By Eric Berman, REALTOR® | The Eric Berman Team at Compass
TL;DR:
Selling a home in Port Washington generally costs between five and seven percent of the sale price, though the range moves with how commission is structured and how much pre-listing work the home needs. The pieces are commission on both sides, New York State Transfer Tax at four dollars per thousand, attorney fees typically between $1,500 and $3,500, preparation costs, and any village-level obligations that settle at closing. One number sellers here get wrong constantly: the Mansion Tax starts at one million dollars, not three million. In a market where most of Port Washington trades above that line, the difference is not academic.
What Selling Actually Costs Here
Most sellers arrive at this question with a rough sense that "about six percent" comes off the top, which is close enough to be useful and vague enough to be dangerous. The costs are knowable well in advance. They just get discovered in the wrong order — usually one at a time, each one landing as a small unpleasant surprise, when the whole picture could have been built in an afternoon before the listing agreement was ever signed.
The five-to-seven percent range holds for most Port Washington sales, but the composition varies more than the total. A seller in Manorhaven at $1.1 million and a seller in Harbor Acres at $2.4 million are paying the same percentage on transfer tax and roughly the same attorney fee in absolute dollars, which means the attorney line is proportionally trivial for one and nearly invisible for the other. Preparation costs run the opposite direction — a home that has not been updated since the nineties can absorb thirty thousand dollars in pre-listing work regardless of what it eventually sells for.
What follows is each line, what drives it, and where the decisions actually sit. Sellers who want the county-wide version of this framework will find the same logic applied more broadly, but the Port Washington specifics below — particularly the village layer — do not show up in generic Long Island cost content.
Commission Is the Biggest Line and the Most Negotiable
Commission is the largest single cost in nearly every Port Washington sale, and it is the only one that is genuinely open to conversation. The state sets the transfer tax. The attorney sets a fee inside a fairly narrow band. Commission is negotiated, and always was, though for years it was treated as a fixed rate that came in one size.
The listing side and the buyer side are separate decisions and should be evaluated separately. Fee-negotiated listing commissions in the one and a half to two percent range have become common on Long Island, and on Port Washington's price points that difference is substantial — half a percentage point on a $1.8 million sale is nine thousand dollars. Buyer-agent compensation, where a seller chooses to offer it, typically runs two to two and a half percent.
The trap is treating the commission negotiation as the whole game. A seller who wins half a point on fees and then overprices by four percent has lost the exchange badly, and overpricing is the more common error by a wide margin. What a seller should be measuring is the total cost against the pricing judgment, marketing, and negotiation actually delivered — not the percentage in isolation. The improvements that actually return their cost before selling are often a better place to find real money than the fee line.
What Changed in August 2024
The rules governing buyer-agent compensation changed on August 17, 2024, following the Sitzer/Burnett settlement, and the change is still working its way through how sellers think about cost. Buyer-agent compensation is no longer posted on the MLS and is no longer offered automatically as a condition of listing. It is negotiated offer by offer. Separately, buyers must now sign a written agreement with their own agent before touring any homes.
That leaves a Port Washington seller with three practical paths. The first is to offer buyer-agent compensation through the listing agreement in the two to two and a half percent range, which keeps the home fully accessible to represented buyers and is still the most common approach here. The second is to offer nothing and let each buyer work out compensation with their own agent, which lowers the seller's stated cost but can narrow the buyer pool — the effect is most pronounced at Manorhaven and Flower Hill price points, where buyers have less cash flexibility to cover their agent separately, and least pronounced at the Sands Point and Harbor Acres end. The third is a hybrid: offer nothing upfront, treat compensation as a negotiable term when offers arrive.
There is no universally correct answer among the three. There is a correct answer for a specific home at a specific price in a specific month, and it depends on how deep the represented-buyer pool is in that band at that moment.
The Tax Layers, Including the One That Gets Stated Wrong
New York State Transfer Tax runs four dollars per thousand of the sale price — two dollars per five hundred, expressed the way the statute does — and the seller pays it. On a $1.2 million sale that is $4,800. On a $2.5 million sale, $10,000. It is filed through Form TP-584 at closing and there is no version of the transaction where it does not apply.
The Mansion Tax is where Port Washington sellers get misinformed, sometimes by material still sitting online. It applies to residential sales above one million dollars, not three million. The buyer pays it, at one percent of the purchase price. On a $1.3 million home that is $13,000 landing on the buyer's cash-to-close. Sellers need this in view even though it is not their check, because it directly constrains what a buyer at the margin can afford to offer — and because a home listed at $1,015,000 asks its buyer for roughly ten thousand dollars that a home listed at $995,000 does not. In a market where a large share of Port Washington inventory trades above the million-dollar line, and where Manorhaven and Flower Hill homes frequently sit right on top of it, this threshold shapes pricing strategy more than almost any other single number.
