If I may, I'm going to butt myself in again, because you may be looking at many thousands spent that you don't need to spend. The new rules from the lawsuit over commissions is becoming hard to untangle. To summarize, there's no longer any kind of lock, guarantee, or even a unspoken rule on splitting commissions from a sale. The change affects buyers far more than sellers. One thing that's been tried for a long time is to make the playing field even, and sales/purchases not driven by commission.
There was always a way for brokers to steer clients to the richer commission sales, and leave the FSBO or discount brokerages marginalized in the market. The new rules attempted to tackle that and we'll see if they succeeded. Now, the seller agent brings a commission rate to the seller, and the buyer agent brings their commission needs, requirements to the buyer. There are still negotiations that can be done between the agents, but there's no more lock on the "6 percent or nothing".
As a seller, you don't have to offer one dime in compensation from your part of the sale to the buyer's agent. They CAN offer to split, or offer a fixed amount, or nothing. Buyers are in the position to pay their own agent/broker, or they can pick a property that will cooperate with the sellers agent for the proceeds to come from the sellers account. It's a mess of a system.
Go on any agent's site on Zillow and look at all the great info! How many sales last month. How big the prices were. How they have a 5.0 rating. In business for 24 years. Will bring the highest price and so on. What you will NEVER find is how much it will cost you. Either in percent, or in $$$. That's the most important part of the agency deal, and it's a mystery. None of them will ever list their charges. You need to ask that from the very start, and make sure it's explained in detail. What YOUR agent will charge, what they/you will offer a buyers agent if any, and get some real cash numbers involved. Another reason I recommend talking to a selling agent. Some people are not cut out for FSBO. Some might want a discount broker/agent that can get the property on the MLS for $495, and give electronic forms to the seller. Some want a full blown, do it all, handle everything and are willing and happy to pay 3% to their agent, and go across the table and hand 3% to the buyer/agent.
I've sold about 20 properties FSBO, and sometimes I have to deal with buyers agents. It isn't fun, it isn't pretty, and usually they will do everything possible to quash a deal that the buyers really want the home. It's very sad that I tell them no, I'm not interested in comping your commission. Usually they will steer their buyer to a different property that is paying a full commission. It's a sad thing, but a real thing, and if you sell FSBO - it will happen to you, even if you don't know it.
YMMV, and etc.
