Real estate commission calculator

1. 1. Paper Route’s commission calculator turns price, rate, side share, referral, broker split, cap, team split and fees into one take-home figure, with no sign-up.
2. 2. Paper Route’s calculator shows what a cap or referral does: on the $400,000 example, $1,000 left before a cap lifts take-home from $7,305 to $9,605, and a 25% referral cuts it to $5,380.
3. 3. Since 17 August 2024, offers of compensation to buyer’s agents are not allowed on the multiple listing service (MLS), and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) says commissions are “fully negotiable and not set by law” (NAR, checked 15 Oct 2026).
4. 4. Paper Route is the content employee behind the calculator: it writes an agent’s weekly reels from scratch, featuring the agent on screen and in their own voice, sent by text. The first week is free: 3 reels, no card.

Paper Route’s calculator works out an agent’s take-home as the sale price times the total rate, times your side’s share, minus a referral fee, the brokerage’s share, a team split and per-deal fees. On a $400,000 sale at 5.5% total, listing side, a 70/30 split and $395 in fees, a $22,000 total commission leaves $7,305, or 1.83% of the price. The steps, in order:

1. 1. Total: price times rate, or a flat fee.
2. 2. Your side: the total times your side share.
3. 3. Referral: a percent of your side, first.
4. 4. Brokerage: its share, up to your cap.
5. 5. Team: the lead’s share of the rest.
6. 6. Fees: flat per deal. Take-home never goes below $0.

Paper Route’s calculator takes your side share as the part of the total your side receives. On the $400,000 example, 50% of a 5.5% total is 2.75% of the price, or $11,000; at 100% for both sides, take-home is $15,005.

Since 17 August 2024, offers of compensation to buyer’s agents are not allowed on MLS platforms; sellers can still offer compensation off an MLS, and buyer concessions, such as help with closing costs, on one (NAR, checked 15 Oct 2026). Check your state, your MLS and your brokerage agreement.

Paper Route’s calculator reads 70/30 as you keeping 70% of your side after any referral. On the $400,000 example, the brokerage takes $3,300 of $11,000; at 80/20 it takes $2,200 and your take-home is $8,405, $1,100 more. A cap, explained below, stops the brokerage share once the brokerage has collected its yearly dollar limit.

A brokerage cap is a yearly dollar limit on what the brokerage collects from your commissions; once you reach it, the brokerage share stops. With $1,000 left before your cap, the brokerage takes $1,000 instead of $3,300, and take-home rises to $9,605. Leave the cap empty if your brokerage has none.

Paper Route’s calculator deducts a referral fee from your side first, before the brokerage split. A team split, the team lead’s share of what is left after the brokerage, comes next, and flat per-deal fees (transaction, errors-and-omissions insurance, franchise) come off last.

On the $400,000 example, a 25% referral is $2,750; the brokerage then takes $2,475 of the remaining $8,250, and take-home falls to $5,380. A 50% team split (enter the percent you keep) takes $3,850 from $7,700, leaving $3,455. Brokerages differ in order and base, so match the inputs to your agreement.

On its Seller net proceeds tab, Paper Route’s calculator takes the sale price minus the mortgage payoff, both agents’ compensation, closing costs, concessions and other costs. On the $400,000 example with a $250,000 payoff, a 3% listing commission, 2.5% buyer-agent compensation and 2% closing costs, the seller nets $120,000, or 30% of the price.

Buyer-agent compensation is negotiated and can be $0. At $0 the same sale nets $130,000. Enter transfer tax and capital gains as other costs; Paper Route’s calculator does not compute taxes, and it is not built for investor math such as cap rate or ROI.

Paper Route’s calculator is the only one of the five below with inputs for side share, referral, team split and a flat-fee commission. “No” means that page shows no such input. We read each page on 15 October 2026 (column heads link to them); Amplify Credit Union’s widget could not be read, so it is left out.

Choose Omni for a price-and-rate answer, SofaBrain for a year’s take-home across 12 named brokerages with caps and fees preset, Paperless Pipeline if your brokerage runs commissions in back-office software, and MortgageCalculator.org to model a seller rebate.

Paper Route is a content employee for real-estate agents: weekly reels written from scratch, featuring you on screen and in your own voice, sent by text. It makes your weekly reels and carousels and takes changes by text, up to 4 edits per post. Its formats are market update, new listing, just sold, open house and educational. The first week is free: 3 reels, no card, first reel today if you sign up by 6pm local.

See how Paper Route’s content employee works, Paper Route’s pricing, or what a realtor pays for social media marketing.

Paper Route is best for a solo agent who wants weekly reels made for them from scratch, featuring them on screen and in their own cloned voice, handled by text. Paper Route is not the right pick if you want a template library to edit and post yourself.

Paper Route’s calculator rounds to cents and counts inputs below zero as zero. It does not model income tax, transfer tax, capital gains, royalties charged as a percent, or graduated splits within one deal. This is not legal or tax advice.

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