It normally costs 4-6% to use a full-service real estate brokerage company to sell your home. On a $200,000 home thats between $8,000 and $12,000. Quite a sting!

I recently sold 2 condos in the past 2 years myself. I did a search on Google for flat-fee mls listing and got a bunch of agents who’d list my house on MLS for a couple of hundred bucks.[thats cheaper than running ads in the sunday newspaper for a month in San Diego!] I offered the buyers agent 2.5% too.[usually, buyers agents get 2% in my area]

If you’re uncomfortable with contracts and other formalities you can search for “discount real estate brokerage” or “flat-fee services” and you’ll get a list of agents who’ll represent you for a lower amount, typically ranging between 1% to 2% or a flat fee of $2,500-$4,000. Remember, commissions are always negotiable.
In my area, the listing and buyers agents split a 4% commission. Rather than doing that, I listed my home for $199 and offered the buyers agent 2.5%. The advantage is that the buyer doesn’t know his agent is getting a higher than average commission and might influence his decision to purchase my house if there is a tie between 2 or more similar properties. [I’m probably going to get a lot of flak for this but I think its true]. In any case, if the buyers agent doesn’t put any additional pressure to purchase my home, atleast I generated a lot of foot traffic from agents who hoped their clients would like the home.

On both occassions I got a full-priced offer within 7 days.