Sell it yourself, now?

Disclosures:

1. I am a buyer's broker. I never list a property for sale. I work frequently and happily with "For Sale By Owner" sellers.

2. One of my best friends in real estate, Pat, runs an MLS entry business. She's great!

3. I agree with the Consumer Federation of America that "the desire of traditional brokers to 'double dip' -- where one broker collects all of the commission -- lies behind all of their anticompetitive actions." I have seen broker greed in action. Some traditional real estate agents fought tooth and nail to keep me from collecting a commission when I represented buyers in the early 90s, when buyer agency was new. (Now, almost every firm has buyer's agents, so that discrimination ended.)

All that said, I want to remark on In a tough market, you might do better selling your home yourself. Now is a hard time to go it on your own to sell your home, unless you have a lot of time and a lot of patience. A few years back, we had a seller's market: demand was high and selling was easy. That was the time to call my friend, Pat.

Because of the lending crisis, the demand for homes is very likely to go down in the next few months as things get sorted out. You are going to need as much help as possible to get qualified buyers into your home to see it, like it, and make an offer on it.

If you still want to try your luck, go ahead! You may save some money. But at what cost to your time, energy and mental health?