Journal · selling
Where does the money go at closing?
- Loan payoff. Ask your lender for a payoff quote; it includes interest through the payoff date and differs from your statement balance.
- Commissions as set in your listing agreement.
- Title and escrow. Title insurance for the buyer, escrow fees, recording and notary charges.
- Prorations. Property taxes, and HOA dues if your home has them.
- Buyer credits you agree to after inspections.
- Documentary transfer tax, below.
Under Business and Professions Code section 10147.5, the amount or rate of real estate commissions is not fixed by law. They are set by each broker individually and may be negotiable between the seller and broker. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Why is there no city transfer tax layer?
Los Angeles County taxes each recorded deed at $0.55 per $500 of value conveyed. The LA County Registrar-Recorder's page names the handful of cities that charge a separate municipal rate as well, and Sierra Madre isn't among them, so a deed here pays the county amount and nothing more. Ask your escrow officer or a real estate attorney who pays the transfer tax under your purchase contract. Rules and fees as of November 1, 2026; they change, so check the official source.
Costs that are easy to miss. If your parcel is in a mapped fire zone, the buyer may be owed defensible-space paperwork, and clearing vegetation before an inspection may be part of your preparation budget; details and timing are in Should I sell my Sierra Madre house before I buy another one? If the house has a Mills Act contract, it stays with the property for the next owner, and buyers will want a copy. Retaining walls, drainage, sewer lines and older systems often come up in buyer inspections, and credits come out of your proceeds. Ask a tax adviser about tax on your gain, since it isn't part of escrow's math.
Why does the answer depend on your home?
A canyon cottage and a flat-lot ranch house in the same town can sell very differently. Your price depends on:
- sales of comparable homes nearby in recent months
- condition and updates
- lot, slope, access and parking
- your payoff and anything else owed on the house
Ask for a home value review and I'll study your address against comparable recent sales, then send my opinion of value. With your loan payoff in hand, we can walk the net down one item at a time. It's me, Sidney Manzo, looking at your house (in real estate since 1990), not software producing a number, and there's no obligation to list.
Questions homeowners ask next
- Does Sierra Madre charge a city transfer tax?
- No city rate is listed. The LA County Registrar-Recorder taxes each recorded deed at $0.55 per $500 of value conveyed, or $1.10 per $1,000, and names only Culver City, Los Angeles, Pomona, Redondo Beach and Santa Monica as cities with a separate municipal rate. Sierra Madre isn't among them, so a deed here pays the county amount and nothing more. Ask your escrow officer or a real estate attorney who pays the transfer tax under your purchase contract.
- What comes out of my proceeds at closing?
- Escrow deducts your loan payoff, the commissions in your listing agreement, title insurance, escrow fees, recording and notary charges, property tax prorations, HOA dues if any, credits you agree to after inspections and the county transfer tax. Ask your lender for a payoff quote, since it includes interest through the payoff date and differs from your statement balance. What remains is your net.
- Can fire-zone preparation affect my net?
- It can. If your parcel is in a mapped fire zone, the buyer may be owed defensible-space paperwork at sale, and clearing brush or doing tree work before an inspection may be part of your preparation budget. Whether this applies is a parcel question, so look up your address on the City of Sierra Madre's fire zone page first, and see the buy-first note on this site for the timing details.
- What inspection items come up with Sierra Madre homes?
- Retaining walls, drainage, sewer lines and older systems often come up in buyer inspections, especially on hillside lots and in older houses. Any repair credits you agree to come straight out of your proceeds. If the house has a Mills Act contract, it stays with the property for the next owner, so have a copy ready, because buyers will want to read it during escrow.
- How do I find my starting price?
- Ask for a home value review. I study your address against comparable recent sales nearby and send my opinion of value. With your loan payoff in hand, we can walk the net down one item at a time, from commissions to the county transfer tax. It's a personal review by Sidney Manzo, not software producing a number, and there's no obligation to list.