... case by case... as far as I know, in lots of "sale-by-owner" cases, the owner himself/herself is a real estate agent. In such cases, s/he doesn't need to hire another agent. Why bother share the profit with another agent if you yourself are already an agent? I saw lots of cases in northern california that the "sale-by-owner" listing prices are normally 3-5% lower than the comparable listing prices. Another advantage to go with "sale-by-owner" in northern california is that buyers are not involved in the "bidding war" -- if the owner agrees with your offer, he won't get other offers from other buyers. Here in bay area, if a house is priced "reasonably", it'll end up getting more than 10 offers, and the first 2-4 buys have to counter bid each other to get the house. Sometimes the final bid is too much over the listing price that it won't even pass the bank appraisal... So in bay area, to go with "sale by owner" has somewhat advantages. Anyhow, this is my experience of buying a home in bay area. Your milage may vary.
以下是引用bluepoint在2004-7-21 13:52:24的发言：
以下是引用cathylan在2004-7-21 13:10:52的发言：
this is not so true.
以下是引用qingdodo在2004-7-21 12:11:15的发言：
sale by owner的房子并不会比listing上的房子便宜，一般来讲，这样的seller更看重钱一点，他想把commission fees赚到自己腰包里，asking price一般不会低于同样的但是有agent卖的房子。
还是要看具体情况吧。不过确实很多自己卖房的seller不想出commission，是那种对钱会更斤斤计较些的人。但也正因为如此，可以借机和他讲价钱。
