Your First Important Decision

List With an Agent or List It Yourself — That is the Question!

Before you decide how to sell a home, it helps to separate the decision into three simple pieces: what it costs to list, what the buyer-agent side can cost, and what the complete transaction will look like.

Start With the Listing Cost → Jump to the Final Comparison

Illustrative comparison. Real estate commissions and buyer-agent compensation are negotiable and can vary.

Choose your example

First, set the selling price and province.

Every illustration below updates together, so you can see the listing decision first, the buyer side second, and the complete picture last.

Selling price

Property province

For Alberta, this illustration uses a total traditional commission of 6% on the first $100,000 + 3% on the balance, split equally between the listing side and buyer-agent side. This is an example only — commissions are negotiable.

The Decision to List

Forget the buyer side for a moment. What does it cost simply to put the property on the market?

Listing side only

List it with a Traditional Agent

Percentage-based listing cost

The listing side is tied to the selling price in this illustration.

Listing-agent commission$13,500.00

5% GST on commission$675.00

Total listing-side cost$14,175.00

VS.

List it with FSBO Inc. & Easy List Realty Ltd.

$499 flat-fee MLS® listing

The listing fee does not grow as the selling price goes up.

Flat-fee MLS® listing$499.00

5% GST on listing fee$24.95

Total FSBO listing cost$523.95

Look at the tax alone on the traditional listing commission.

Tax on traditional listing commission $675.00 5% GST on listing commission

IS MORE
THAN

ForSaleByOwner.ca listing fee $499.00 Entire flat-fee MLS® listing fee before tax

In this Alberta $800,000 example, you would pay more in GST on the traditional listing-agent commission than the entire ForSaleByOwner.ca flat-fee MLS® listing cost before tax.

Listing-side savings $13,651.05

Before you move to the buyer side

Listing the property is the easiest part of the whole selling equation.

Putting your property on the market is only the first step. The bigger selling decisions come after the listing is live — attracting buyers, handling inquiries and showings, evaluating offers and deciding what works for you.

So ask yourself

Is it really worth $13,500.00 plus $675.00 in GST just to LIST your property?

Take control. Keep your equity.

With FSBO Inc. & Easy List Realty Ltd., the MLS® listing side is just $499 + applicable tax. When you can take control of the listing decision for a flat fee instead of paying thousands on the listing side alone, listing with FSBO is a no-brainer.

Now Look at the Buyer’s Side

This is a separate decision from how you list. What happens when the eventual buyer arrives?

Buyer side only

Scenario A

The buyer is represented by an agent

For illustration, we use the same example buyer-agent compensation formula shown above.

67.9%

What our last 1,000 sales show

Sales with a buyer’s agent

679 of our last 1,000 sales involved a buyer represented by an agent.

Buyer-agent compensation$13,500.00

5% GST on compensation$675.00

Buyer-side cost$14,175.00

Scenario B

The buyer comes directly to you

No buyer’s agent is involved in this illustration.

32.1%

What our last 1,000 sales show

Sales with no agents

321 of our last 1,000 sales were completed with no agents involved.

Buyer’s agent commission$0.00

Tax on buyer-agent commission$0.00

Buyer-side cost$0.00

✓

A direct buyer can change the math dramatically.

If no buyer’s agent is involved, this illustration shows no buyer-agent commission at all. If the buyer has an agent, compensation is handled according to the terms agreed to and is negotiable.

Difference between these buyer paths $14,175.00

Put the Two Pieces Together

Now combine the listing-side decision with the buyer-side outcome and compare the complete scenarios.

The full picture

Traditional example

Listing agent + buyer’s agent

Both agent sides use the illustrative percentage formula, plus applicable tax.

$28,350.00

Total illustrated selling cost

Baseline comparisonFull two-agent example

FSBO scenario

$499 MLS® listing + represented buyer

FSBO listing fee plus the illustrative buyer-agent side and applicable tax.

$14,698.95

Total illustrated selling cost

Savings vs. traditional example$13,651.05

Maximum savings example

FSBO scenario

$499 MLS® listing + direct buyer

No buyer’s agent in this scenario — AKA no real estate commission at all.

$523.95

Total illustrated selling cost

Savings vs. traditional example$27,826.05

What remains from the selling price after only the costs illustrated above?

Traditional listing agent + buyer’s agent $771,650.00

FSBO + represented buyer $785,301.05 +$13,651.05 kept

FSBO + direct buyer $799,476.05 +$27,826.05 kept

Why separate the math?

Because “commission” is really two different decisions.

The cost of listing your home and the cost associated with a represented buyer do not have to be presented as one giant number. Seeing them separately makes the choices much easier to understand.

Control the listing side

With the $499 FSBO MLS® option, the seller knows the listing-side cost up front rather than tying it to the final selling price.

Stay open to represented buyers

A seller can still work with a buyer who has an agent, with compensation handled according to the terms agreed to.

Keep the direct-buyer upside

When the buyer comes directly to the seller and no real estate agent commission is involved, the savings can be substantial.

To list or not to list? Now you can see each part of the decision.

Get MLS® exposure through ForSaleByOwner.ca and Canada’s FSBO Brokerage, Easy List Realty Ltd., for a flat $499 — and keep more control over what happens next.

List My Property — $499 See What’s Included

Important: This page is an illustrative cost comparison, not a statement of standard or fixed real estate commissions. Real estate brokerage commissions and buyer-agent compensation are negotiable and vary by brokerage, agreement, property, market and province. The commission calculation used here is only an example for comparing the arithmetic.

GST/HST rates shown are current example rates used by this calculator. Nova Scotia HST is 14% as of April 1, 2025. Provincial sales taxes, where applicable, may have separate rules.

MLS® and REALTOR® are trademarks owned or controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and used under licence where applicable.