Updated September 2026.
If you’re sitting with a rough idea of what your home might sell for and trying to work out what you’d have left, this is the page for that. On a $700,000 Calgary home, plan on about $27,000 to $28,000 in real estate commission and legal fees, plus an updated Real Property Report if you need one, then your mortgage payout. Everything else is smaller and depends on your situation.
Between us, Art and I have sold on these streets for 28 years, and the first thing we do with a seller is build a net sheet. This post is that net sheet, in the open, so you can run your own number before you talk to anyone.
Buying at the same time as you sell? The buying side has its own list, and our guide to closing costs in Alberta covers it line by line.
What it costs to sell at three Calgary prices
These three columns use our own fee, which is 8% on the first $100,000 of the sale price and 3% on the rest. The common structure in Calgary is 7 and 3, so on any of these homes a 7 and 3 listing would come to $1,000 less.
| Cost | $500,000 home | $700,000 home | $900,000 home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission, both sides (8 and 3) | $20,000 | $26,000 | $32,000 |
| Lawyer, fee and disbursements | $1,200 to $2,000 | $1,200 to $2,000 | $1,200 to $2,000 |
| RPR update, only if needed | About $850 inside city limits: roughly $650 for the survey and $200 for the City compliance stamp. Allow about two weeks | ||
| Mortgage payout penalty | From your lender’s payout statement. Nothing if your mortgage is open or you port it, and it can be a lot if you break a fixed term early | ||
| Commission and lawyer, before your mortgage payout | $21,200 to $22,000 | $27,200 to $28,000 | $33,200 to $34,000 |
Two things stand out once it’s laid out. Commission is most of it, so the fee conversation is worth having early and in writing. And because the higher rate only applies to the first $100,000, the total grows more slowly than the price does.
What you walk away with
Take the sale price, subtract the total above, then subtract your mortgage balance and any penalty. That’s your net, and it’s the number that funds your next move.
On a $700,000 home with $350,000 left on the mortgage, a current RPR and no penalty, that’s about $322,000 to $323,000 in hand before any preparation or moving costs. Change the sale price by $25,000 and the net moves by almost the same amount, which is why pricing matters more than any other line on this page.
If you’d rather have this done for your home with real comparables, our free home evaluation ends with a net sheet you keep, whether or not you list.
The commission, and what it pays for
Commission is the biggest line, and about half of it goes to the buyer’s agent who brings the buyer. The other half pays us to represent you from listing to sold, and with us it covers everything: a staging consultation, professional photos, a 3D walkthrough, laser-measured floor plans, drone photos when the property calls for it, the MLS listing with paid distribution to hundreds of sites including realtor.ca, signage, the lockbox, and every showing booked and followed up for feedback. There are no separate bills.
Every commission in Alberta is negotiable. If you’re comparing agents, ask each one for the number in writing and for the list of what it includes. We’ve written out our own thinking on what a Calgary realtor’s commission pays for, including the sales where the fee paid for itself in one negotiation.
Legal fees and your lawyer
You need a real estate lawyer to close. They review the contract, handle the title transfer, pay out your existing mortgage, and send you the balance. Budget $1,200 to $2,000, and get the quote in writing up front. We work alongside trusted lawyers like Erin Leslie, and we introduce you with the complete sale document package so you can sign one to two weeks before possession.
What if I break my mortgage early?
The mortgage payout is the one to check first. If you’re breaking a fixed-rate mortgage early there may be a penalty, and it varies so much between lenders and terms that the only useful number is the one on your own payout statement. Ask for it before you list. Sometimes there are ways around it, like porting the mortgage to your next home.
The costs that catch sellers off guard
The Real Property Report is the one to check next. If yours is missing or out of date, an updated RPR runs about $650 for the survey plus $200 for the City’s compliance stamp, and takes about two weeks on a standard inner-city lot. We check for it in the first week so it never turns into a closing delay. Our RPR guide covers when you need a new one and when your old one is fine.
Then there’s getting the home ready. Every owner-occupied home we list includes a professional staging consultation, and beyond that we’ll tell you what’s worth doing and what isn’t. A deep clean and small repairs almost always are. A renovation before selling usually isn’t, and we explain why in our post on renovating before you sell. Moving costs sit on the other end, and they’re worth a line in your plan even though they never touch the sale.
When getting the home ready pays
The staging consultation is included because it’s the preparation step that earns its keep most often. A stager walks the home with you and shows you how to present it, mostly with what you already own. Kari sold with us in 2022, and this is how she put it:
“Josh and his team were awesome in helping us sell our home in less than 24 hrs at a price I was not expecting. The home staging Advisor was an excellent touch in getting our house looking it’s best before the sale.” Kari C., Google review, September 2022
That isn’t every home, and it isn’t every market. Some need nothing but a clean and good photos. The point is that the preparation line in your budget is a decision, not a fixed cost, and we’ll give you our read on it at the evaluation.
The Calgary backdrop
Your costs are similar across the city. Your sale price isn’t, and it depends a lot on your home type. The city-wide benchmark is $566,700, with 3.93 months of supply, which is balanced and tilting toward buyers (CREB, as of September 2026). Detached homes sit a little over three months of supply, while apartments carry over five months and favour buyers. We update these numbers every month on our Calgary market update page, and our post on how long it takes to sell a house in Calgary has the days-on-market by property type.
How we help
Before you list, you get a net sheet built on the price range we recommend, with every line above filled in for your home. The commission is in writing before you sign anything. If the number doesn’t work for you right now, you keep the sheet and we stay in touch. Plenty of the people we list first met us a year or two before they were ready.
If you’d like to know what selling would leave you with, start with a free home evaluation, or send us a note and we’ll run the numbers with you.
Frequently asked questions about the cost to sell a home in Calgary
On a $700,000 home, about $27,000 to $28,000 in real estate commission and legal fees. Commission is most of it, legal fees run $1,200 to $2,000, and an updated Real Property Report is about $850 if you need one. A mortgage payout penalty can add to it.
The seller pays the commission out of the sale proceeds at closing, and it is shared between the listing side and the buyer side. If you are selling and buying at the same time, there is no commission on the purchase: the seller of that home pays it. The rate and structure are negotiable.
Sale price minus commission, legal fees, your mortgage balance and any penalty. On a $700,000 sale with $350,000 owing and no penalty, that is about $322,000 before preparation and moving costs. Our free home evaluation ends with a net sheet built for your home.
If the home is your principal residence, the principal residence exemption generally means no capital gains tax on the sale. Investment and second properties are treated differently, so confirm your situation.
You pay your own lawyer and the buyer pays theirs. Your lawyer’s fee comes out of the sale proceeds at closing, so it isn’t money you need up front. Budget $1,200 to $2,000.
Both, but different ones. The buyer pays their own lawyer, the land titles registration and the inspection. The seller pays the real estate commission, their own lawyer and the mortgage payout, all out of the sale proceeds.