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I live in a state with a minimum service requirement.

A few years ago we were looking to sell our house and our neighborhood pesky real estate agent got wind of it. So she came by to try to get us to list with her

I told her I would list with her, but with the following conditions: she'd provide me with a market analysis for which I'd pay her $100. That way I'd have a professional help with the price point.

I'd put my home on the market and if it didn't sell in 45 days, the listing was hers.

I spent a few dollars on a nice brochure (printed it myself) and happened to have my open house the same day as a local town festival. That day I had 5 qualified offers (check in hand).

I hired the agent for an additional $500 to help me work through the offers and ended up getting 99% of my asking price (and four months until closing- we were building). I hired a lawyer to draw up the sale...

... and I saved about $14,000.

I did something similar when I "moved up" a few years ago. I paid ~$600 for an MLS listing, but did the rest of the sales and buy transaction myself. I knew of some real estate agents who would come over to the house being sold and clean out my flyer bin or steal the for sale sign. What scumbags. They were furious that I wasn't using an agent. I got harrassing phone calls, and was "blacklisted", agents would not show my home, even though I was willing to pay a buyers agent commission (2.9%). I ended up selling the house to another person who also didn't hire an agent. When the dust settled, I estimate that I saved about $14,000 by telling the RE establishment to stick it.