Are Real Estate Agents Worth the Cost?

The engineer is coming out in me again. I find it very difficult to bring myself to call a Real Estate Agent, as opposed to trying to sell my house myself. There is a local company in Ottawa that is doing quite well that helps people sell thier houses themselves. It's called Grape Vine. I just can't bring myself to give such a large commission to sell my house when I can do it myself. But is this just another case of me not giving Marketing the respect it deserves? Perhaps I can save a bit of cash if I sell it myself, but how much exposure am I passing up on? Is it really good to save $4,000 if it takes you an extra six months to sell. Or maybe it will never sell. Without the MLS listing that a Real Estate Agent gives you, you're really only going to get local people who know about Grape Vine to check out your house. I hope this doesn't turn out to be another tough marketing lesson. I just can't bring myself to pay the extra money. I'm so cheap!

Flip