When I bought my first house I did it without an agent. I checked the comps, knew the area, had a home inspection done, etc. But when it came to negotiate with the sellers agent, I told her I wanted a share of that 3% CBB which would have gone to a buyers agent, if I had one. She barked at me and argued, so I said “Fine, I’ll bring an agent by tomorrow and you’ll give the entire 3% to him/her”.

The phone hadn’t hit the reciever when she said “How about some gift certificates to Home Depot?” We agreed on a sliver below 2% since she was paying income taxes on her 6% commission. She made >4% on the sale, and came out ahead of where she’d be if I had an agent and she split the 6%. I got what I needed, and the deal went through without a hitch.

If you’re confident in the value and the rest of the transaction, you CAN save that 2-3% but don’t assume it’s automatically going to be handed over to you. You have to haggle for it, sometimes fight for it. It obviously works better in a buyers market, but I think that’s not an issue for 2008.