Some sellers in an attempt to save real estate commissions use various systems of FSBO (For Sale By Owner). Traditionally, FSBOs were not allowed in the MLS because no agent was involved and therefore did not benefit from Realtor.com.

With the emergence of Discount Brokers who offer flat fee MLS exposure, and therefore Realtor.com presence, FSBOs now had a platform that allowed them to save 50% of the commission since they did not pay a commission to the listing broker.

Then things got a little hairy when discounters started taking lots of listings and traditional agents started complaining to their MLS. Some MLS systems started restricting discounters which caused the Feds to get involved and make it illegal to restrict access to the MLS for discounters because of their business model.

Then sellers and discount brokers got a little craftier to save the seller 100% of the commission. Here is how it works: under most MLS rules you have to offer a co-broke to list in MLS but there is no minimum % as that would be a violation of antitrust laws. I have seen in my MLS some listings (over $200k) offering $250 total commission to the buyer's agent. These were listings from discounters who charge the sellers $200 to $500 to list in the MLS and allow exposure to Realtor.com. The seller's goal is obviously to have all the benefits of a FSBO (For Sale By Owner) with the big plus of Realtor.com exposure and pay close to nothing in commissions.

The interesting thing is that these sellers who think they can do it all by themselves and avoid commissions end up in most cases cheating themselves:

- anti-trust laws or not, no buyer's agent or brokerage can live on $250 or some other ridiculously low amount of co-broke. Do you know how long it takes to get a buyer in this market to make an offer ?

- if the buyer's agent is smart, they will have a Buyer-Broker agreement that would specify their min acceptable compensation. So guess what Mr not so smart seller, the offer you will get will be lower because the buyer is paying the commission now.

- most buyers today are working with agents. These buyers are educated in real estate thanks to all the good info available online, and they tend to pick experienced agents.

- the discount broker cannot offer any of the time consuming services a full service agent will offer when they are only charging a few hundred dollars to list. That may include any or all of the following: talking to you when you have questions, doing CMAs (Comparative Market Analysis), taking pictures, recommending staging or repairs, showing and selling the property, marketing it, negotiating, advising you...

- NAR (National Association of Realtors) statistics have shown that on average FSBOs sell for over 10% less than Realtor listings.

- Lastly, most of these FSBOs are way overpriced and will end up going back through the full service channels eventually as sellers come to their senses after a long frustrating time as FSBOs.

In a buyer's market, sellers need to put all of the advantages on their side and that includes paying a decent commission and working with a full service agent.