One clarification worth making, because it is the likely source of the confusion. New York enacted progressive Mansion Tax tiers in 2019 that step up at higher price points, including a well-publicized tier structure beginning at two million. Those tiers apply only in cities with populations above one million — which, in New York State, means New York City and nothing else. Port Washington is in Nassau County. Nassau sellers and their buyers face the original single cliff at one million dollars, flat one percent, no tiers.
Sellers who have already relocated out of New York carry one more line. The IT-2663 requires an estimated payment at closing of 8.82 percent of net gain. It is not an additional tax — it is a prepayment against actual New York State income tax liability, and it is refundable to the extent the real liability comes in lower. It does, however, reduce the wire at closing, which surprises people who budgeted without it.
The Attorney, the Disclosure, and What Both Cost
New York is an attorney state, and this is a requirement rather than a local custom. A licensed real estate attorney is involved in every residential transaction here, and the attorney — not the agent, not the title company — handles contract mechanics, coordinates the title search and payoff, and runs the closing. The title company performs mechanical work under the attorney's coordination, which is the reverse of how closings work in most of the country. Sellers who have transacted in Florida or the Carolinas routinely have this backward and lose time to it.
Attorney fees for a standard Port Washington residential closing typically run $1,500 to $3,500, moving higher where an estate, an out-of-state seller, a divorce, or a complicated title history is involved. Engaging that attorney one to two weeks before listing rather than after an offer arrives is the single cheapest schedule improvement available — it allows disclosure coordination and early identification of title problems while there is still room to solve them quietly.
The Property Condition Disclosure Statement deserves specific attention because the rules changed recently. The PCDS was amended effective March 20, 2024, and the 56-question form is now mandatory. The prior option of giving the buyer a five hundred dollar credit instead of completing the form was eliminated entirely. Sellers still encounter guidance describing that credit as a live choice — it is not, and material describing it is pre-amendment. The amendment also added seven flood-related questions, which carry real weight in a waterfront community with substantial AE and VE zone exposure along the harbor and in Manorhaven. For homes built before 1978, federal lead-based paint disclosure applies separately and is not satisfied by the PCDS.
The Village Layer Most Cost Estimates Miss
Generic Long Island cost content treats property taxes as a single item that gets prorated at closing. In Port Washington that is not how it works, and the difference catches sellers.
The peninsula is divided among multiple incorporated villages — Baxter Estates, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Sands Point, and Port Washington North among them — alongside unincorporated areas that answer only to the Town of North Hempstead. Village taxes are billed separately by the village. They are not a line item on the Nassau County bill, which means a seller who pulls the county bill to calculate the proration is looking at an incomplete picture. Sellers who are unsure which jurisdiction actually governs their address will find the breakdown of which rules apply where on the peninsula sorts out the layers.
The same fragmentation shows up in open permits. A deck, a finished basement, or a dormer that was never closed out sits with whichever village or town issued the permit, and resolving it before closing is both faster and cheaper than resolving it during attorney review with a contract date pending. This is not usually a large expense. It is, reliably, a schedule problem that becomes an expense when it surfaces late.
Remaining costs are more predictable. Payoff statements and lien releases carry modest administrative fees. Preparation spending — paint, floors, staging, the repair the pre-listing inspection surfaces — is real money that leaves months before any closing and never reappears as a settlement line. And mortgage payoff comes off the top, though federal law has prohibited prepayment penalties on residential qualified mortgages originated after January 10, 2014, so most Port Washington sellers will not encounter one.
A Worked Example
Consider a composite case — a Port Washington homeowner with a colonial in the Beacon Hill area that comps supported at roughly $1,285,000.
Running the actual numbers: the listing side negotiated to two percent came to $25,700. Buyer-agent compensation offered at two and a half percent through the listing agreement added $32,125 — a choice made deliberately to keep the represented-buyer pool intact at that price point. New York State Transfer Tax took $5,140. His attorney came to $2,600, on the higher end because a decades-old open permit on a rear addition needed resolving with the village. Pre-listing work ran $14,000 across floor refinishing, exterior paint, and a chimney repair the inspection surfaced.
