Most sellers budget for the commission and then get surprised by everything else. Here is the whole list for a house in Lucas or Wood County, separating what is fixed from what is negotiable.
1. Agent commission, the biggest line
A February 2026 survey put the Ohio average at 5.90%. On a $135,000 Toledo house that is about $8,000. Since the 2024 NAR settlement, the seller side and the buyer side are negotiated separately, so this line is more open to discussion than it was a few years ago.
2. County conveyance fee, fixed and not negotiable
- Lucas County (Toledo, Maumee, Sylvania): $4.00 per $1,000 of sale price plus $0.50 per parcel. A $135,000 sale costs $540.50
- Wood County (Perrysburg, Rossford): $3.00 per $1,000 plus $0.50 per parcel. The same sale costs $405.50
The same house costs more to transfer in Toledo than in Perrysburg. The rate is set by each county, and Perrysburg is in Wood County, not Lucas.
3. Title work and closing fees
Title search, title insurance, escrow and closing fees, deed preparation, notary, recording. Which side pays which line follows local custom first and the contract second, which means it is negotiable. On a modest northwest Ohio house these commonly land in the high hundreds to low thousands.
4. Prorated property taxes
Ohio collects property taxes in arrears, so at closing you settle your share of the year up to the transfer date. If you are behind, the delinquent balance comes out of the proceeds. That is why owing back taxes does not by itself stop a sale.
5. Payoffs and liens
Mortgage payoff, any home equity line, any judgment lien, any city charge that landed on the tax bill. Title work surfaces all of it, and nothing transfers until it clears.
6. Repair credits, the line nobody budgets for
This is where money quietly leaves. A financed buyer inspects, the inspection finds the roof and the furnace, and the price gets renegotiated after you had already mentally spent it. On an older Toledo house this is not the exception, it is the pattern.
7. Holding costs, the one that grows while you wait
Every month the house is not sold: mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, lawn. Several hundred a month on a modest house, more if it is vacant, because a vacant house changes what your insurer will cover and attracts its own problems.
What that adds up to
A realistic listed sale on a $135,000 Toledo house:
- Commission at 5.9%: about $8,000
- Conveyance fee: $540
- Title and closing: several hundred to a couple thousand, depending on the split
- Repair credits: highly variable, commonly $2,000 to $8,000 on an older house
- Three months of holding while it sells and closes: another $1,500 to $3,000
The gap between the number on the sign and the number on the wire is usually 10 to 15%. On a house that needs work it runs wider.
What a direct sale removes
- Commission: $0. No agent on either side. This is the one number with no asterisk on it
- Repairs and repair credits: $0. Any condition, as it sits. There is no inspection renegotiation, because the offer already accounts for the condition
- Holding costs: 7 to 14 days instead of three to five months
- The conveyance fee and title work still exist, because those belong to the county and the title company, not to us. Closing costs are handled case by case and written into the offer before you sign
We buy only in Toledo, Maumee, Perrysburg and Sylvania, with tenants in place, with back taxes owed, and in any condition.
Send us the address and we will put a real number next to your listed-sale estimate. No obligation, and if listing nets you more we will say so.
General information, not legal or financial advice. County fees current as of August 2026; commission rates and closing cost splits are negotiable.