The Real Cost of Selling a House in Alberta

Our standard selling commission is: 7% on the first $100,000 of the sale price, plus 3% on the remaining balance, plus GST. There is no hidden range behind that statement.

For example, under our standard structure:

Sale price	Commission before GST	Total with 5% GST
$300,000	$13,000	$13,650
$500,000	$19,000	$19,950
$750,000	$26,500	$27,825
$1,000,000	$34,000	$35,700

These examples show our own standard commission structure. They are not an Alberta-wide rate. Real estate commissions in Alberta are negotiable, and the actual remuneration arrangement is set out in the service agreement between the seller and brokerage.

Commission is not a fee for putting a property on MLS. It covers the work of positioning, marketing, negotiating, and managing the sale from the initial strategy through possession.

Before launch, that means evaluating the property, reviewing comparable sales and current competition, developing the pricing strategy, advising on preparation, coordinating the listing details, arranging the marketing, and reviewing everything before it reaches buyers.

Once the property is live, the work changes. We manage showings and communication, interpret buyer and agent feedback, watch the competition, advise on strategy, negotiate offers, and help the seller make decisions as the market responds.

After an offer is accepted, our team continues managing condition deadlines, deposits, amendments, documents, lawyer information, possession details, and the administrative pieces required to bring the transaction through closing.

There is a lot of work on a listing that a seller should never have to see. That is rather the point.

Not necessarily. The total commission payable under the listing agreement should not be confused with what an individual agent personally earns from the transaction. Depending on the remuneration arrangement for the transaction, commission may be shared between brokerages. There are also brokerage arrangements and the costs of actually providing the listing service behind the gross commission amount.

What matters to the seller is simpler: the listing agreement should clearly tell you how your commission is calculated and what you are agreeing to pay. We walk through that before anything is signed.

Yes. Real estate commissions in Alberta are negotiable.

Our published structure is our standard fee, but there can be circumstances where we agree to something different. A seller who is also purchasing with us, a repeat client, multiple properties, or an unusual listing assignment may create a different conversation.

What we do not like doing is separating the fee conversation from the service conversation. If the fee changes, the seller should understand whether anything else changes with it. And if nothing changes, that should be clear too.

The useful comparison between agents is not simply: who charges less? It is: what will each brokerage do, what will it cost, and which approach gives me the best chance of producing the strongest net result?

A higher fee does not prove an agent is better. A lower fee does not prove the seller is saving money. The percentage only means something once you understand the work attached to it.

Commission is normally the largest visible transaction expense, but it is not the only number to prepare for.

Legal fees. Your real estate lawyer handles the legal side of the closing. Depending on the sale, that can include preparing and reviewing closing documents, dealing with your existing mortgage and registered interests on title, receiving and accounting for sale proceeds, and completing the seller's side of the transfer. Legal fees vary by firm and by the complexity of the transaction, so we recommend getting a quote directly from your lawyer rather than relying on a generic estimate.

Mortgage prepayment charge. If you have a closed mortgage and pay it out before the end of its term, your lender may charge a prepayment penalty. The amount depends on your mortgage contract. Some mortgages use calculations involving several months of interest, while some fixed-rate mortgages may use an interest rate differential. Do not guess this number. Ask your lender for a current estimate of the cost to pay out your mortgage. If you are purchasing another property, also ask whether your mortgage can be ported. Your mortgage balance itself is different from the penalty. The balance would eventually have to be repaid regardless; the prepayment charge is the additional cost that may arise because you are ending the mortgage early.

Real Property Report and compliance. For many freehold properties, the existing Real Property Report and related municipal compliance documentation need to be reviewed as part of preparing for the sale. If the property has changed since the RPR was prepared, or the existing documentation is no longer sufficient for the transaction, additional work may be required. That could mean obtaining an updated RPR, dealing with compliance, or addressing an improvement that does not match the existing documentation. We review what you have early so this does not become a problem days before possession.

Condominium documents. If you are selling a condominium, documents may need to be ordered from the condominium corporation or manager for the transaction. Those documents can carry separate fees. What is required and what it costs depends on the condominium corporation and the documents already available to the seller.

Repairs and preparation. This one is optional in the sense that there is no universal amount every seller has to spend. But it is still worth budgeting for. Depending on the property, we may recommend cleaning, paint touch-ups, repairs, landscaping, decluttering, staging assistance, or another small improvement before launch. We do not recommend spending money simply because a property is going on the market. We recommend it when we believe the improvement has a reasonable chance of improving presentation, buyer confidence, negotiating position, or the final result.

Moving. Then there is the deeply glamorous final expense of putting everything you own into boxes. Whether that means professional movers, a rental truck, storage, junk removal, or doing it yourself, moving is separate from the real estate transaction but still part of the seller's actual budget.

GST applies to real estate brokerage services. In Alberta, the current GST rate is 5%, so it is added to the commission rather than included inside the commission percentages stated above.

Using a $500,000 sale under our standard structure as an example: commission before GST is $19,000, GST is $950, and the total is $19,950.

That distinction matters when estimating your final proceeds.

This is where sellers sometimes mix together two different calculations. Suppose you sell a home for $600,000 and still owe $350,000 on the mortgage. The $350,000 mortgage payout obviously reduces the amount of cash you receive from the sale. But you did not spend $350,000 to sell the property. You are paying back money you previously borrowed.

A useful way to think about your proceeds is: sale price, minus mortgage payout, minus commission and GST, minus legal costs, minus any mortgage prepayment or discharge costs, minus other property-specific closing expenses, equals your approximate net proceeds.

There can be closing adjustments and sale-specific items beyond that, so your lawyer provides the final accounting. But this gives you a much more useful number to work from before you decide what to do next.

There are four numbers we would want a seller to understand as early as possible.

First, what the property is realistically worth. Second, what commission structure they are agreeing to. Third, what their lender says it will cost to pay out or move the mortgage. And fourth, whether there are any unusual legal, property-document, condominium, or preparation costs we should identify before going to market.

Once those numbers are reasonably clear, estimating what you may walk away with becomes much easier.

You cannot calculate the cost of selling particularly well until you have a realistic idea of what the property will sell for. Once we have that, we can estimate the commission precisely, identify the other likely costs, account for your mortgage, and give you a much clearer picture of what the sale may actually leave you with. Start with an honest evaluation of your property.