Former Realtor: Benefits of Selling a House Without a Realtor

Former Realtor: Benefits of Selling a House Without a Realtor

(Source Associated Content) As a former Realtor, I would never have admitted this, but if you are willing to work a little harder then you can sell your home without a Realtor. The main benefit of a Realtor is the MLS - Multiple
Listing Service. This is a computerized listing serve that is open to real estate agents and brokers. Now there are companies that will simply list your home on the MLS without representing you. You pay a nominal fee (about $500) for the listing and that's it. It's far cheaper than the 5-7% commission you would pay a realtor.

About that 5-7% commission, a real estate agent will charge you that commission for selling your home, but he or she does not get the entire commission. Let's say that the commission is 6% and your home sells through an agency for $200,000.00. That would be $12,000.00 commission. Unless the agent is the buying agent also (working both ends of the deal) then the selling agent's side is 3% and the buyer's side is 3%. In other words, the buyer's agent gets the other 3%. That means that the selling agency gets $6000.00. Then the agency will pay the agent from that $6000.00, and if it is a 50-50 split, then the agent will make $3000.00 from the sale of your house.