Good post, REALTOR.

Saying that there are security risks when selling a home yourself is
the same tactic I've seen used in car dealerships when they lowball
women buyers on a trade in: "Oh yea, you could sell it yourself, but
some maniac might follow you home, get your licenese plate, it's
extremely dangerous. For your own personal safety, you should trade
the car into us for $5000 below what you could get for it if you sold
it yourself."

There are a number of ways to make this a non-issue.

Why do I say that "safety" is not a valid reason to list in MLS?

From experience, I can walk into any REALTOR's office, present myself
as a buyer and be viewing the inside of homes in the next 10 minutes
without ever having signed a document or presented ID. Sure, the
realtor has the combo to the lock box.. The same combo that I watched
him unlock the lock box with. That combo is likely to work for most of
the homes of that listing agent.

In some cases, I've called listing brokers and they've given me the
combo to the lock box on the property without ever having met me - they
were just too lazy to come out and show the property.

I find zero security in listing my property with an agent.

Q: Don't realtor's "screen" people.
A: Sure, they ask for a prequalification letter from a lender and ask
the potential buyer some questions. I've never had a realtor call to
check my prequalaification letter or ask me for ID.

Q: Don't realtors make sure that only qualified people make offers on
your home?
A: Sure, see above. Realtors also get earnest money checks from
potential buyers, which are held in escrow. If you're selling a home
yourself, you can do the exact same thing... Tell anyone if they want
to make an offer, they need to deposit escrow money!

MLS IS the most effective way to sell a home, I don't doubt that.. But
with the introduction of discount brokers and alacart real estate
services, I think people should only pay for the services that they
need, rather than pay a potentially huge commission for a listing agent
that may or may not do much work for you as a seller.