Should You Sell Your Arizona Home Yourself or Use an Agent?

By Jason Penrose

Jason has been licensed since 1999, and is currently one of the top 20 agents in Arizona for homes sold.

Should you sell your property yourself or use an agent, and which one is going to put more money in your pocket? The answer might surprise you. I’ve put together a full report comparingfor-sale-by-owner and agent-assisted sales, with all the citations and references included, and I want to walk you through the highlights here. If you’re thinking about selling, or you know someone who is, this is worth a few minutes.

The median price gap is $65,000. According to the National Association of Realtors, over the past year, the typical home sold for $425,000 with an agent versus $360,000 when the owner sold it themselves. That’s an 18% difference, or $65,000. Now, part of that gap reflects the fact that for-sale-by-owner homes tend to skew toward lower-cost and rural properties, so it isn’t purely the effect of going it alone. But it’s still a number worth paying attention to before you decide to skip representation, because the most common reason people sell themselves is to avoid paying commission, and the math doesn’t always work out the way they expect.

Most for-sale-by-owner homes don’t hit their target. The same research shows that a large share of owners who sold on their own didn’t reach the price they wanted, and many later said they wished they’d worked with an agent. Pricing the home correctly, marketing it to enough buyers, and getting through the paperwork are exactly the places solo sellers tend to struggle. These are findings from the full report, which is why I encourage you to read it and check the sources for yourself.

This is a long-term trend, not a one-year blip. Selling without an agent was far more common decades ago. Back in 1985, for-sale-by-owner listings accounted for as much as 21% of home sales. Last year, it was down to just 5%, an all-time low, while a record share of sellers used an agent. People have steadily moved toward representation, and the data on what sellers actually net is a big reason why.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Go to Google, or any AI tool like ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, or Claude, and ask the question yourself: will I net more money selling my home myself or using a broker? The evidence that comes back will look very similar to this report. The research consistently shows that agents net the seller more money on average than a for-sale-by-owner sale, and that’s a big part of why most people choose to work with an agent. They’ve realized that selling solo often doesn’t actually save them any money.

If you’d like to talk through your specific situation, have questions, or know someone thinking about buying or selling a home, reach out. Call or text me at (602) 738-9943, email me at jason@thepenroseteam.com or visit buyaztoday.com. Make sure to share this with friends and family, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.