I have a semi-detached North Toronto home (Yonge and Lawrence area) that I am looking to sell in the coming spring. The bank has appraised the property at $1,640,000. I’m in the process of finding a realtor to list my house and represent me in the sale.

Looking at commission fees of 5% is making me queasy. I live on a high demand street in a very popular neighbourhood. I may be naive but I expect this house will largely sell itself.

Should I hire the bells-and-whistles realtor with the high name recognition and extreme neighbourhood specific market awareness? For 5%?

I also had a chat with Purple Bricks. They charge $4000 for the MLS listing and agents services. They also broker the buyers agents fees, they say usually in the 1.5-2.5% range. This is a significant saving down from $85,000 in realtors fees.

I’m worried that using a discount brokerage will put prospective buyers on alert to look for other “discount” qualities in the home. Do the closing cost savings make up for the potential difference in sale price if we don’t get as much visibility? Has anyone negotiated a lower agent fee in such a hot market? I cannot see $85,000 worth of effort going into the sale of this home but I could always be wrong.