Sales by Owner run about 4% lower than Realtor sales, so after you pay for advertising, etc. you don’t really save much that way. My real estate commission is 5% total, some of which is paid up front (see below). Also, some Realtors don’t want to deal with a “for sale by owner” for two reasons. They don’t want to educate a Buyer for three weeks only to lose them to your sign, and doing a transaction with an unrepresented Seller is much more difficult than a regular Realtor listing, yet it pays less or the same. The best way to sell your home for the highest price possible is to price it right, offer incentive for any and all Realtors to sell it by putting it in their inventory (MLS), and make it easy to show.
Your non-realtor closing costs will be around 1.75%. My real estate commission is 5% total, including any other Realtors involved. 2.5% goes to the Buyer’s Realtor. I’ve found 2.5% works fine if the home is priced right. I collect some of the commission up front, which includes a real market-value appraisal so I can recommend a price that will cause it to sell. Don’t fall for the Realtor who gives you the highest home value with a half-hour CMA. You can spend a lot of time paying for upkeep while your house just sits there overpriced.
Some sellers pay for a home inspection right in the beginning of the listing, rather than waiting for a future buyer to pay for one later. They do it for peace of mind when fielding offers with repair clauses in them. This enables them to take an offer with $5000 repair liability when it really only needs $500 in repairs. The home inspection report can be posted online on the MLS listing.
