Most sellers know the commission number and almost nothing else. Then they sit at a closing table and watch a figure they'd been planning around shrink by several thousand dollars they hadn't accounted for.
None of it is hidden. It's just nobody walks through it in advance.
Brokerage compensation
This is the largest line and it is the one that changed most in the last two years. Compensation is negotiable, it always was, and since August 2024 the way it gets offered and disclosed changed materially across the country. What a seller pays their own broker, and whether a seller offers anything toward a buyer's broker, are now two separate decisions made in two separate documents.
That is worth understanding properly rather than in summary, and it belongs in the written agreement rather than on a web page. We cover it in full at the listing appointment and it's in the agreement in writing before you sign anything.
North Carolina excise tax
North Carolina charges a statewide excise tax on real property transfers: $1 per $500 of the sale price (0.2%), fixed by state law and customarily paid by the seller. A handful of counties are also authorized to levy an additional local land transfer tax on top of that; whether Pitt County is one of them, and at what rate, is confirmed at contract rather than quoted from memory here (verify at the NC Department of Revenue before relying on it).
Attorney fees
North Carolina closings are conducted by a licensed attorney. Not a title company, not an escrow officer, an attorney. The seller's side of that is typically modest compared to the buyer's, but it exists, and if there's anything unusual in the chain of title it grows.
Repairs and due diligence
The buyer will conduct due diligence and will very likely come back with a repair request. What you agree to is negotiable and depends heavily on how the property showed and how the contract was written. Budget for something. Sellers who budget nothing here are the ones who get surprised.
Payoff and prorations
Your mortgage payoff is not your last statement balance, it includes interest through the closing date and any recording fees. Property taxes get prorated to the day. If you're in an HOA, dues get prorated too and there is usually a fee for the association to produce the documents the buyer's lender needs.
The number that matters
Net proceeds. Not list price, not contract price. What lands in your account. The calculator below runs the arithmetic on your specific numbers.