Are you going to sell your house? Have you ever thought about doing a 'for sale by oowner' sale rather than using a real estate agent? There are pros and cons for either method that you choose. Here are a few.

One big advantage to selling your home yourself is the cost savings involved. Real estate commissions are often 6% of the sale price. That means if you are selling a 'median' $220,000 home then the real estate commissions on the sale will be $13,200. You won't be able to pocket all that but you'll save most of it.

On the other hand if you are thinking about selling your home yourself without a real estate agent you'll have your work cut out for you. You'll have to do everything a real estate agent normally does. And some of that takes time. You should engage a professional real estate appraiser to give you the most realistic market value of your house. That costs money, but not a lot of money. You'll want to hire a real estate attorney who can handle all of the legal things you must do. The attorney can act as an escrow agent for down payments, steer you through the closing process, deal with the title company and generally keep you out of trouble by disclosing all the things you are required to do by law.

Selling your own home is not all that difficult but neither is it free and it does take some time to do legally and properly.