Thanks NC and thanks for your quick reply to my initial question. It was so logical but I had no idea how FSBO worked. We are under contract to buy the FSBO. I am so excited and am crossing my fingers that inspection and appraisal go well. We ended up offering above their asking price in order to pay our realtor her commission. We agreed on us paying the commission, sellers paying half of our closing cost, and sellers leaving their washer and dryer for us. I feel that even with adding in the commission we still got a great deal on the house. When they had it listed with a realtor in the past it was listed for about $10k more than what we are paying for it and I am happy with what we are getting for our money. We are getting a finished house with great private outdoor space and a heated 3-car garage and I can't wait. I live next door to my in-laws right now and need a little more peace and privacy in my life! I also can't wait to have a garage. We have rough winters and have not had a garage for 10 years. No more scraping windshields in the morning before work. Wooohooo! Thanks again for all of the great advice on this board. I got a lot of helpful advice on this site a few months ago about finding a better realtor after our last one slacked off a lot and I'm glad I took that advice to heart too!

Yes, the school scores and school facilities were very similar so we really couldn't complain. The other school that was closed at the same time, however, had more of a problem in that their area's existing schools had much lower scores. Of course the parents were labeled as racist because they didn't want their kids to go to lower-performing schools that happened to be far away and difficult to get to. It was a mess for a long time with how the school district handled this which (I believe) is why I only have about 4 comparable sales to use.

I was under the impression that the spirit of these forums was to offer insight, information and most importantly, opinion on a variety of subjects in a free and open way. I always felt that it was more of an "opinion poll" type venue where you could come, post a question and get helpful feedback. When I posted this question, I came here for third party information/advice on standard practices because I am unfamiliar with them. I wanted to get knowledgeable opinions before even bringing it up to our realtor. If I was wrong, I wanted to know. Several of you rightfully said to READ THE CONTRACT. I did, and was satisfied to abide by the contract. Once I read it, never did I question the validity. At that point, there was nothing for me to do or say. It was resolved. My issue was always one with the contract, which I felt was one sided. My fault for not negotiating it differently on the front end, but again, fine with honoring it. My problem was with the industry - not the individual. I wanted to get it straight in my mind before I addressed it with my agent. Fair enough? I would have thought so. Never once did I say anything negative about the agent, who I still feel did a good job with a very difficult property. I did address the point that it is hard to do business with friends & I think that point is proven. Put plainly, it is always awkward to address issues no matter how small. Even if the issues are solely business or contract related, it is uncomfortable to question someone who is a leader in their field and that you respect immensely. It just is. I had no intention of opening up a "can of worms" if I had no leg to stand on - which is why I came here first. I appreciated the advice I got here to just READ THE CONTRACT. My initial impression was wrong. I had already said that I was going to abide by the contract. End of story? No. Someone in this forum read my intent as an insult to the listing agent and forwarded her the post, actually causing problems where I had already determined none existed. I never had a problem with her and after getting your advice, realized there was no need to question anything. As I have said repeatedly, she did a great job and I have always considered her a friend. IÂm quite certain she no longer feels the same. So gardenwebbers - consider this a cautionary tale. I never assumed this forum was totally confidential - nothing on the web is. However, I did think that it was a forum you could go to for honest, helpful feedback without retaliation for asking a question. I guess I was wrong.

You're combining the background "costs of being a Realtor" with specific marketing for a single listing? Just to be a Realtor you have schools (initial then continuing education) and licensing every year or two. Pay into NAR, state and local. Membership in MLS. Supra (electronic lockbox) monthly fee (plus pay $200 each for a new lockbox). Broker fees (E&O, dues, etc) - which may include some things - my dues are high but includes paperless online transaction management, website, e-card, CRM, and other business tools. Business cards. For a listing, my MLS does not charge per listing (thank goodness because it's already high enough), but it does cost to get a featured listing on Realtor.com. Signs are surprisingly expensive, plus most use a service to put signs up and take them down. Lockbox and get extra keys made. Also a combo box for services to enter. Professional photography (a lot of agents think their iPhone photos are fine - they're not unless its a listing under $100K for my area) Extras such as drone or virtual tours depend on the property and price range. I think we have a free "virtual tour" with our MLS or local board but it's really just a slideshow of the photos. Staging, which many homes really need. Although Facebook is free, it costs to do certain marketing there. Newspapers, luxury magazines, and other print media has costs and lead times. Single website & digital flyer. Brokers' Open and Open House food & drink & balloons and temporary arrow directional signs (I keep a dozen in my car). There is lots more but I'm not even a listing agent so I don't even know all of the options - this is just what I know of that my team does (and there is probably more). All of this depends on the agent and the listing and what they offer in their marketing plan - this is why sellers should interview three agents and see where they differ for that particular house. Zillow & Trulia are web-scrapers and don't cost anything to just get the listing on there (accuracy not guaranteed). Boosting listings and getting your own self as the featured agent do - otherwise your listing shows up with three unrelated agents (who pay for the zip code). For reference, I know of an agent who spent about $10K on a $1.5M overpriced listing before the seller dropped her after 6 months. Could not recoup expenses from seller.