What does it cost to sell a house in California?

Last updated August 19, 2026

By Kurt Mellinger, Principal Agent, Ascension Estates at Equity Union Real Estate. DRE #02238998.

On a $1,500,000 house in Calabasas, the fixed closing costs come to about $5,700. Move that same house to Woodland Hills and the number jumps to about $12,400, because Woodland Hills sits inside the City of Los Angeles and Calabasas does not. The rest of the stack is negotiable, optional, or decided by which side of a city line your parcel sits on.

Here is the whole stack, line by line, with a source for every rate. Fixed lines first. Then the ones you control.

The $1,500,000 example, worked

Start with a house in Calabasas. Los Angeles County, no city transfer tax, one loan to pay off, no HOA.

Transfer tax is exact. The title and escrow figures come from one insurer's rate schedule on file with the California Department of Insurance, effective January 9, 2026. The disclosure figure is one vendor's published price. Sources are named in each section below.

Now change one thing. Put the same house in Woodland Hills or West Hills. Both are City of Los Angeles neighborhoods. Add $6,750 of city transfer tax and nothing else moves. Your fixed costs go from about $5,700 to about $12,400.

Change it again. Put the house in Thousand Oaks. The transfer tax is still $1,650, just shared between the city and Ventura County instead of going only to the county. But Ventura custom puts the whole escrow fee on the seller rather than splitting it, so add back the other half. Call it $6,650.

Transfer tax: the line that depends entirely on your city

Both counties charge the same thing. Fifty five cents for every $500 of the price, or $1.10 per $1,000. That is $1,650 on a $1,500,000 house in either county. It is set by state law, it is not negotiable, and in Los Angeles and Ventura the seller customarily pays it.

Then some cities add their own on top. In Los Angeles County, exactly five do: Los Angeles, Culver City, Santa Monica, Pomona and Redondo Beach. That is the complete list, straight from the county recorder. Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Hidden Hills are not on it.

Thousand Oaks does levy its own, at 27.5 cents per $500, set out in Chapter 12 of Title 3 of its municipal code. That is exactly half the county rate, which is the level at which state law allows a credit against the county tax. On that mechanism the two do not stack and your total stays at 55 cents per $500. One caveat worth a phone call: the city's own chapter contains no credit provision, because the credit operates on the county side. Ventura County publishes no bulletin confirming the split the way Los Angeles County does for its five special cities. Ask your escrow officer to confirm the total before you rely on it.

Inside the City of Los Angeles

The city charges a base transfer tax of $2.25 per $500, which is 0.45% of the price. On $1,500,000 that is $6,750.

The county does not cut its share to make room. Los Angeles County states plainly that in those five cities it still collects the full $1.10 per $1,000. Inside the city you pay both. Combined, $2.80 per $500, or 0.56% of the price.

Measure ULA, the one everybody calls the mansion tax

Measure ULA is an extra tax stacked on top of that city base tax. It applies only to property inside the City of Los Angeles. The City's Office of Finance publishes the current rates:

• Up to $5,400,000: no ULA tax. You pay the 0.45% base rate only.
• Above $5,400,000 and under $10,900,000: 4%, on top of the base rate.
• $10,900,000 or more: 5.5%, on top of the base rate.

Those thresholds move. The City adjusts them every year using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Chained Consumer Price Index, and the figures above took effect for sales closing after June 30, 2026. Check the current numbers before you price anything near the line. The base tax is figured on value after any loan the buyer takes over, while ULA is figured on the gross value including it.

A $1,500,000 house pays no ULA tax anywhere in the city. The tax starts at $5,400,000.

Selling in Woodland Hills or West Hills? Your transfer tax on a $1,500,000 sale is $6,750 higher than the identical house in Calabasas, and it comes out of your proceeds at closing. Get your report. We will send your value, all three ways to sell, and what you keep after every fee on this page. No cost.

Sources: City of Los Angeles Office of Finance, Real Property Transfer Tax and Measure ULA FAQ. LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Documentary Transfer Tax. California Revenue and Taxation Code section 11911.

Title and escrow: the two lines you are allowed to shop

In Southern California the seller customarily buys the owner's title policy. The California Department of Insurance says so on its own consumer page. That same page says every title company files its own rate schedule with the state, that the rates differ between companies, and that you can save money by comparing them. Almost nobody does.

To put a real number on it, we pulled one insurer's filed California rate manual, effective January 9, 2026. At $1,500,000 of coverage, its standard owner's policy is $3,023. Its escrow fee for a sale involving a loan at that price is $1,900 for the whole transaction. In Los Angeles County that escrow fee is customarily split, so the seller's half is $950. In Ventura County the seller customarily pays all of it.

Those are one company's filed rates, not a quote and not an average. Another company's schedule will read differently. Ask your escrow officer for the actual figures in writing before you sign anything.

Sources: California Department of Insurance, Title Insurance consumer guide. Title Resources Guaranty Company, California Rates and Rules Manual filed under Insurance Code section 12401, effective 1/09/2026.

