Selling Your Home? Here's a Way to Cut Broker Fees

Typical real estate broker fees fall in the range of 5-7%. Of course you can list the house for sale by owner and potentially cut out the sell side commission, but how do you attract buyers. One of the cards that real estate brokers hold over potential sellers is the ability to list property on MLS services. That left people interested in selling their homes by owner with the option to go it alone and hope a sign in their yard did the trick, or pay someone to list their house on the MLS.

The internet might change that. If you are looking to buy or sell your home you have the good fortune that two recent internet services are trying to level the playing field. If you are a seller you can head over to Zillow to see how much houses are going for in their neighborhood. You can take that information and determine what your home should be priced at (or how much you should offer if you are a seller). Zillow has received some flack for not having the most accurate data, although I'm not sure anyone has been able to back up these claims. I still think it is better than nothing.

Zillow Screenshot

Next, you can head over to Iggy's House and list your home for FREE on the MLS. Yep, FREE. I don't have a house to sell, so I can't vouch for the service but that seems like a heck of a deal. The site lets you post pictures, a description and most everything else a typical broker would. I have heard there is a couple day lag before your home makes the listing from when you submit, but if you can avoid a 3% commission that seems worth it to me. If anyone has tried out this service please send me an email or post in the comments.

Iggy's House

FYI: You will more than likely not avoid commissions completely selling your home by owner. You could conceivably, but it isn't very likely. If a broker brings you a buyer you will have to pay the buyer's agent commission which runs around 2-3% if my memory serves me.

Links
Zillow - Home Price Data

Iggy's House - Free MLS