FSBO vs Realtor: What you actually save

A listing agent handles four buckets of work: pricing the home, marketing it, managing showings/offers, and shepherding the closing paperwork. The pricing is mostly comp-pulling and judgment. The marketing is mostly an MLS upload, professional photos, and a yard sign. The showings are scheduling and accompaniment. The paperwork is filling in standard contract templates.

None of that is rocket science — but it adds up to roughly 30–60 hours of work over a 30–60 day sale. At $20,000+ in commission, that's $400–700/hour, which is why agents who do this full-time can make great livings.

Pricing: free comp tools (Zillow, Redfin, county records) + this site's pricing article. Cost: $0.

Marketing: flat-fee MLS service ($99–399) + your own listing photos or a real-estate photographer ($250–400) + a yard sign ($30–80). Cost: $400–900.

Showings: you do them yourself, or use a lockbox + scheduling app ($30/mo). Cost: $0–90.

Paperwork: a Texas real-estate attorney to review the contract ($250–800), or a title company that handles a lot of it for you. Cost: $250–800.

Total FSBO out-of-pocket: $650–1,790. Compare to a 3% listing commission on a $400,000 home: $12,000.

About 88% of US homes are bought by buyers working with an agent. That agent expects to be paid — usually 2–3% of the sale price, traditionally paid by the seller. As of 2026, post-NAR-settlement, this is technically negotiable, but the practical reality in Texas is: if you don't offer at least 2%, most buyer agents won't show your home.

Common compromise: list at the same price you would with a full-service agent, offer 2.5% to a buyer's agent, save the 3% you would have paid the listing agent. On a $400,000 home, that's a clean $12,000 in your pocket — for ~30–60 hours of your time.

FSBO loses its edge when: (1) you price too high and sit unsold for 60+ days, (2) you accept the first offer without negotiating, (3) you skip the attorney review and miss a contract clause that costs you at closing.

Each of those mistakes can erase your savings — sometimes more. The articles in this hub are specifically designed to prevent the three most expensive ones.