Disclosures, retrofit and HOA documents

California makes you tell a buyer whether your parcel sits in any of six state hazard zones. Two flood, two fire, two earthquake. You do not research those yourself. You order a natural hazard disclosure report from a third party vendor and hand it to the buyer. Vendors publish their prices and they are small. One lists $74.95 for its standard residential report.

Retrofit is a deadline, not a sale

California gave owners of single family homes built before 1994 until January 1, 2017 to replace noncompliant plumbing fixtures with water conserving ones. That was a fixed deadline. Selling does not create the obligation and does not reset it. It means you disclose it.

Local retrofit rules are a different story, and they are why two identical houses can close with different paperwork. Some cities want a certificate or an inspection before the deed records. Others want nothing. There is no statewide list, and the requirement follows your city, not your county. Ask your escrow officer which certificate your city wants in the first week, not the last one. Retrofit work found in the final week delays your closing.

HOA documents

If your home sits in an association, you have to give the buyer a document package, and the association charges you for it. State law sets no dollar cap. It limits the charge to the association's actual cost to pull, prepare, copy and deliver the documents. It also makes the association give you a written estimate before it starts, and makes every fee itemized and billed separately from your dues. So ask for the estimate up front and read the itemization. Charges outside those rules do happen.

Sources: California Civil Code sections 1103, 1101.4, 4525 and 4530.

City point of sale requirements, and the list everyone still gets wrong

Some cities make you buy a report or install hardware before escrow can close. Most of the cities in this market do not. Here is who actually requires what.

Sources: Los Angeles Municipal Code 96.300, 94.1217 and 122.03, and the current LADBS fee schedule. Thousand Oaks Municipal Code Title 8 Chapter 12, repealed by Ordinance 1712-NS. Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Hidden Hills municipal codes, searched in full. Checked August 2026.

Two rows on that table are worth more than the rest of this page.

The first is Thousand Oaks. Title company cheat sheets still in circulation list a Report of Residential Building Records for Thousand Oaks at $82. That requirement has not existed since May 2023. If someone quotes it to you, they are reading a stale list.

The second is the same boundary problem that governs the transfer tax. A Woodland Hills or West Hills address sits inside the City of Los Angeles, so the 9A report and the gas shut off valve both apply. A Calabasas or Agoura Hills address does not, so neither does. Your mailing address does not settle it. Send us the address and we will tell you which side of the line you are on, and what it costs you.

One statewide rule gets misreported constantly, so it is worth being exact. The water conserving plumbing fixture law is not a point of sale retrofit. It set a deadline of January 1, 2017 for single family homes, that deadline has passed, and it applies whether or not you ever sell. What a sale triggers is a written disclosure of whether your fixtures comply, not an inspection and not a certificate. Smoke alarms and water heater strapping are different. Both carry a seller certification at transfer under state law.

Termite, repairs and staging

No California law requires you to hand a buyer a termite report. Lenders and purchase contracts are what create the requirement, and a VA loan is the usual reason it becomes non negotiable. Who pays for the inspection and who pays for the work are both written into the contract, so both are on the table.

Repairs are the same. A buyer asks, you answer. The request comes after inspections, so it lands weeks after you set your price. Decide which fixes are worth doing before you list, not after a buyer hands you a list. Our equity boost planner ranks them.

Staging has no set price and no state schedule. Stagers quote a design fee plus monthly rental on the furniture, and the number moves with square footage and how many rooms you dress. It is the one line on this page you can decline outright.

The compensation you agree to pay

This is the largest line on most closing statements. No article can tell you what yours will be.

Compensation is negotiable. It is not set by any association, any MLS, or any law. There is no standard rate and no customary rate. What you pay is whatever you and the broker you hire write down and sign. Whether you offer anything at all to the agent representing the buyer is a separate decision, negotiated separately.

So ask for the number in writing before you sign a listing agreement. Ask what it buys. Ask what happens if you want out. Our own agreement cancels any time, which is a different answer than most sellers get.

The 3¹/₃ percent that is not a cost

You may see a line at closing withholding 3¹/₃ percent of the sale price for the state. That is not a fee. It is a prepayment of California income tax, and you claim it back when you file.

Most people selling their own home never have it withheld. If the house was your principal residence under IRC Section 121, you certify that on Form 593 and the withholding does not happen. Withholding is also skipped when the price is $100,000 or less. Whether you owe actual tax on the gain is a different question, and our California capital gains estimator walks you through it.

This is not tax or legal advice. Talk to your CPA.

Source: California Franchise Tax Board, 2026 Instructions for Form 593, Real Estate Withholding Statement.

What to do next

Two numbers decide your outcome. What your house is actually worth, and which city your parcel sits in. Confirm the city by parcel number with the county assessor today. It takes minutes and it is the difference between a $1,650 transfer tax bill and an $8,400 one.

Buying next? The other side of the table is itemized in our buyer net sheet, including which county custom puts which fee on which party.

Then get the first number from us. Ask for your report and we will send your value from handpicked comps, all three ways to sell, and what you keep after every line on this page. No cost, and no obligation to list.