Nearly one in four homeowners currently choose to sell their homes without a broker. The reason is obvious.

With real estate commissions as high as seven percent of the selling price the average homeowner takes a beating when listing with a broker. Suppos eyou’re selling a $145,000 home on which you owe $110,000. You expect to realize $35,000 in equity.

145,000
– selling price
-110,000
– left on mortgage
35,000
– equity

Of course, if you list with a broker who charges six percent commission he’ll take it off your selling price, not your equity. You’ll pay $8,700 in commission.

145,000
– selling price
x 0.06
– % commission
8,700
– commission cost

Now your equity is $26,300 and you haven’t even paid your closing costs!

35,000
– initial equity
– 8,700
– realtor’s® commission
26,300
– net equity

Your realtor® just walked away with 25% of your equity. Nice deal, huh?

8,700
– realtor’s® commission
÷ 35,000
– initial equity
0.249
– realtor’s® percentage of your equity

In the past, the real estate industry very effectively limited access to the home selling market through the MLS. This allowed them to drive commissions up to a very high level. With the emergence of the internet as a ubiquitous medium, though, this real estate monopoly is quickly deteriorating as the public increasingly turns to FSBO sales.

Many people are realizing that selling their own home to save the commission is a very realistic and sensible option. Adding up all the financial costs of selling on your own (i.e. signage, advertising, etc.) is typically less than $1,000, a small fraction of the typical commission fee.

There are many sources of information for selling your home on your own. Visit the public library. There are many good books on selling your home which include extensive information on FSBO sales. Several good books are dedicated to FSBO.

You should also check out the FSBO Resources links provided here and consider listing your house on our web site.