How timely. I just bought a new house 3 weeks ago. It won't be ready until November 14th 2007. So I've got quite a bit of time to sell my current home. I just don't like the idea of having to toss over CAD$14000 to realtors in commissions alone (closing costs will still be added to that).

I haven't looked into the BuyOwner route yet, but I've heard that you can't get listeed in the realtor computer systems (MLS) without going through a realtor. Putting a ForSale sign in front of the house doesn't seem to me the best way to attract a wide audience.

Also, if you're selling yourself and a potential buyer already has a realtor, doesn't that exclude them from your sale? Or are realtors willing to work with owners selling their own homes? Would I still be on the hook for their percentage?

We've had an agent here to give us a rough estimate on what we can expect to sell for "now" as well as detail all the costs we're gong to face. She was the agent that found us this house when we bought 3 years ago and is willing to drop her rates a half point. We have another agent coming by next week that specializes in this area to give his thoughts (he's a relative of a friend of my GF's). We'd likely onl put the house on the market late next spring or early summer.