[quote=Cabal]Thanks to all for their inputs. I’m thinking why not a commission as high as 3%-4% for the selling agents and a small, fixed fee to the listing agent just to get it in the MLS. No offense to listing agents, but how much persuasion (or negotiation power) can a listing agent provide with todays market conditions. My expectations are all offers will be lowballs anyways. Is this approach reasonable ?[/quote]

While I disagree that the agents job starts when the offer is received, I think doing the sale without a full service listing agent is foolish. I am showing a fsbo tomorrow. I have zero doubt that I will have a pretty sizable advantage over the seller. I can always find comps that support my buyer’s lower offer price and he is unlikely to know the area as well as I do. Further, he is unlikely to know how to read the offer I submit. Knowing this, I will first suggest that he get representation (I will mention a few reputable agents I know).When he rejects this, I will advise him (both verbally and in writing) that I am not his agent and am representing the other side. He will then forget this and tell me something that gives me leverage (eg: “well the minimum I would accept is…”).
He will then end up netting far less than he would have if he had just paid the 3 percent for a listing agent.

I am not trying to be cynical or dismissive but simply to describe a pattern I have come to recognize. Usually the seller is intelligent (like an attorney or engineer or entrepreneur). Most skills can be easily acquired but there is no substitute for being experienced and comfortable.

Also, this is not to say that FSBO’s cannot be done well. I just completed one that went quite smoothly. In this case the seller was a commercial leasing agent (had never sold a place but had some experience in the “biz”). However, trying to sell a house with zero experience in real estate can be like trying to do something equivalent with your car or with your health.