Many more people are getting into the idea of selling their houses For Sale by Owner instead of going with a real estate agent. It's a burden to shoulder to sell your own home, but the immediate savings you receive by not paying commission to an agent speaks volumes. All you need to do is figure out six percent of your total home sales price, and that's how much you'll save. A $150,000 will save you $9,000, $250,000 saves you $15,000, $350,000 saves you $21,000, and so on. That's a good amount of money to stash back in your pocket. But in most cases, this isn't the real scenario where you get all your money back. There are still expenses that get in the way of that extra profit, but these can be used to your advantage. Here are a few ways you can make that extra profit work for you.

For most FSBO sellers, they don't want to be burdened with the extra stress of drafting all the legal documents in lieu of a home sale. Hiring a real estate attorney on your own can take care of these issues for you, but at a price of course. They usually run upwards of $1,000 or more depending on how many hours they work for you.

Depending on how much time you want to put into the advertising and marketing of your home for sale also factors into your total profits. If you want to do most of it yourself, and have the time for it, you can save yourself a good amount of money. But if your time is precious (and valuable), you can hire a specific agent to do that kind of legwork for you. They can show the property, place the ads, and field the calls. Once again, this is for a substantial fee, but still not as much as the commission.

Once you figured out all of the different hats you want to wear, and who you want to get to help you, now you're at the point where you get to make your extra profit work for you. Having this commission to play with gives you an advantage over other sellers who are selling through an agent. You're able to negotiate with potential buyers with them knowing that since you're an FSBO agent, your price can be lowered to an amount that makes them feel like they got a deal, while you still pocket a healthy profit over what you would have got selling full price with an agent taking commission. Not to mention the fact that the sale went quicker because of the lower price.

So working with that commission savings to put yourself above other sellers can be really beneficial to you when you complete the transaction. You'll have more money in your pocket, get a quicker sale, and have the satisfaction of knowing that you did it all yourself.