Total off the top: roughly $79,565, or about 6.2 percent of the sale price. Separately, his buyer owed $12,850 in Mansion Tax, which never touched the seller's ledger but absolutely shaped what that buyer could bring to the table — and would have shaped it considerably more had the home been listed at the $1,349,000 his first instinct suggested.
Where to Start
The sequence that works: build the net-proceeds model before settling on a list price, so every later decision has something to measure against. Engage a real estate attorney one to two weeks ahead of listing. Confirm which village governs the property and pull the village tax bill alongside the county bill. Check for open permits early. Have both halves of the commission conversation openly. Complete the PCDS carefully, with the flood questions given genuine attention. Then price against a real comp set rather than a hope.
Sellers who want a current read on where their home actually sits before running any of this can start with a quiet look at present value. More Long Island market and process coverage lives in Local Insights.
The Honest Bottom Line
Five to seven percent is the honest range for Port Washington, and most of it is not negotiable in any meaningful sense. What is negotiable is the commission structure, and what is controllable is how much preparation spending the home actually needs versus how much it seems to need. Those two levers move real money. Everything else is arithmetic that should be done early rather than discovered late.
The Mansion Tax point deserves one last mention, because it is the piece most likely to be misremembered. One million dollars, one percent, paid by the buyer, no tiers in Nassau County. A seller who prices without that threshold in view is negotiating with incomplete information at exactly the moment it matters most. Sellers who want to walk through what these numbers look like on their own property, with no pressure attached, are welcome to start that conversation whenever the timing suits them.
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. New York transaction requirements and tax thresholds change, and several figures referenced here adjust annually. Sellers should confirm specifics with a licensed New York real estate attorney and a CPA before making decisions.
FAQs
What percentage of the sale price does a Port Washington seller typically pay in total costs?
Most Port Washington sales land between five and seven percent of the sale price in total seller costs. The components are listing commission, buyer-agent compensation where the seller chooses to offer it, New York State Transfer Tax at four dollars per thousand, attorney fees generally between $1,500 and $3,500, preparation spending, and modest administrative fees for payoff statements and lien releases. The total varies less than the composition — attorney fees are proportionally significant on a $900,000 sale and nearly invisible on a $2.5 million one, while preparation costs depend entirely on the condition of the home rather than its price.
Does the Mansion Tax start at $1 million or $3 million in Port Washington?
One million dollars. The Mansion Tax applies at one percent to residential sales above one million, and the buyer pays it. Some material circulating online states a $3 million threshold, which is incorrect and particularly consequential in Port Washington, where a large share of inventory trades above the million-dollar line. The progressive tiers enacted in 2019 that step up at higher price points apply only in cities with populations above one million — New York City alone — so Nassau County sales face the single flat cliff at one million rather than the tiered structure.
Can a Port Washington seller give a $500 credit instead of completing the disclosure form?
No. That option was eliminated when the Property Condition Disclosure Statement was amended effective March 20, 2024. The 56-question form is now mandatory for residential sales, including sales from estates, divorces, and foreclosure situations. The amendment also added seven flood-related questions, which matter considerably on the peninsula given AE and VE zone exposure along the harbor and in Manorhaven. Guidance still describing the credit as an available choice is pre-amendment material. For homes built before 1978, federal lead-based paint disclosure applies separately and is not covered by the PCDS.
Are village taxes included in the Nassau County property tax bill?
No. Villages on the Port Washington peninsula — including Baxter Estates, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Sands Point, and Port Washington North — bill their taxes separately from Nassau County. A seller who pulls only the county bill to estimate the closing proration is working from an incomplete figure. Sellers in unincorporated portions of the peninsula answer to the Town of North Hempstead instead and will not have a village bill at all. Confirming which jurisdiction governs a specific address is worth doing early, since it also determines where any open permits need to be resolved.
What does a real estate attorney actually do in a Port Washington sale?
The attorney handles contract mechanics, coordinates the title search and payoff, and runs the closing itself. In New York this is a requirement rather than a preference, and the title company performs mechanical work under the attorney's coordination rather than driving the process — the reverse of how closings function in most states. Fees typically run $1,500 to $3,500 for a standard residential transaction, higher where an estate, an out-of-state seller, or a complicated title history is involved. Engaging the attorney one to two weeks before listing allows disclosure coordination and early identification of title problems while there is still time to resolve them.
By Eric Berman, REALTOR® | The Eric Berman Team at Compass
Eric Berman | Long Island & Queens Associate Broker | Compass
1468 Northern Blvd, Manhasset, NY 11030
(917) 225-8596 | eric@ericbermanre.com | theericbermanteam.com
