California Real Estate Practice Exam 2026 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

To determine how much the property must appreciate in value for the owner to sell it and receive the $150,000, it’s important to first understand the selling costs involved. The cost to sell the property is 9% of the sale price. This means that if we denote the required sale price as "P," the seller will have to pay 9% of that sale price in costs.

The seller needs to net $150,000 after deducting this 9%. Therefore, the relationship can be set up as follows:

Net proceeds = Sale price - Selling costs

$150,000 = P - (0.09 * P)

Here, the selling costs can also be expressed in terms of "P":

Selling costs = 0.09P,

which gives:

$150,000 = P - 0.09P

$150,000 = 0.91P

Next, to find "P," the required sale price:

P = $150,000 / 0.91

P ≈ $164,835.16

Now, to find out how much the property must appreciate in value:

Appreciation = Required Sale Price - Original Purchase Price

Appreciation = $164,835.