Nervous about selling without an agent? Start with the numbers.
The MLS's buyer pool, without the 3% listing fee. Here's what that's actually worth on your house.
Most sellers who list themselves aren't trying to do a lawyer's job or a photographer's job. They want the thing the MLS has (every serious buyer and their agents) without paying a listing agent 2.5–3% for access. That part is real and thousands of sellers do it every year. Whether it's worth it for you starts with one number: what you'd walk away with.
Your estimated net proceeds
$0
| Sale price | $0 |
| Commission | −$0 |
| Other closing costs | −$0 |
| Repairs & concessions | −$0 |
| Mortgage payoff | −$0 |
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The honest math (read this before anything else)
Listing yourself does not save you "the 6%." It saves you the listing side, usually 2.5–3%. What you offer the buyer's agent is a separate decision, and since the 2024 NAR settlement it is genuinely yours to make: offer a competitive rate to keep agents motivated, or less and accept the tradeoff. And watch the fine print on "flat fee" services. The category's single most common complaint is a flat fee that isn't flat: percentage charges at closing, paid add-ons for basics, fees that only appear at checkout. Any service worth using tells you the full number upfront. So does any website worth trusting, which is why our calculator makes you set the commission yourself instead of pretending it's zero.
Three ways to sell, honestly compared
Self-list with flat-fee MLS
You pay a flat fee (typically $100–$500) to get on the local MLS, handle showings and negotiation yourself, and keep the listing-side commission. Best when your market is moving and you can be responsive.
Already have your buyer?
Selling to a neighbor, friend, tenant, or family? You don't need marketing at all. You need the paperwork rails: contract, disclosures, title, closing. This is the cheapest sale there is.
Full-service agent
Sometimes the right answer. Tight deadline, co-owner conflict, probate, a property with complications, or you simply don't want the project, paying for full service can net you more than saving on it.
The guides
- How to sell your house without a realtor. The whole process, step by step, including the parts that go wrong.
- What is flat-fee MLS? What you get, what it costs, and the fine print to check before you pay anyone.
- The real cost of selling without a realtor. What you save, and what you still pay.
- FSBO paperwork. Every document a by-owner sale needs.