as of mid-2026.
- Most primary-home sellers owe no capital gains tax thanks to a federal exclusion, and Florida has no state income tax, as of mid-2026.
- Commission rules changed in 2024. Buyer-agent pay is now negotiated openly, not posted on the MLS.
- My listing side is a flat 3% commission per transaction, and pro photography on every listing is included, not an add-on.
I’m Marlo, and I help people sell homes across Broward County. If you have been searching for the real cost to sell a house in Florida and getting vague answers or a scary lump sum with no breakdown, this is the honest version. Every line, where it comes from, and which ones you can actually move.
If you want the tool that estimates your home’s value while you read, that lives on my page to sell your home in Broward County. This post is the math that sits behind the number.
What does it cost to sell a house in Florida?
Your total cost to sell a house in Florida is really four buckets, as of mid-2026:
- Real estate commission. Usually the biggest line by far.
- Seller closing costs. Doc stamps, title, settlement fees, prorated taxes. Roughly 1 to 3 percent of the sale price.
- Capital gains tax. Often zero for a primary home, more on that below.
- Pre-sale prep. Repairs, cleaning, staging. Optional, and it varies wildly.
Here is a plain way to picture it. Say your home sells for five hundred thousand dollars. Closing costs in the 1 to 3 percent range would land somewhere around five to fifteen thousand, plus commission, plus any prep you choose. That is an example for the math, not a quote on your specific home. Your real number depends on your price, your contract, and how you prepare. Let’s walk each bucket.
Who pays closing costs when you sell?
Both sides pay closing costs in Florida, and they pay for different things. The split is set by your contract and by local custom, not by a fixed rule.
As the seller, you typically cover, as of mid-2026:
| Seller cost | What it is |
|---|---|
| Documentary stamp tax | State tax on the deed |
| Owner’s title policy | Customarily seller-paid in much of Broward |
| Settlement or closing fee | The title company’s charge |
| Prorated property taxes | Your share of the year up to closing |
| Any agreed repair credits | Negotiated after inspection |
The buyer usually pays for their own lender fees, their loan-related title work, and their inspections. The one big caveat is that everything here is negotiable. In a slower market a seller might agree to cover more to close the deal. In a hot one the buyer takes on more. I show you the settlement statement line by line before you commit, so nothing is a surprise at the table.
What are documentary stamp taxes in Florida?
Doc stamps are the state’s tax on transferring property. When you sell and sign the deed over, Florida charges a documentary stamp tax on that deed.
According to Florida Revenue, the rate on a deed is seventy cents per one hundred dollars of the sale price across most of the state, including Broward County, as of mid-2026. Miami-Dade runs on a slightly different structure, which matters if your sale is one county south. On a five hundred thousand dollar sale in Broward, that deed tax works out to about thirty five hundred dollars. It is a real, unavoidable cost of selling here, and it is one people forget until closing. Now you will not.
How real estate commission works after the 2024 changes
Commission is the line that changed the most recently, so let me be careful and current.
In 2024, a national settlement involving the NAR reshaped how buyer-agent pay is handled. As of mid-2026, buyer-broker compensation is no longer published on the MLS, and it is negotiated in the open between the parties. As a seller, you decide whether to offer anything toward the buyer’s agent, and that offer is a negotiation, not a posted rate.
What has not changed is transparency about my side. My listing commission is a flat 3% commission per transaction. That covers the full listing service: pricing, marketing, negotiation, and the paperwork through closing. It also includes professional photography on every listing, shot by my husband, who is a professional photographer. Good photos are the marketing that actually moves a home, and I do not treat them as an upsell.
Because buyer-side compensation is now its own conversation, I walk every seller through the current norms before we list, so your commission plan is a decision you make with real information, not a number you inherit.
Do I pay capital gains tax when I sell in Florida?
For most homeowners selling their primary residence, the answer is no, and this is the piece that relieves people the most.
The IRS allows a home-sale exclusion on the profit from selling your main home if you owned and lived in it for at least two of the last five years. As of mid-2026, that exclusion is up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars of gain for a single filer and up to five hundred thousand for a married couple filing jointly. Gain means your profit, not the sale price, so most people fall well under the cap.
Florida adds a second bit of good news. With no state income tax, there is no separate state capital gains tax on your sale, as of mid-2026. You could still owe federal tax on gain above the exclusion, or on a home that was not your primary residence, like a rental or a second property. This is where a tax professional earns their fee. I am your agent, not your CPA, and I will always tell you when a question belongs with one.
Is staging worth it before listing?
Sometimes yes, sometimes it is money you do not need to spend. Staging is not a fixed cost, it is a decision.
An empty house often photographs cold and reads smaller than it is. Light staging, meaning a few rented pieces in the main rooms, can help buyers picture living there. A lived-in home that is clean, decluttered, and neutral may need nothing but a deep clean and better light. The goal is never to spend the most, it is to spend where it changes the buyer’s first impression.
My honest rule: stage the rooms that sell the house, which are usually the living space, the primary bedroom, and the kitchen. Skip the rest. I would rather you keep that money than sink it into a guest room nobody weighs their decision on.
Pre-sale prep that pays for itself
Beyond staging, a short list of small fixes tends to return more than it costs. None of these are required, and none are market stats, just patterns I see close deals.
- Deep clean and declutter. The cheapest lever with the biggest visual payoff.
- Fix the obvious. A dripping faucet or a sticking door plants doubt about the whole house.
- Fresh, neutral paint in tired rooms. Small spend, strong first impression.
- Curb appeal. Trimmed landscaping and a clean entry set the tone before anyone walks in.
Anything bigger, like a roof or a major system, is worth a conversation before you spend. Sometimes a repair credit to the buyer is smarter than doing the work yourself. If you are selling in a specific market, my pages on how to sell your house in Davie and sell your Hollywood home get into what buyers there actually reward.
Your full cost to sell a house in Florida
Put together, the cost to sell a house in Florida, as of mid-2026, looks like this:
- Commission, your largest line, with my listing side at 3% commission per transaction and buyer-side pay now negotiated openly.
- Closing costs, roughly 1 to 3 percent of the sale price, including doc stamps at about seventy cents per hundred dollars in Broward, title, and settlement fees.
- Capital gains tax, usually zero on a primary home thanks to the federal exclusion, with no Florida state tax.
- Pre-sale prep, entirely your call, spent only where it changes the sale.
The number that actually matters is not the total cost, it is your net: what you keep after everything clears and your mortgage is paid off. That figure depends on your price, your contract, and your choices, which is exactly why a real estate agent who shows you the whole picture is worth having.
If you are selling because you are leaving the area, my relocation guide covers timing a sale against a move so the two do not collide. And when you want the real numbers on your specific home, that is a quick conversation, not a commitment.