For Sale By Owner properties are sold by individuals without agent representation.

Say you've been looking for homes for the past two months with your agent. Driving home from work one day, you drive past a FSBO sign in front of your dream home. You call, then go see it and sure enough, it's the house you want.

What do you do?

• Make an offer and write out a down payment check (escrow or good faith deposit) on the spot, or

• Call your agent and ask about comparables in the neighborhood to determine a fair price, and make an offer, or

• See if you can get your agent to ask the seller to pay his or her commission. Often, the seller will agree to pay the traditional 3 percent. If not, and you want the house, you'll have to pay it yourself.

You can choose any of these possibilities, but be sure you don't have what's called a "Buyer's Broker" contract that prohibits you from deserting your agent for a better deal. If you do have such a contract, you have to pay your agent a commission.

If you are an experienced real estate investor and have a good attorney, then it's probably safe to proceed on your own. If not, you may want to consider using that faithful agent. (See the list above; most of those items apply with a FSBO as well as agent listings.)

And be sure, when choosing an agent, that he or she will show you FSBO houses as well as traditionally listed houses.

For Example ...

Who: An ambitious young couple who wants to trade up from their loft condo into a more expensive new unit across the street.

The tactic: They decide to low-ball on the asking price. They tell the listing agent they are representing themselves and will not pay a commission on the buy side, even though they did attend her open house. On top of that, they want the listing agent to receive a reduced commission so the seller will accept a lower price.

How it played out: The agent, of course, was obligated to present the offer to the developer, but it wasn't taken seriously. Neither the agent nor the developer wanted to deal with the couple. By coming in too low on the price and cutting down the commissions they insulted the agent and antagonized the developer. Without someone to negotiate for them, the sharp duo lost out on a great deal.

The result: A month later when the market picked up, the unit was priced $50,000 higher and sold to someone else. A little more experience and flexibility might have snagged the couple a great condo at a great price.