Double Close Calculator
Does closing both sides leave me more than assigning would? Two settlements instead of one: funding cost, both sets of closing costs, and what it leaves against a single assignment.
Net from a double close
$8,891
The two prices
$14,250
The spread is the same whichever route you take. Only what comes out of it changes.
What you pay the seller — and what the funding is sized on
Transactional funding
$1,784
Money in and out the same day to fund the leg where you buy. These load with a starting point — use the schedule your funder actually quoted you.
Applies instead of the rate when the rate comes to less
Added on top of whichever of the two above applies
Settlement where you buy
$1,650
Your costs on the first leg. Both legs usually fund the same day through the same title company.
Set by your state and county — look yours up, this cannot
Settlement where you sell
$1,925
The second set, on the leg where your buyer takes title from you.
The assignment instead
$13,825
The other half of the comparison.
What your title company charges to process an assignment rather than a purchase
Net from a double close
$8,891
$4,934 less than assigning the same contract would leave you.
- If you assigned
- $13,825
- Cost of the second closing
- $4,934
Assigning leaves materially more
Funding and two settlements come to $5,359 against $425 for one, so closing both sides costs $4,934 — 34.6% of the whole spread. On a fee this size that is a real bite. If you are closing both sides anyway, it is for a reason other than the money, and it is worth being able to name it.
The spread
- What your buyer pays
- $182,750
- Less your contract price
- − $168,500
- Gross spreadThe same spread either way — only what comes out of it differs
- $14,250
Side by side
- Net from a double close
- $8,891
- Net from an assignment
- $13,825
- Assigning leaves more by
- $4,934
- What the second closing costs youFunding and both settlements, less what one settlement would have cost
- $4,934
Closing both sides
- Gross spread
- $14,250
- Transactional funding on $168,5001.0% plus the processing fee — 1.1% of the leg
- − $1,784
- Settlement where you buyTitle, transfer tax and recording on the first leg
- − $1,650
- Settlement where you sellThe second set, on the second leg
- − $1,925
- Net from a double close
- $8,891
Assigning the contract
- Gross spread
- $14,250
- Your side of a single settlementOne closing, and you are not a party to the purchase
- − $425
- FundingNone — you never take title
- $0
- Net from an assignment
- $13,825
Where the spread goes on a double close
- Net to you62%
- Transactional funding13%
- Settlement where you buy12%
- Settlement where you sell14%
How this is calculated
One spread, two ways of taking it, and the difference is entirely in the costs.
gross spread = what your buyer pays − your contract price
That figure is the same on both routes. It is at the top of the page as a single number for exactly that reason — the comparison is only honest while the thing being compared is the costs.
Transactional funding. The money that funds the leg where you buy, out and back the same day:
funding = max(contract price × rate %, minimum charge) + processing fee
The minimum applies to the percentage component only, and the processing fee is added to whichever of the two won. Applying the minimum to the total instead silently understates every small deal, and the minimum only ever bites at the bottom of the range. The page says which of the two is in force on your numbers. All three figures are fields; the values they load with are a starting point, not a quote.
The two routes.
double close = gross spread − funding − settlement where you buy − settlement where you sellassignment = gross spread − your side of one settlement
The difference between those two is the number this page exists for, and it is also stated as a cost: funding + both settlements − one settlement is what the second closing charges you for existing.
The earnest money is in neither.It is credited to the purchase at closing on both routes, so it comes back — it is capital committed, not money spent, and subtracting it would understate both nets by the whole deposit.
Transfer tax and recording are fields rather than a lookup because they are set by state and county, vary by an order of magnitude between jurisdictions, and on a double close may fall on both legs. A national table would be wrong somewhere the day it shipped and wrong quietly. Your title company has the figure for the specific address.
Every figure that cannot be computed shows an em dash rather than a confident zero — including the difference between the two routes, which is withheld until both prices are entered even though the costs alone would happily produce a number.
Common questions
Why does a double close usually leave less than an assignment?
Because you pay for a second settlement and for the money to fund the first one, and the spread does not grow to cover either. On an assignment you are never on title, so there is one closing and your side of it is a processing charge. On a double close there are two: title and escrow twice, transfer tax and recording twice, and a funder's fee on the leg where you buy. That is the whole of the difference, and on the figures this page loads with it is several thousand dollars. None of that makes the route wrong — it makes it something you should be choosing on purpose, with the price of the choice in front of you.
How is the transactional funding fee worked out?
A rate on the purchase price, with a minimum charge that applies instead when the rate comes to less, and then a processing fee added on top of whichever of the two won. That order matters on small deals: applying the minimum to the total including processing rather than to the percentage alone understates the fee, and the minimum only ever bites at the bottom of the range, which is exactly where a wholesaler is least able to absorb a surprise. The page says which of the two is in force on your numbers. All three figures are fields, and the ones they load with are a starting point rather than a quote — this calculator has no idea what your funder charges, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise.
What should I put for transfer tax and recording?
Whatever your state and county actually charge, which this calculator cannot know and does not try to guess. Transfer taxes are set locally, they vary by an order of magnitude between jurisdictions, and on a double close you may pay them on both legs — which is often the single largest reason the second closing is expensive in one market and barely noticeable in another. Your title company can tell you the figure for the specific address in about a minute, and it is worth the call before you commit to the route rather than after. The same goes for whether both legs can fund the same day and through the same office: that is a question for them, not for a page.
The two routes are close on my numbers. Which should I pick?
The calculator has told you everything it is able to tell you at that point, which is that the money is not the deciding factor. What decides it then are things this page does not model and should not pretend to: whether a funder is actually available on your closing date, what your title company is willing and able to handle, and what each side's paperwork requires of you. Those are questions for your title company and your own professionals. Nothing on this page is a statement about what is permitted or required anywhere, and nothing here has been reviewed by a lawyer.
Should the earnest money be in these costs?
No. On either route the deposit is credited to the purchase at closing, so it comes back to you — it is capital committed for the length of the contract, not money spent, and subtracting it understates both nets by the whole deposit. It is not in the cost list here for the same reason it is not in the assignment fee calculator's. Where it does matter is if the contract terminates in circumstances where it is forfeited, and that turns entirely on what your contract says and whether a contingency was validly exercised in time. This page has not read your contract and does not model that.
Does the spread change depending on which route I take?
No, and that is why it sits at the top of the page as a single figure. The gross spread is what your buyer pays less what you agreed to pay the seller, and it is identical on both routes — the two prices are the two prices. Everything below it is what comes out. Framing it that way is deliberate: it keeps the comparison honest by putting the only thing that differs, the costs, side by side, rather than letting a difference in the spread creep in from an assumption about how one route or the other gets priced.
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Sell a dealThis calculator estimates results from the numbers you enter. It does not know the property, your lender’s terms, local taxes or the rules of your state, and it is not financial, tax or legal advice. Nothing here has been reviewed by a lawyer. Confirm every figure with your lender, title company and your own professionals before you rely on it. Some states set their own requirements on a person reselling a purchase contract, and we have not established what most of them require. Nothing on this page tells you what your state requires of you, or what any state permits.